The two hundred and fourty-second album: #242 Deep Purple - Machine Head
We saw the previous Deep Purple album as a starting point of heavy metal and there's no doubt that this album really puts us there. There are prog rock elements in here, with what feels like a showy performance, but it also has the driving riffs, the loud bass and aggressive guitar. The lyrics are what you'd expect from that - some time has gone into them, but none of them feel like they'll change the world either, with few deep meanings to discover. They are, in that sense, more accessible.
Between the extended solos and other jams, the album long tracks tend to lose their identity sometimes. When you get the core riffs and moments, they're at their strongest, but unfortunately they do meander sometimes to the point where they get lost when they do so. I can see that being fine for a casual listen, but it doesn't work as much for me when I want to focus on an album.