DEEP PURPLE

When you have a legacy as indisputably colossal as DEEP PURPLE's, making new music could easily be an afterthought. But tasked with producing new albums to rival the immortal likes of "Machine Head", "Burn" and "Perfect Strangers", the hard rock legends have done a solid job of keeping their creative fires burning. From 2005's "Rapture of the Deep" to 2020's "Whoosh!" , latter-day PURPLE records have been feisty and imaginative, while always keeping a toe or two in that classic, organ-driven sound. The follow-up to the surprisingly great covers album "Turning To Crime" (2021),  "=1" continues in a similar vein, but with an even more relaxed attitude towards embracing the past. The first DEEP PURPLE album to feature new guitarist Simon McBride (who replaced the great Steve Morse in 2022),  it could hardly be a more joyous return.

Working again with producer Bob Ezrin, DEEP PURPLE sound enormously comfortable with their place in the world. "Show Me" is an explosive, swaggering show opener with knowing bursts of cherished tropes and an immediate sense that a really fucking good rock 'n' roll band are revving their engines. Thereafter, "=1" is an unashamedly red-blooded master class in big tunes, bigger riffs and face-melting solos, courtesy of both McBride and ever-magnificent keyboard maestro Don Airey. Perhaps most importantly, vocalist Ian Gillan is on excellent form throughout. Whether strutting with a haughty sneer on the authentically funky "Sharp Shooter", soaring huskily over a mean shuffle on "Portable Door", or turning on the psych-blues waterworks for "If I Were You", the old screamer is sounding better than he has in decades. Ever reliable, Roger Glover and Ian Paice remain the same rock-solid rhythm section they were back on 1970's "Deep Purple In Rock", but audibly enlivened by McBride's injection of fresh blood.

This is the sound of DEEP PURPLE having an excellent time. "Old-Fangled Thing" is so determinedly groovy that it briefly sounds like CLUTCH; "Pictures Of You" is clangorous garage rock with the sweetest of aftertastes; and "No Money To Burn" is white-knuckle rock 'n' roll, executed by experts. Gillan, incidentally, can still scream his head off. The obvious pick of the bunch is "Lazy Sod": ostensibly a laconic boogie rocker, it makes a spectacular transformation into an overblown, virtuoso celebration of 50 years of monolithic rocking, with McBride and Airey playing out of their respective skins. Elsewhere, the crestfallen blues of "I'll Catch You" is wonderfully low-key and restrained, and Gillan sounds magnificent, lost at sea and swimming in shimmering Hammond fumes.

That improbable late career hot streak continues. "=1" is an unadorned reminder that class is eternal and DEEP PURPLE are alive, kicking and in the zone.