Warhorse-Warhorse (1970)

In 1969, Deep Purple released their third album, and almost immediately two of its members, Nicky Simper and Rod Evans, left the band at the express invitation of Ritchie Blackmore. From then on, both musicians would go their separate ways. Evans founded the band Captain Beyond, and Simper did the same with Warhorse. While Captain Beyond focused its style on progressive sounds, Warhorse continued with a hard rock style similar to Deep Purple. To found Warhorse, Nick Simper joined forces with singer Ashley Holt, guitarist Ged Peck, keyboardist Frank Wilson, and drummer Mac Poole. In 1970, Warhorse released their self-titled album on the Vertigo label, an excellent hard rock record driven by Wilson's Hammond organ, Peck's powerful guitar riffs, and Holt's squeaky vocals, with a style quite similar to Vanilla Fudge but without abandoning the Deep Purple sound. They were soon criticized for a lack of originality and for not trying to create their own sound, relying instead on overly obvious Deep Purple influences. Even so, this debut album contains outstanding moments such as the dynamic opening track "Vulture Blood", the epic "No Chance", the powerful "Burning", the heavy "Ritual", and the progressive hard rock tracks "Solitude" and "Woman of the Devil". Two years later came Warhorse's second and final album, "Red Sea", a less balanced record, though with some very noteworthy tracks like the superb heavy prog "Back in Time", the progressive "Mouthpiece", and the hard rock title track, "Red Sea". Some time later, Warhorse disbanded due to their limited success and recognition, an unfair end for a group that certainly had the skills and talent to achieve great things. However, their constant comparisons to such an iconic band as Deep Purple took their toll, ultimately leading them to fade into obscurity.