Album Review: Deep Purple – inFinite (earMUSIC)

It would be lie if I didn’t say I was surprised to be listening to a Deep Purple album in 2017. As legendary as they are the years haven’t been kind to them & they’ve been left behind in the wake of a faster, younger & more exciting rock sound.

…but here we are. It’s 2017 & Deep Purple have released a new album, their 20th of their illustrious career. inFinite was released on April 7th 2017 via earMUSIC.

inFinite opens with the peppy, guitar riffy Time for Bedlam. The title is apt as it’s a song that has an air of madness about it. It feels unstructured but yet it swoops & swaggers around as if it knows exactly what it’s doing. A damn fine song especially with on point lyrics such as:

“Sucking my milk from the venomous tit of the state”

Any thought that we are going to be experiencing a more political & angry sounding Deep Purple quickly disappears with Hip Boots. A by the numbers rock song that Deep Purple could probably write in their sleep.

It’s a feeling that pretty much sums up inFinite. Good, sometimes great sounding rock songs played out lazily at times. Importantly that’s not actually a complaint, in fact it comes as a relief that the likes of All I Got Is You, One Night in Vegas & Get Me Outta Here are good rock songs with some actual imagination involved.

Unfortunately it’s not far enough out of Deep Purple’s comfort zone to be that inspiring. Listening to songs like the bland, The Surprising you can’t shake the feeling that they aren’t really trying that hard. Does it make inFinite bad? Of course, not & there is something really comforting about the straight-forward beat & melodies of Johnny’s Band, the riff heavy swagger of On Top of the World & the trippy guitar style of Birds of Prey. It will put a wry, nostalgic smile on your face.

The final song on the standard edition really lays on the country blues with the use of harmonica, subtle humming & a jazzy piano beat. Roadhouse Blues is a cover of The Doors famous song that is fairly well done but a disappointing finish.

inFinite is an album that will please long time Deep Purple fans with it’s old-school riffs & melodies. Other then the opening song Time for Bedlam it doesn’t even try to change the formula & for the most part it doesn’t have too. What we have here is a good old school rock album.

Deep Purple – inFinite Full Track Listing:

1. Time for Bedlam
2. Hip Boots
3. All I Got Is You
4. One Night in Vegas
5. Get Me Outtta Here
6. The Surprising
7. Johnny’s Band
8. On Top of the World
9. Birds of Prey
10. Roadhouse Blues (The Doors Cover)

The Deluxe Edition:

The deluxe edition comes with 4 extra songs. Paradise Bar gives off a real Van Halen vibe with it’s upbeat riffing & an odd bell-led melody that comes up on occasion. It also happens to be a very catchy & memorable track!

As well as Paradise Bar, the deluxe edition comes with an instrumental of Uncommon Man from the last album, Now What!? released in 2013. You also get a rehersal version of Hip Boots & a live version of Strange Kind of Woman off their 1971 album Fireball. Nice songs to have but hardly worth the extra money for the deluxe edition.