Deep Purple
Stormbringer

"Stormbringer is a real piece of crap!" (Ritchie Blackmore)

With this phrase, the English guitarist dismisses the last studio product of Mark III (Coverdale, Hughes, Blackmore, Lord, and Paice). Where there is the "Man in Black," there are tensions, and even in this period, there were no exceptions, especially with bassist-singer Glenn Hughes, for reasons almost exclusively concerning the sound the group was adopting, which was shifting from hard rock to funky. Blackmore already had the idea of leaving the group (soon he would form Rainbow with Ronnie James Dio's Elf), while record producers were pushing for a new album, following the universal success of "Burn" in 1974 and the subsequent amazing performance at the California Jam Festival in April of the same year. However, the resulting work is an album (titled "Stormbringer" and released again in '74) made in haste and with few ideas, so it fails to repeat the freshness characterized by the previous album and, above all, it fails to reproduce its hard and aggressive sound. Blackmore is unmotivated, and Glenn Hughes takes the reins of the group.

If it were not by Deep Purple, maybe this album would be appreciated, but, in fact, the group's name is such, and everyone, perhaps even the musicians themselves (except for Hughes), expected something more Hard and less Funky.

The album opens with the title track: "Stormbringer" is a pounding storm with epic rhythms. A Hard Rock that touches Heavy Metal, written by Coverdale (who gives a great vocal performance) and Blackmore, and the singer himself said about this song:

"I wrote Stormbringer to please Ritchie. It was something very heavy, as he wanted because he was afraid that the group would take too funky a direction"

A promising start is squandered with the next two songs: "Love Don't Mean A Thing" and "Holy Man". These are two songs demanded by Hughes, who opens the group to blues-soul influences and to black music so dear to the bassist-singer, who enriches the two tracks with great vocalizations. Lord's keyboards open the compelling shuffle of "Hold On", which slightly raises the album's value. Blackmore limits himself to drawing bland solos, preferring to leave more space to Jon Lord, a sign that he has had enough of this sound change.

And with "Lady Double Dealer", they try to salvage what can be salvaged: it returns to the good old days of "In Rock" and "Machine Head". Blackmore's guitar is sharp, and Coverdale's singing recalls Gillan's hysteria. Together with the title track and the final "Soldier Of Fortune", it is the only true gem of the album. The next three songs seem to be written for the solo works of the respective members: "You Can't Do Right (With The One You Love)" is tailor-made for Glenn Hughes, "Higball Shooter" represents the beginning of the sound of Coverdale's Whitesnake, and "The Gypsy" is the epic rock so dear to Blackmore and his Rainbow (the latter highly appreciable).

The final closure, however, is entrusted to a true masterpiece by Deep Purple: "Soldier Of Fortune". Written by Blackmore and Coverdale, this last track is a moving acoustic ballad, with a melody written by Coverdale at the age of 15 and delivered with an unequaled vocal performance. Blackmore gently caresses the guitar strings against the background of Lord's celestial organ. "Soldier Of Fortune" (sparsely exploited live) assumes for Mark III the same importance that "Child In Time" had for Mark II.

Let's return to Blackmore's phrase: "Stormbringer" indeed represents a low point touched by the English group, characterized perhaps by too many differing views of Coverdale, Blackmore, and Hughes and more than representing a unitary work of the band, it seems like a collection of solo pieces by the three. Despite everything, however, it manages to make its mark thanks to the title track, "Lady Double Dealer", and "Soldier Of Fortune"