STORMBRINGER

This is a very difficult album to review. Mostly because it is so hard to pay attention to it while it is on the turntable. There is very little of that old Deep Purple energy. In fact, it sounds a lot more like an early ZZ Top album than Deep Purple. It is no wonder that Richie Blackmore left after this album.

The album isn't totally bad, the opening track Stormbringer tries to recreate the magic the band had just a few short years earlier, but doesn't quite get there. Lady Double Dealer tries as well, but fails at the mundane chorus. Not surprisingly, the group disbanded for nearly a decade after the next album, until the classic lineup reunited for the album "Perfect Strangers".