Stormbringer

I know a lot of people find Stormbringer too mellow, but without proving those people wrong I would say this is probably Deep Purple’s most underrated album.

OK, most tracks are less heavy than the ones on Burn and a lot less heavy than the ones on In Rock or Fireball. But the fact of the matter is that Stormbringer provides us with very strong songwriting. The bulk of the album was written by vocalists Hughes and Coverdale with only a minor role for guitarist - and enfant terrible - Blackmore. This results in a more varied set of songs bearing influences from soul, funk and (especially) blues. Keeping that in mind there is still enough fire in this with heavier songs like Stormbringer and Highball Shooter, who both have killer riffs. The mellow side of the album is probably best represented by the saddest song ever written by Deep Purple: Holy Man. However the very best song is saved for last: Soldier of Fortune, “the best ballad ever written” (in the words of Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt that is). Although Stormbringer is slightly mellow, die hard fans of Blackmore and Lords still get enough inventive guitar riffs and keyboards solo parts.

So if people would just give this album a chance, they would find themselves listening to a great record.