DEEP PURPLE — Burn (review)

DEEP PURPLE — Burn album cover Album · 1974 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
topofsm
Looking back on the earliest forms of metal, the first forms were never terribly extreme. The singers sang basic melodies, the riffs were pretty standard, everything was pretty much midtempo (except on ballads which were slow), and the virtuosity of the instrumentalists was reduced to stringing together a bunch of bent squeals and quick random pentatonic notes.

This was never the case with Deep Purple, always forward-thinking, and their skill on the instruments was clear (especially apparent with Blackmore and Lord). Their 1974 album reached ahead a couple of decades and blasted away with the title track at full speed, full of fast paced instrument solos and neo-classical chords.

The sad thing about this album is after the first track the other tracks, while good in their own right, don't quite match up to the quality of the first. The rest are the rather same midtempo rocks songs the early stages of metal were known for.

This isn't entirely a bad thing. The songs groove like they should and the solos are great of course. However, the title track lets on that the album could be so much better.

That being said, there's plenty to love about the rest of it. There's the syncopation of "You Fool No one" that's downright danceable, and the catchy bumpy chorus of "Lay Down Stay Down". For those who love ballads, David Coverdale is no Ian Gillian, but puts on a lovely show for the bluesy "Mistreated". The closing "A 200" is a spacey prog instrumental with swirling keyboards that any proghead should love. And all through this album there's enough cowbell that Will Ferrell would be satisfied.

This is indeed great work by a legendary band, but most of the songs are again, samey, and could be as fast or energetic as the title track yet fail to do so. That seems to be the album's main flaw: a missed opportunity. The band substituted a metal masterpiece for a single neo-classical metal song and a few bluesy rock tracks. That being said it's a definite must for Purple fans, and prog and metal fans should find it an entertaining listen as well.
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