Originally posted in Trollheart Listens to Every Album on Wiki's List for 2017, May 1 2018
Album title: InFinite
Artist: Deep Purple
Genre: Hard Rock/Heavy Metal/Progressive Rock
Nationality: English
Release date: April 7
Position in Discography: Twentieth
Estimated Rating:
Familiar with this artist? Yes
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Yes
Average RYM Score: 3.22
Some classic bands know when to call it a day; they've had their fame, made their money, carved their place in history (literally, in the case of Deep Purple and 1970's
In Rock!) and can gracefully retire, while others, like Hawkwind, have been almost constantly going for half a century and slow no signs of slowing down. Which is preferable? Carry on by all means if you can maintain the high standards you set for yourself in your heyday, but if all you're doing is trading on past glories in a vain attempt to hold on to your youth and/or fame, maybe it's time to hang up the guitars and unplug the keyboards?
Not that I'm suggesting this is the case with the legendary Deep Purple, but there's no question they didn't reform in 1984 for one reason and one reason alone: money, which they surely don't need, but then, when was money more about want and less about need, at least among the rich? So, like Pink Floyd's going-away “present” to their fans in 2014, you can't be blamed for approaching this with a certain amount of skepticism. Not that I've been a fan of the “new” Purple; my last encounter with them was 1974's
Stormbringer and the “reunion” album
Perfect Strangers left me cold. But to their credit I guess they've soldiered on, but now, with a lineup that only includes three of the original members from the classic lineup that produced such gems as
In Rock, Machine Head and the aforementioned
Stormbringer, is this even the same band?
Hey, perhaps I'll be eating my words. Odd though how it starts off with a kind of robotic chant before the first track gets going, but once it does there's the old hard rock sound of the band who made rock history and helped create heavy metal. I must say, that doesn't sound like Ian Gillan: the power seems to be gone from his voice. Don Airey is a great keysman, but who could replace the late Jon Lord? And Steve Morse is no Blackmore. But enough comparisons. On the face of it, this does have the Purple sound, and mostly it sounds like any of their seventies albums. The first thing that impresses me though is “The Surprising”, which has a different sound, including some Eastern stylings and a very prog rock feel. “Birds of Prey” has something too, but overall I feel this is just another hard rock album, even an album out of time, almost as if Deep Purple are trying to force the seventies back. I couldn't say in any honesty that they've moved with the times, and generally this feels very dated and perhaps even a little sad. And why is there a version of “Roadhouse Blues” to close with? I mean, I love the song, but living in the past much? It's almost as if they're saying - with a touch of desperation - "Hey look! We used to rock like this!"
I suppose you have to give them credit for still going, but the question is, as I posed at the beginning, should they be? I'm not sure what proper Purple fans will make of this album, but I'd rather hear
Machine Head personally.
Check out more from this artist? Probably, if only out of curiosity
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes
Actual Rating: 7/10