Splat!

Deep Purple made a concept album about the end of humanity and named it Splat!, which is the single most Deep Purple decision imaginable. The concept, per Ian Gillan, is not a crude apocalypse but a metamorphosis, the end of physical existence as a transformation into something else. That is genuinely thoughtful, ambitious, even a little beautiful. And then you remember it is called Splat!, a title that lands like a bug on a windshield, and you understand you are dealing with men who have been doing this for fifty years and refuse to take the packaging seriously even when the contents are dead serious. Musically, this is the payoff. The band call it the heaviest Deep Purple album in many years, and the critics broadly agree, handing Splat! a 79 on Metacritic and generally favorable reviews. It is their sixth record with producer Bob Ezrin and their second with guitarist Simon McBride, and McBride has clearly lit a fire under a band that had every excuse to coast. Arrogant Boy, Diablo and Guilt Trippin all arrived as singles that hit harder than a band this venerable has any right to. The tension in the whole thing is the fun of it. Here is a grand meditation on the death of the species, delivered by a group who titled it like a cartoon sound effect, and somehow the seriousness and the silliness make each other better. Sally came in ready to roast a legacy act phoning in album twenty four. She left having to admit that Splat! actually hits.