STORMBRINGER

Ahh, Stormbringer, my second studio album purchase from the masters of Hammond-Organ led Heavy Rock. After having listened to Come Taste the Band, I wanted more with the same singer: David Coverdale. I've heard a compilation of Deep Purple which featured Stormbringer, and gees, it rocked!! In the same vein as Burn or many rockers from the MK 2. Anyways, I was in for a surprise, the album as a whole ended up being a totally different thing.

Burn had showed the fans that even without Gillan and Glover that they could still ROCK! Classic tunes everywhere, stunning guitar solos, heavy riffs, flashy hammond solos, stunning vocal perfomances and like always a powerful drumming.

With Stormbringer, Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale decided to contribute with their own ideas rather than following orders from The Man in Black. Jon Lord and Ian Paice just followed instructions and, as always, doing a wonderful job in any of the styles commanded. This bringing Ritchie upset and finally deciding to leave the band after the tour from this album, and as a result making his own band, Rainbow, this one following the foot-steps of the hard rock songs from here, which are few, as well as new ideas.

Stormbringer besides the heavy title track, which is unfortunately a misleading opener due to making the listener think it will be another Burn album, the album in general features a soft, chilling mood, never heard before in any Deep Purple album. This is consequence of Glenn's contribution to the band, introducing his funk roots from his first band, Trapeze. Still you got one more rocker, Lady Double Dealer, bringing back memories of their heavy rock days, though to be honest, it's a quite weak one. And at the end of the album, you got Soldier of Fortune and The Gypsy, both in the vein of future Rainbow, led by Ritchie Blackmore, of course. Soldier of Fortune featuring a ballad style, still very interesting, being one of the few acoustic tunes ever made by Deep Purple; Ritchie would make a similar song with Rainbow called Catch the Rainbow, again, with excellent vocal perfomance, this time with Dio. Then The Gypsy, features the darker mood of the title track, more in the style of their previous album, Burn, while not heavy, you can definitely mix it in a compilation with songs from Burn. These 4 songs, Stormbringer, Lady Double Dealer, The Gypsy & Soldier of Fortune, resemble the ''classic'' roots of Burn, no funk influences, just pure Ritchie & Co, rather than the ''real'' MK 3/4, which really is Hughes, Coverdale(and Bolin) & Co.

The rest of the album, Love Don't Mean a Thing, Holy Man, Hold On, You Can't Do It Right and High Ball Shooter, is what made hardcore MK 2, hard rock and Deep Purple fans in general dissapointed. All these songs featuring the new ideas from Mr. Hughes, creating a totally chilled or groovy band, still with excellent song-writing and composition, as well as musicianship. The ones featuring a groovy style would be, You Can't Do It Right and Hold On, with their addictive chorus'. The first one featuring further exploration of the Moog by Jon Lord, which would soon replace his classic Hammond-Organ in the following album, and later in Whitesnake, as well as having addictive riff. Then, Hold On, features addictive, catchy duo vocals, from Hughes and Coverdale, simply STUNNING! As well as a classic guitar solo, and a catchy hammond solo, pittily short. Previously, Love Don't Mean a Thing and Holy Man, are featured in the album, presenting the chilling influences from Hughes. Both featuring a entertaining song-writing and composition, even if they're chilling songs, Love Don't Mean a Thing again features the beautiful duo of vocals, while Holy Man focuses on Glenn's wide high-pitched variation vocals, simply wonderful. Finally High Ball Shooter, being the last song compromising the ''hate'' songs from this album, while oddly enough, this one may boder-line with some hard rock roots, mainly because of it's riff, which was created way back in Burn. Anyways, the song compromises a big funk/groovy influence also, mainly lead by Jon's amazing Organ, which he decides in this song, to make a 1 minute Organ solo, while not as awesome as Lazy's, it's just incredible, and really makes this song excellent.

As you see, Stormbringer is a mixed bag of 4 songs compromising Deep Purple's classic hard rock style, while the rest, are adventuring through new grounds as well as letting more song-writing freedom to the new members. I'm in the odd side here, simply loving the new influences incorporated to the 5 songs mentioned before, while pretty caring less about the 4 classic DP song-writing song, this is surely because these are not excellent written hard rock songs, which if I decide to listen to DP rocking, I take any album from In Rock up to Burn rather than listen to average at best rockers in an excellent groovy/chilling album. Stormbringer truly shows the real talents of Glenn and David as song-writers, as well as vocalists.

Pitty the album isn't consistent, if it were, it would surely be a masterpiece like Come Taste the Band.

4 stars: those who expect another Burn, please don't come here. Those who really want to know David's and Glenn's capabilities as song-writers and vocalists, this album is it. While of course, if you liked this because of the groovy side, then make sure to check the following, Come Taste the Band.

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