Purple Storm A Tribute To Deep Purple Review
Purple Storm
A Tribute To Deep Purple
Cleopatra Records
2026
Hot on the heels of the brilliant Rainbow Tribute, Cleopatra Records has already dropped another tribute, and this time they’re keeping it in the Blackmore family with a tribute to Deep Purple. I might be the only person on the planet who has a love/hate relationship with Deep Purple; there’s just so much of it and so many different eras that never quite caught my interest completely. That said, a tribute with the usual suspects from Cleo will always warrant my attention, so I was more than happy to give this one a spin.
Digging in deep here, the first track to really scratch my itch in a new way is L.A. Guns’ take on “Space Truckin’.” I thought it was unique as hell, mostly because of Phil Lewis’ vocal work. He all but attacks the microphone, screaming his ass completely off, and then there’s Tracii Fuckin’ Guns delivering a screaming guitar solo. The purists will probably turn their noses up, but they can all get in line and kiss my ass, L.A. Guns kicked some gigantic Rock Ass here!
“Child In Time” could’ve been an absolute disaster if not for Ronnie Romero’s brilliant vocal stylings, this guy has a SIREN for a voice, and Mr. Mean Man himself, Chris Holmes, on guitar. Jonathan Cain’s keyboard work, however, is redundant and sounds ridiculously amateurish, annoying me to no end. Seriously, I’m not sure how he found himself on a track with Chris Holmes and Ronnie Romero, but I hope it’s the last time it happens. Holmes proves himself once again to be one of the greatest guitar players on the planet here, so that makes up for it.
Backing it up a bit, “Smoke On The Water,” which has been covered to death through the years, gets the holy hellfire all-star treatment. Truthfully, I wasn’t looking forward to this one, but thanks to the always impressive George Lynch and Graham Bonnet, it rips hard. Bonnet leans in and digs deep, like only he can, while Lynch picks out the main guitar riff instead of simply strumming it. I thought this was a great idea and certainly a different take. Admittedly, it sounds a little like “Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love,” but that could just be George’s approach. Either way, it breathes some much-needed new life into a track most of us have heard a million times.
Angel once again tries to steal the show, much like they did on the Rainbow tribute, with their blistering version of “Woman From Tokyo.” Granted, this tune isn’t quite as heavy, or at least the band’s approach isn’t as heavy, as their take on “Lady Of The Lake.” It’s still effective, though, and given that Angel hasn’t been doing a whole hell of a lot for a while, it’s damn exciting to see them getting their licks in again after all this time. Musically and vocally, the band is spot on. They don’t overrun the original and instead approach it with the respect it deserves.
“Hush” gets a wild-ass treatment featuring the incomparable Arthur Brown on vocals, and he just goes completely off the deep end. Surprisingly, it works out rather well. Furthering the strength of this track is the drumming of Carmine Appice, who consistently adds so much to a song through his playing. Joel Hoekstra’s guitar work is pretty smokin’ too; he’s downright ferocious here.
“Speed King” features both Thor and Marc Lopes on the mic, which gets a bit wilder than I would’ve liked in parts, but the approach works out well. I’m not going to lie; I like hearing them trade lines and dig in. The guitar work of Chris Poland and Brandon Ellis is a nice tandem that I didn’t see coming, and their interplay with Derek Sherinian’s keyboards is great too. If it were up to me, I would’ve preferred Sherinian handle the bulk of the keyboard work on this tribute, especially considering what we get from Cain elsewhere.
Lastly, and with good reason, Jason McMaster of Dangerous Toys, Broken Teeth and Ignitor handles the vocals for “Stormbringer.” This is worth the price of admission and certainly the ticket to ride. McMaster pays great tribute to the original, and his voice was built for stuff like this. I’ve heard him sing several classics from this era and he never disappoints. McMaster is a God on the microphone, no doubt about it. I should also mention that Marty Friedman handles the guitar work here, which works out perfectly. His playing is insane, and when he locks in with the keyboards at one point, it works even better.
I only have a couple of real issues with this tribute. First is Cain, whose work on “Child In Time” is almost unlistenable to my ears. Secondly, the fact that “Soldier Of Fortune” wasn’t included is a big miss. How can you not include that one here? It would’ve been perfect for McMaster, Romero or L.A. Guns. I might be in the minority here, but it’s one of my favorite Deep Purple tracks, and it would’ve added a great deal more shine and heart to this tribute.
Lastly, this thing is a bit brief in general. I would’ve loved to have had three or four more songs to jam on. It’s Deep Purple for crying out loud, we could’ve used a little bit more. We, and the band, deserve it.
Outside of those few things, this is a great tribute, and none of them are deal breakers. I’ll admit I’m still a bit miffed that Cain played on the same track as Chris Holmes, but hey, nobody’s perfect.
If you got off on the Rainbow tribute, this one will still ring your bell, just not quite as loudly.