STORMBRINGER

Although I'm not big fan of David Coverdale, he did a great job here. Luckily, Coverdale is not trying to be Gillan's carbon copy. The whole band took a slight turn instead. Personally, I think that slight turn was an improvement. The band distanced from thunderstriking hard rock numbers with screaming vocals, and meandered into something more mature. One can criticize a certain lack of the energy that was present on earlier DP records, but the band refunded that in other ways. Lord uses synths and electric pianos rather than his Hammond C3. Blackmore's Strat doesn't sound so frenetic anymore, his solos are bold and effective. I don't mind if they are not too daring or experimenting as long as you can describe the whole picture as good. Fear not, this album is far away from their awful 80's works. Aside from omnipresent blues roots, you can find traces of funky and soul here. This mixing of the different (sometimes opposite) musical styles is usually not a good idea (at least outside of the prog rock world), but this album is perfectly balanced and mature. There is not much of an interest for a prog rock lover, save the Lord's lovely solos and guitar in "The Gypsy". "Stormbringer" is mature and stable album. Good sound quality, but not overproduced. If you like 70's mainstream rock/hard-rock/AOR, and you are fed up with all that prog and you want to take some rest for a while enjoying simpler but yet high quality music, this might be just for you.

This is radio-friendly rock at its best. A well-deserved three stars.