[CD Review] DEEP PURPLE – Now What!?

So hands up who’d have thought we’d be receiving quality new albums from both Black Sabbath and Deep Purple here in 2013? The old guard of heavy metal are still kicking, and though Sabbath’s newest has generated the most interest, Deep Purple are still hitting hard on Now What!?.

Opening with the somewhat overblown pageantry of ‘A Simple Song’, Steve Morse’s guitar grounding the moody intro while Ian Gillan soars above it, the song breaks open to a Hammond drenched groove before returning to the dramatic intro theme. ‘Weirdistan’ sets a delightful stomping drum beat against a shuddering wall of guitar and Hammond riffing, and as the lyrics themselves state, “it’s beautiful”. The heavily effected keyboard solo is a little less beautiful, an odd tone choice, while Morse again brings the song home with his powerful soloing. ‘Out of Hand’ would be right at home on some early-2000’s southern swamp boogie band’s album, the chorus is pure Sabbath and the Hammond again the star of the show.

Ian Gillan is in great form, though he does have a tendancy to come off like a mid 90’s Ozzy clone at times. ‘Hell To Pay’ is a harder, rocking affair with choppy riffing and a catchy as hell pre-chorus from Gillan. Morse offers flashy soloing, setting the stage for more of Don Airey’s beautiful, impassioned Hammond workouts, getting a solo run here to great effect. Really, couldn’t every song use more Hammond organ? ‘Uncommon Man’ gets a little too far up its own bum for its own good, sounding like something you play as background to time lapse footage of birds and swamp lands, but it’s based on a piece of classical music and dedicated to the fallen ex-keyboardist Jon lord, so I can forgive it. All up, there’s very little to argue with here, Deep Purple are firing on all cylinders and still making driving hard rock with heart and balls. It’s not as good as the new Sabbath, but then not much is.

7/10
Reviewer: Roger Killoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMkrPQn2Buc