RAPTURE OF THE DEEP

This is the hardest one from MK6/7 for me to review. I have conflicting visions here; it has some real good songs; but it is too uneven; maybe only "House Of Blue Light" surpasses it as an uneven work. Fastly speaking, HOBL has a bunch of songs, four of them, very strong; but the rest of the album is simple not easy to be heard. ROTD may not have songs as weak as HOBL; but its strong ones is not as powerful.

Even with this restriction, I can see "Rapture Of The Deep" as a improvement when compared to Bananas. The opener is (as always), a very good song. "Wrong Man" has an interesting guitar riff, not prog related but good to be appreciated by hard rockers ears. The song "Rapture Of The Deep" is good, not essential; "Clearly Quite Absurd" is good, but with Ian´s voice became a highlight in this album. Junkyard blues is ok, not more; and the closer "Before Time Began" is the other peak here.

Now comes the conclusion. Three stars, and the main point here is that about the real good songs, the opener is firmly planted in Deep Purple overall way of performing music and the other one is the closer. There are other average ones, of course; but the weak ones really put the album down. Good, not essential, with moments of bright that makes it deserves public attention.