Here they go again. Eight years after their last album of original material — and four after frontman David Coverdale revisited his too-brief mid-’70s Deep Purple days on the underappreciated tribute disc The Purple Album — the British hard-rock hitmakers are finally back with their repeatedly delayed 13th studio album. And as you might expect, Flesh & Blood walks the line between punchy, propulsive arena-rock, hair-metal anthems and poppier radio-ready singles and power ballads — with a dash of British blues-rock and some Kashmir-ish Zep jamming thrown in for good measure. The best of the rockers are reminiscent of Mötley Crüe at their Sunset Strip sleaze-rock height. The best of the singles don’t quite rise to the hooky heights of Slide It In, Here I Go Again or Slow An’ Easy, but hey, you can’t have everything. You’ll have to content yourself with the fact that Coverdale’s bluesy vocals haven’t lost a step, and the band this time around still features both long-serving guitarist Reb Beach and thundering drummer Tommy Aldridge. Come and get it.
