FIREBALL

"Fireball" is perhaps a bit of an underrated album, because it is very much obscured by the legendary "In Rock" and "Machine Head". "Fireball" is actually a very, very good hard rock album. The album as such is generally characterized by a bluesy boogie drive, which, in many ways, was a common thing in 70s rock music, and there are some progressive elements on it, too.

"Fireball" is certainly very relevant to heavy metal music. The opening track "Fireball" is a hard rocking uptempo track with riffing that has now become standard in heavy metal music, and the track itself may be compared to "Aces High"-style Iron Maiden tracks. "Demon's Eye" is a slow and heavy boogie-driven track which emanates a type of darkness, unusual for Deep Purple, but typical for a lot of heavy metal music. "Fools" is another darker and heavier and quite progressive track (with a really cool main riff), and, interestingly, it contains several sections that make me think of My Dying Bride's avant-garde branch of doom metal (especially the instrumental bridge, whose drum beat would fit right into a doom metal track). "The Mule" probably would not appeal to hardcore metal fans, but in the perspective of 70s rock, it's an outstanding track with a certain psychedelia to it (not unlike early Psychotic Waltz) and some amazing drum work, and I can imagine that some progheads might find it a nice track, too.

While this rock classic may not in its entirety appeal to all progheads, it does contain some progressive elements. I think that open-minded and curious progheads will be able to appreciate it, and fans of rock music in general are bound to like it.