When this disc seems, Deep Purple are at low ebb. A career start without interest, personnel changes, an atrocious attempt to merge rock / symphonic music ("Concerto for group and orchestra"); in short they do not interest anyone. And against all odds, they will release one of the most important records in the history of rock, a record that invents itself and defines a genre (in this case the hard rock), both musically and aesthetically ( all the clichés that go with the music: dirty look, long hair, beer, chicks easy ...). Discs that have managed this performance be counted on the fingers of one hand ("Nevermind the bollocks" Pistols for punk, "Nevermind" by Nirvana grunge, "Catch a fire" for Marley reggae). It is found in "In rock 'aggressiveness, brutality, a violence, a rage that Deep Purple will find more. All that hard rock has developed over thirty years is: instrumental virtuosity (guitar solos, organ, drums and mixtures thereof), the guitar-hero (the dark Ritchie Blackmore), singer - Howler (Ian Gillan) ... all in the service of an innovative music (it was in that of Led Zeppelin the other pillar of the kind of bluesy roots and rock'n'roll) without reference to the past: it's all here incredible in the literal sense. Of all the pieces of which none is throwing detaches the epic "Child in Time", driven by outstanding voice performance Gillan.
