THE BATTLE RAGES ON...

After continual falling outs between Gillan and Blackmore since DP's reunion, The Battle Rages On proved to be the final studio album of the classic lineup. The result was beyond disappointing. The proggy neoclassicism of yore is gone and replaced by what sounds like a sad imitation of the essential Machine Head. Lord and Blackmore play straight-froward hard rock and the wear on Gillan's voice is beginning to show. With Steve Morse, he would learn to adapt his voice, but here he's straining a bit.

"Anya" almost single-handedly redeems the album. This song is a Purple classic with a killer solo from Blackmore. The rest of the songs, however, are mediocre stabs at pop and AC/DC like hard rock. "Talk About Love" and "Time to Kill" sound like Zep imitations, but "A Twist in the Tale" gets things back on track with Paice showing why he's one of the greatest drummers of all time.

All in all, this is a sad swan song for the classic lineup, but Steve Morse's addition would rejuvenate the band. Anya is a classic, but try to find it on its own. This is for stubborn completionists only.

Grade: D