'70s Metal Band Announces Update Amid 2026 World Tour
Deep Purple is giving fans a closer look at the making of its highly anticipated new album.
The legendary hard rock band has released a new behind-the-scenes video offering an inside preview of Splat!, which arrives July 3. The feature includes exclusive studio footage and interviews with the band as they discuss the creative process behind the album, which is being released while Deep Purple continues its extensive 2026 world tour.
"I think we are an album band and albums are tough because to us and to our hardcore fans an album is a snapshot of time that a song can't necessarily do," said bassist Roger Glover. "Splat! to me sounds like an end of something. To move forward you have to have an end to something in order to move forward."
The new video also sheds light on the meaning behind the album's unusual title.
"Splat! is a title I found in one of my old notebooks from two or three albums ago," shared frontman Ian Gillan. "It's been around for quite a while but up until now it always sounded a bit terminal to me, and I couldn't find anything positive about it until proving down the concept of metamorphosis. It's about humanity's reached its peak on this planet. There's so many of us. So all of a sudden we metamorphosize into our metaphysical state."
Produced once again by longtime collaborator Bob Ezrin, Splat! marks Deep Purple's 24th studio album and follows 2024's =1. The record revisits the dynamics and spirit of Deep Purple's classic early-1970s sound while exploring the concept of transformation rather than destruction.
The album arrives during one of the busiest years of the band's career. Deep Purple's 2026 world tour includes more than 80 performances across Europe and North America, supporting a record that the band has described as its heaviest in years.
"It's now very positive and optimistic because the future is bright," said Gillan. "It feels like a very now, now, now version of Deep Purple as it was in the '70s."
More than five decades after helping define hard rock, Deep Purple continues to look forward as much as it reflects on its past. With Splat! just weeks away and a worldwide tour already underway, the new behind-the-scenes preview offers fans an early glimpse into the next chapter of the band's remarkable career.
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This story was originally published June 20, 2026 at 10:00 PM.