Deep Purple have unveiled ‘Guilt Trippin”, the third single from their forthcoming album ‘Splat!’, with Ian Gillan revealing the track began with an improvised vocal performance before evolving into one of the record’s most distinctive songs.
by Paul Cashmere
Deep Purple have released ‘Guilt Trippin”, the latest preview of their upcoming studio album ‘Splat!’, due on July 3 through earMUSIC. The new track arrives just weeks before the release of the band’s twenty-fourth studio album and continues a rollout that has already included the singles ‘Arrogant Boy’ and ‘Diablo’. Accompanied by a new music video, ‘Guilt Trippin” offers another glimpse into what the band describes as its heaviest album in many years.
The release is significant because it further defines the musical and conceptual direction of ‘Splat!’, a record that Deep Purple believe reconnects with the energy and dynamics of the band’s most celebrated era. Nearly six decades after forming in 1968, Deep Purple continue to produce new studio material at a pace that few heritage rock acts have maintained. For fans, ‘Guilt Trippin” provides another indication that the current line-up remains focused on new creative work rather than relying solely on the group’s extensive catalogue.
According to Ian Gillan, the origins of ‘Guilt Trippin” were unusually spontaneous.
“The song starts, and I’m in the studio,” Gillan said. “I don’t have any words for it yet. So I just start screaming. It was the pure joy of yelling it.”
Gillan added that the performance made him reconsider a promise he made to himself decades ago.
“I vowed when I was 40 that I’d stop screaming by the time I was 60. Now I’m looking back and thinking, ‘Whatever happened to that?’ So we’ll give it a go.”
The song itself imagines a conversation between God and Charles Darwin, with the pair reflecting on the state of humanity while sharing a drink. The accompanying video takes an equally surreal approach, following a fly and a sycamore seed spacecraft through a strange and increasingly dreamlike landscape.
‘Guilt Trippin” follows ‘Arrogant Boy’, released in May, and ‘Diablo’, which arrived earlier this month. The latter track attracted attention for featuring Australian guitarist Keith Urban as a guest performer, a collaboration previously reported by Noise11.
‘Splat!’ continues Deep Purple’s long-running partnership with producer Bob Ezrin, whose relationship with the band began with 2013’s ‘Now What?!’. Since then, Ezrin has overseen ‘InFinite’, ‘Whoosh!’, ‘Turning To Crime’, ‘=1′ and now ‘Splat!’, making this his sixth consecutive studio album with the group.
The album also marks the second Deep Purple studio release featuring guitarist Simon McBride, following 2024’s ‘=1′. McBride joined the band after the departure of Steve Morse and has become an important part of the group’s contemporary sound.
Gillan has suggested that the new material reconnects directly with the musical spirit of classic Deep Purple.
“I have to say, now we are very much back in with material that is compatible with ‘Highway Star’, ‘Smoke On The Water’, and ‘Lazy’, the dynamics, the balance, and the fun of the music we made from ’69 to ’73,” he said.
He added: “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 seventies.”
At the centre of the album is a concept developed by Gillan that examines transformation rather than destruction. The record explores the end of humanity as a process of metamorphosis beyond physical existence rather than through traditional apocalyptic imagery.
The project arrives during a period when many veteran rock acts are concentrating primarily on anniversary tours and catalogue celebrations. Deep Purple have instead maintained a steady stream of new releases over the past decade, demonstrating an ongoing commitment to studio recording. The continued involvement of Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice and Don Airey, alongside McBride, has allowed the band to balance continuity with evolution.
With ‘Splat!’ set for release on July 3 and a major world tour already underway across Europe before moving to North America and returning to Europe and the United Kingdom later in the year, Deep Purple remain one of rock’s most active and productive legacy bands. ‘Guilt Trippin” provides another indication that the group intends to keep building its catalogue rather than simply celebrating its past.
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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