Deep Purple have released the second track from their forthcoming album Splat!, with Australian country rock star Keith Urban joining the band on guitar for the new single Diablo.
by Paul Cashmere
Deep Purple have unveiled Diablo, the latest preview of their upcoming studio album Splat!, bringing an unexpected collaboration with Australian-born global superstar Keith Urban. The track arrives ahead of the album’s July 3 release through earMUSIC and follows the first single Arrogant Boy, offering another glimpse into what the veteran British rock band describes as one of its most ambitious projects in years.
The release is significant not simply because it marks another new chapter for one of hard rock’s most enduring bands, but because it pairs Deep Purple’s classic rock pedigree with one of contemporary music’s most accomplished guitarists. Urban, a Grammy Award-winning performer whose career has largely been associated with country and country rock, contributes second guitar on Diablo, adding another layer to a song that the band says is built around the traditional Deep Purple strengths of riffs, groove and live studio chemistry.
Diablo also expands the conceptual world at the centre of Splat!. According to the band, the song introduces listeners to a surreal narrative landscape described as “the most dangerous place on earth”, where a heroine undertakes a series of bizarre adventures, crossing a river, entering a fighting pit, celebrating with a bucket of wine, falling into a glitter pool and eventually returning home with a story to tell.
Frontman Ian Gillan said the song’s message centres on risk-taking and embracing the unexpected.
“It is all about taking chances. Just for once in your life, do something exciting, step out of the mould, take that curious bend in the road instead of sticking to the highway and do something that will, for the rest of your life, either guide or warn you,” Gillan said.
The accompanying video for Diablo premiered through earMUSIC’s YouTube channel, featuring the band performing the track. Fans attending the online premiere were also given the opportunity to interact with bassist Roger Glover during a live chat session.
Musically, Diablo continues the direction established by Arrogant Boy, suggesting that Splat! will lean heavily into the band’s hard rock foundations. Deep Purple have described the record as their heaviest collection in many years, with the group once again recording together in the studio rather than assembling performances remotely.
The album marks the sixth collaboration between Deep Purple and producer Bob Ezrin, whose relationship with the band stretches back to 2013’s Now What?!. Ezrin has since overseen InFinite (2017), Whoosh! (2020), Turning To Crime (2021), =1 (2024) and now Splat!. His wider production credits include landmark recordings for Kiss, Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper and Lou Reed.
For Deep Purple, Splat! arrives during a remarkably productive late-career period. Formed in 1968, the band has sold more than 120 million albums worldwide and remains one of the foundational acts of hard rock. Songs such as Smoke On The Water, Highway Star and Lazy helped define the genre in the early 1970s, while the classic Mark II line-up featuring Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore produced albums that remain cornerstones of rock history.
Today’s line-up features Gillan, Glover, Paice, keyboard player Don Airey and guitarist Simon McBride, who joined the band following the departure of Steve Morse and made his studio debut on 2024’s =1. Splat! is McBride’s second album with the group and continues the evolution of a line-up that has successfully balanced legacy with renewal.
Gillan has suggested that the band’s current creative momentum recalls Deep Purple’s most celebrated era.
“Where we are now with this incarnation of Deep Purple feels very much like a very ‘now’ version of Deep Purple as it was in the ’70s,” he said.
Thematically, Splat! is built around an idea developed by Gillan that examines transformation rather than destruction. The album explores the end of humanity as a form of metamorphosis rather than a traditional apocalyptic narrative, providing a conceptual thread that links its songs together.
With a European summer tour about to begin and an extensive world tour planned across 28 countries, Deep Purple continue to operate with a workload that rivals artists half their age. Diablo provides another indication that the band is not content to rely on its catalogue alone. Instead, nearly six decades after its formation, Deep Purple is still writing new material, embracing fresh collaborations and extending one of rock music’s most influential legacies.
Tracklisting:
Arrogant Boy
Diablo
The Rider
The Lunatic
The Only Horse In Town
Sacred Land
The Beating Of Wings
Guilt Trippin’
Scriblin’ Gib’rish
Jessica’s Bra
Third Call
My New Movie
Splat!
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