Purpendicular – Human Mechanic

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PURPENDICULAR (yes spellcheck, that’s the correct spelling) was founded in 2007 by Irish singer Robby Thomas Walsh, the most booked DEEP PURPLE tribute show in the world three years running (2012- 2014) focusing mainly on the Steve Morse line-up era. Eventually shredding the “tribute” title and developing into a band that carries on the legacy and musical gravitas of DEEP PURPLE, adding their own sound, flavor, and style. Releasing their debut album in 2015 “tHis is the tHing#1”, (yes spellcheck, again, that’s how it’s spelled) followed by the 2017 release of “Venus to Volcanus”. Revamping their line-up (big time) and bringing in the original legendary DEEP PURPLE drummer Ian Paice to release album number 3 in July 2022, “Human Mechanic”, does not get much more PURPLE than that. Musically the album is written around typical Ian Paice grooves with funky disco bass lines but keeping heavy hard rock intact. Being a huge DEEP PURPLE fan, one of the bands that introduced me to metal, I am obviously intrigued and curious on where this album and band will take me, so let’s follow the PURPLE brick road and find out.

The album opens with “Nothing Box” an outer space sound effect and keyboards smoothly yielding to a melodious riff and grooving drumbeats with clean, tight vocals and harmonizing. A definite DEEP PURPLE feel and identity with powering Hammond organ throughout. A nice, bluesy riff and beat on “Ghost” with slower paced, deepened vocals paired with melodic guitar solos spread uniformly throughout. “No One Gets Out Alive” starts out with talking vocals over a punchy riff and nicely balance of keyboards and beefy drums, silky guitar solo that almost has a jazz feel. The title track “Human Mechanic” opens up fairly heavy with gritty and raw vocals by Walsh giving a nice, rocking swagger complementing the diversity of tempo changes. The heaviest song so far is “Four Stone Walls”, with throaty vocals that help give a sharp, harsh sound to a pleasantly divergent song. A bit of an interesting choice to end the album with a somber instrumental piece, “Passing Through” ambient acoustic guitar with a nice contrast of orchestral strings as the backdrop.

Well, I figured a band that was once a DEEP PURPLE tribute band and has Ian Paice on drums plus has performed with Roger Glover (former PURPLE bass player) that there is a chance they could sound pretty similar to DEEP PURPLE, and in most of the songs, they do, but that’s not a negative assessment, I really liked this album and most DEEP PURPLE, and rock fans will too. Yes, you’ll definitely be reminded of Ian Gillian, Ritchie Blackmore, Steve Morse and Jon Lord, but PURPENDICULAR still creates their distinct sound while offering an infusion of blues and rock elements. I will leave on this one simple thought; I would have loved if they could have included one DEEP PURPLE cover song.

Songwriting:  8
Musicianship: 8
Memorability: 8
Production: 8