I regularly cover veteran acts on this site. Whether it’s through new album reviews or interviews, these legends of hard rock and heavy metal’s glory days still have something to say in 2020. However, few acts are truly as veteran as Deep Purple. Over 50 years into their storied career, the lineup of Ian Gillan, Steve Morse, Roger Glover, Don Airey, and Ian Paice, have released their 21st studio album, Whoosh!
If you’ve followed Purple throughout the duration of their career, by now you know what to expect. If you’re only familiar with certain hit songs or key eras of the band, allow me to give some insight. If you’re expecting the primal metallic bombast of Deep Purple in Rock (1970), Fireball (1971), and Machine Head (1972), don’t. Those days have long since passed. If you’re expecting a soulful, funky outing in the vein of Burn (1974) or Stormbringer (1974), don’t. The key architects of that era, singer David Coverdale and bassist/singer Glenn Hughes, haven’t been in the band since their initial 1976 breakup. Furthermore, founding guitarist Ritchie Blackmore was dismissed 1993 and founding keyboardist Jon Lord sadly passed away in 2012.
Whoosh! is the third Purple album produced by the legendary Bob Ezrin. It’s Ezrin who has spent the last decade shaping Purple into a refined, sophisticated, and elegant hard rock band. This is a band with members in their 70s and they aren’t afraid to show it. How Purple sees it is, if you’re going to age, age like fine wine. And if we’re using the analogy of fine wine to music, there’s plenty to be savored on Whoosh!
Kicking things off is the rhythmic “Throw My Bones”. Led by Morse’s moody riffing, and a driving beat laid down by Paice, “Throw My Bones” does a splendid job establishing the musical and lyrical themes that will be explored over the next 50 minutes. Its been mentioned leading up to Whoosh!’s release that this would be the album to put the “Deep” back in Deep Purple. After the dark lyrical content of Infinite (2017), I didn’t know what to make of this. Infinite was most certainly deep with its personal introspections. Whoosh! is deep as well, though it focuses more on societal observations. Subjects touched upon include anti-violence (“Drop the Weapon”), corporate mainstream media (“No Need to Shout”), and the end of humanity altogether (“Man Alive”). There’s even a reference to Gillan’s Sabbath days on “The Long Way Round”: “I promised myself I would not get trashed again. But the way I’m feeing right now, that promise is going down the drain.” Major brownie points for that Easter egg!
Musically, Purple has stuck to the same sound since Morse joined their ranks in 1994. He’s definitely influenced the band with his part blues, part jazz, part jam playing style. But I think it took the arrival of Ezrin to really pinpoint this “new” sound and mold it into something special. Amidst enlightened hard rock are the ever mesmerizing Shades of Deep Purple. There’s the hauntingly beautiful “Nothing at All”, which shares the same atmosphere as those early 1960s teen heartbreak ballads. Morse and Airey get an A+ for their technical virtuosity on this one. There’s also a homage to old school rock n’ roll, “What the What”. Sure, it’s not as savage as “Speed King”, but the spirit is still there and that’s what counts.
For the last few tracks on Whoosh!, Purple shifts gears from hard rock to prog rock. “The Power of the Moon” and “Remission Possible” (Who knew the heaviest moment of the album would come in the form of a 2 minute instrumental?) serve as buildup to the album’s centerpiece, “Man Alive”. Ladies and gentlemen, the Book of Revelation according to Deep Purple. This cut is so cerebral and chilling. If any music plays during earth’s final moments, I hope it’s this.
The future is uncertain for all of us right now. It’s especially uncertain for aged rockstars refined to their homes. If Whoosh! happens to be Purple’s last album, what a way to close out one of the greatest chapters in rock history. If not, I patiently await my next serving of Purple’s unique thinking man’s metal.
7 out of 10
Label: earMUSIC
Genre: Hard Rock
For fans of: Rainbow, Uriah Heep, Blue Öyster Cult