Deep Purple’s lacklustre covers album Turning To Crime, in 2021, seemed to suggest that the band were finally a spent force. Then it got worse. Soon afterwards, long-term guitarist Steve Morse’s noble departure to care for his ill wife meant another Purple pillar had fallen. With Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice and Don Airey in their 70s, nobody could have forgiven them catching up on a few Midsomer Murders afternoon repeats.
Instead they doubled down and knuckled down. Morse was replaced by a young pup: 45-year-old Ulsterman Simon McBride, once of Sweet Savage (who also once included Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell). They retained producer Bob Ezrin, and with their twenty-third album they’ve restated what made them great half a century ago. And they’ve done it without sounding dated. If the worst thing about an album is its idiotic title, then we’re on very solid ground indeed
