Deep Purple – Splat!

What does it sound like?:

Purple’s most iconic phase came between 1970 and 1973, when they released “In Rock”, “Fireball” “Machine Head”, “Who Do We Think We Are” and “Made in Japan”. The Gillan / Glover / Paice triumvirate that featured on all of these can also be found on Splat!, their 24th studio release, along with Don Airey, with a mere 24 years’ service, and Belfast’s Simon McBride, who is the Purps’ fourth guitarist and arguably the one with the biggest shoes to fill — not to mention he joined nine years after their “Long Goodbye” farewell tour, which turned out not to be.

By the time lead guitarist McBride was born in 1979, Deep Purple had recorded ten studio albums and disbanded three years earlier after “Come Taste the Band”. That didn’t stop Purple becoming well known to him, as his guitar‑playing dad loved classic rock and encouraged him to play, winning “Young Guitarist of the Year” at Wembley aged just 15. When he replaced Steve Morse (Purple’s longest‑serving guitarist) in 2022, the appointment was described by some as something of a bolt out of the blue, which rather overlooked how McBride had known Airey for ten years, played in Airey’s band — which is where he got to know Paice and Gillan — and why he was the automatic pick when Morse stepped down.

The McBride / Airey connection is a significant one. Although all the songs on Splat! are credited equally to all five band members, the virtuoso guitar and keyboard interplay defines the album, their playing locked down tighter than the clasp on Rod Stewart’s wallet. The overall vibe is very much of the “Machine Head” era.

Opener “Arrogant Boy” is played at a “Highway Star” pace, with McBride and Airey at the very front of Bob Ezrin’s mix. It’s a style that would almost be thrash, so rapid is McBride’s fretwork, but Airey’s Hammond organ adds a 70s blues‑rock polish, and the band barely let up with following track “Diablo”, which is a nod to “Maybe I’m a Leo”.

“The Rider” swaggers while Gillan takes a swipe at the narcissistic demands of some rock stars, before the band attacks the more staccato time signature of “The Lunatic”. “The Only Horse in Town” puts Airey’s Hammond front and centre in one of the more radio‑friendly (if that’s still a thing) tracks. “Sacred Land” opens with Airey offering a Celtic coda, which quickly builds into something more anthemic.The pace finally eases a little on “The Beating of Wings”, whilst on “Guilt Trippin’” Airey’s solo piano lures you in before McBride riffs over Paice’s military snare and the band go back on the attack.

Gillan may have lost a little range but none of his eccentricity. His delivery may be in a lower key but remains spot‑on. Unfortunately, I think the lyrics are the album’s only real weak point. What some might call quirky or darkly comic often feels laboured, distracting rather than adding. After sixty‑something years in the business Gillan is clearly well past giving half a fuck about what anyone else thinks. A lifelong affiliation to QPR will do that to you.

Case in point: “Jessica’s Bra” is a jaunty toe‑tapper pitched on a fairly thin joke about a watering hole compromised by a spelling mistake. It’s one of the album’s best songs, reminiscent of Marillion’s “Incommunicado” after a course of steroids. Airey is given the space for a piano solo. It’s just a shame the words don’t quite land as well as the music. The following “Third Call” is propelled by Paice, his fills reminding us how much the Purple sound hinges on the backbone he provides.

Closing track “Splat!” repeats the driving hard‑rock formula but with the added twist of a little Stevie Wonder‑style funk from Airey that elevates what is otherwise something a little too similar to what has gone before.

Live, Purple continue to lap the world. The 2026 tour wraps in the UK in November, having started in Japan in April, with a schedule that’s tiring to read, let alone perform in your late seventies. I caught them around two years ago in Birmingham, expecting little and going home truly impressed. In a recent interview in Classic Rock magazine, McBride is barely quoted, but both live, as on this album, he has a confidence and swagger that elevates the band in a way that I never saw in the Morse variant of the band. It’s over fifty years later, but Splat! is up there with Purple’s 70s highlights — or indeed, patch.

What does it all *mean*?

There’s life in the old dogs yet

Goes well with…

Being played loud

Release Date:

July 3rd 2026

Might suit people who like…

Cheesecloth shirts

5