Very few rock bands can boast that they have as many as 20 (!) full-length albums in their arsenal. But even for those who have that many releases, album number 20 is rarely a really good album.
But Deep Purple has succeeded – their new album “inFinite” is their best work in recent years. That’s not surprising, though, considering that nearly 50 years from their founding date, the band still continues to give live performances of the highest level of quality and spectacle.
“inFinite” – an unexpected triumph for Deep Purple
To begin this review of inFinite, I’d like to suggest that this is the first time since 1996’s Purpendicular that Deep Purple have managed to put together such a short, yet so rich collection of great songs.
Their latest effort, 2013’s “Now What!” 2013 wasn’t bad either. But apparently it was just preparation for the triumph of Deep Purple’s new album “inFinite” in 2017.
That’s when (4 years ago) veteran producer Bob Ezrin, who has released about 40 successful albums by various artists and bands, including Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd, Nine Inch Nails, KISS, Deftones and 30 Seconds to Mars, took “command of the parade” in his hands.
The decision to work with Ezrin again turned out to be a great idea, as it’s obvious that this producer knew exactly “what to dance around” for the second time in order to bring out the best from the previous release while making the mistakes that had been made on it.
All 10 tracks of the “inFinite” album are performed at the highest level. Ian Pace and Roger Glover’s heavy rhythm section, as well as Don Airy’s keyboard work, had no complaints before. But this time they tried even better. Also, the quality of the new material has definitely increased, thanks to the brilliant guitar work of Steve Morse and the never aging vocals of Ian Gillan, who sounds as good as ever on this release.
The proportion of Morse’s sound on this album is not as substantial as before, but his solos are still something outstanding, pretty much the same as Airy’s keyboard parts.
Track Impressions
Deep Purple’s new album “inFinite” opens with the powerful track “Time for Bedlam”, which lays the foundation for the entire record. Many people could get acquainted with this track back in December 2016 in the form of the official Lyric video.
The fragments sounding at the beginning and at the end of the song with computer-processed vocals remind a little of the singing of an Orthodox priest during services, but this is most likely an unfortunate coincidence, which only “our” people can pay attention to. All in all, “Time in Bedlam” is quite a “fat” track, perhaps even a hit.
The second song of the album “Hip Boots” shines with its rock’n’roll sound and great solo loops, with which they obviously try to send us back to the roots of rock music.
The third track “All I Got Is You”, which is also the lead single of Deep Purple’s “inFinite” album, is also impossible to listen quietly – your hands keep trying to play an imaginary guitar, accompanied by the same spontaneous headbanging.
Ian Pace’s beautiful introduction, which for some reasons seems out of place, slowly and gently prepares the ground for the explosive work of Airy/Morse, which is complemented at the right moment by Gillan’s vocals.
This seems to be one of Dark Purple’s best things. It’s not likely to become as popular as “Smoke on the Water,” of course, but it’s sure to top many charts.
“One Night in Vegas”, “Get Me Outta Here” and the 7th track “Johnny’s Band” are not as catchy as the first three songs of the album “inFinite”, but they are also very strong in their own way. “One Night in Vegas” especially features Don Airy’s keyboard work, while the rest of the band just plays “level.”
“The Surprising” is the calmest and most melodic track on Deep Purple’s new album, “inFinite” (2017). It uses a rather tricky trick – the first half of the song sets up a certain “stable” mood, unexpectedly complemented by a magical playback in exotic bossa nova style, which kind of hints at the end. But then it all comes back to the original melodically tense “flow”. Anyway, the title of this track is translated as “Unexpected” not for nothing.
In “On Top Of The World” there are some frisky notes, remotely reminding some compositions from rock classics. But this deceptive impression only points out that we are facing real legends who are deservedly “On Top Of The World”, because they are able to create a nostalgic and familiar sound without having to turn to plagiarism.
And also in the “divine” monologue that unexpectedly appears closer to the end, an impressive story is told, the atmosphere of which you immediately penetrate (the background sounds contribute to this).
“Birds of Prey” claims to be the heaviest track on Deep Purple’s “inFinite” album. This song is especially captivated by Morse’s cosmic, multifaceted solo parts and Ian Gillan’s processed (in the beginning) and then clear inspirational vocals. This composition can be easily looped and listened to for hours on end, and it will not get boring – it has been tested in practice.
In the “inFinite” cover of “Roadhouse Blues” by The Doors, found at the very end of the album, Deep Purple do what they do best – they extrapolate the good old blues and take it to entirely new, progressive heights.
Verdict
For those who thought Deep Purple had already shown everything they could do, the new album “inFinite” is an unexpected and powerful argument, proving that their assumptions are very far from the truth.
Despite the fact that the sound of some songs is spiced up with samples and other computer tricks in a very modern way, this record won’t disappoint fans of classic Deep Purple, but lovers of good rock music will find it easy to listen to, risking settling on the “Need to listen again and again” playlist.
And even more than that, it’s safe to say that “inFinite” is not just a good Deep Purple album, but the best rock album you’ll hear in 2017. There will be dissatisfied people, of course, but they will hardly be able to spoil the experience for those who can adequately evaluate this release (I naively include myself among the latter, even though I am not an ardent fan of “dark purple”).
As for how we rate Deep Purple’s new album “inFinite” in our review, it’s quite simple: we have exactly ten tracks, seven of which deserve one point each, and the other three (4th, 5th and 7th) are middling, which means we rate them half a point each.