THE BATTLE RAGES ON...

In 1993 Ian Gillan was back in the game, joining the other guys for the final, definitive Mk II reunion and they gave light to "The Battle Rages On..." To be honest, from Deep Purple Mk II, was right to expect much more than what in the end this album actually is. The whole sound of it reminds much of that mainstream 80's metal, with even epic metal influences, expecially in the lyrics, with less technical skills from the players, because, let's not be hypocrite: Blackmore is not Van Halen and nobody would want it that way. Most of the songs are quite useless, and yes, some of them even boring not to say embarassing, I'm referring to "Time To Kill", anyway there are some brilliant numbers: "The Battle Rages On", "Lick It Up", "A Twist In The Tale"... anyway we must consider this is a Progressive site, and there's close to nothing in this terms on "The Battle Rages On..."

2 Stars.