The Battle Rages On...

The Battle Rages On...
Studio album by
Released19 July 1993
RecordedMay 1992 – March 1993[1]
Studio
GenreHard rock
Length50:17
LabelRCA
Producer
Deep Purple chronology
Slaves and Masters
(1990)
The Battle Rages On...
(1993)
Purpendicular
(1996)
Singles from The Battle Rages On...
  1. "Anya"
    Released: 28 June 1993 (EU)[2]
  2. "Time to Kill"
    Released: 1993 (EU)
Ritchie Blackmore chronology
Slaves and Masters
(1990)
The Battle Rages On...
(1993)
Stranger in Us All
(1995)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Blogcritics(mixed)[4]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal8/10[5]
Rock Hard7.0/10[6]
Metal Hammer (GER)7/7[7]

The Battle Rages On... is the fourteenth studio album by the English rock band Deep Purple, released on 19 July 1993 in Europe. It is the last album recorded with the band's classic Mk II line-up, which reunited for a second time (the first reunion being for 1984's Perfect Strangers).

Joe Lynn Turner was fired from the band during the early sessions, with Mike DiMeo initially chosen as his replacement.[8] At the insistence of Jon Lord, Ian Paice and Roger Glover (as well as the band's management and record company), Ian Gillan eventually returned to the band during late 1992 in place of DiMeo, thus reforming the Mk II line-up. Gillan had to rework much of the material already existing for the album, which had been intended for Turner and/or DiMeo. Ritchie Blackmore allegedly became infuriated by Gillan's re-writes, believing the songs were more melodic in their original versions, and he left the band for the second and final time after a show on 17 November 1993 in Helsinki, Finland. Joe Lynn Turner later quoted Blackmore referring to the album as "The cattle grazes on".[9] American guitarist Joe Satriani joined Deep Purple as a temporary replacement for the remainder of the tour. A handful of working tracks written during The Battle Rages On... sessions would turn up on subsequent solo releases by Turner under different song titles.

  1. ^ Popoff, Martin (2018). The Deep Purple Family, vol 2 (2nd ed.). Wymer Publishing. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-908724-87-8.
  2. ^ Popoff, Martin (2018). The Deep Purple Family, vol 2 (2nd ed.). Wymer Publishing. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-908724-87-8.
  3. ^ "Deep Purple The Battle Rages On... review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  4. ^ Bowling, David (21 December 2011). "Music Review: Deep Purple – The Battle Rages On". Blogcritics. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  5. ^ Popoff, Martin (1 August 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. pp. 108–109. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
  6. ^ Breusch, Matthias (August 1993). "Deep Purple – The Battle Rages On". Rock Hard (in German). No. 75. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  7. ^ "Deep Purple – The Battle Rages On". Metal Hammer (in German). No. 54. August 1993. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  8. ^ "Mike DiMeo of Riot/The Lizards/Masterplan | Rikki Rampage's WORLD OF ROCK Forum".
  9. ^ Barton, Geoff (9 March 2005). "Welcome Back... Joe Lynn Turner". TeamRock.com. Retrieved 22 March 2017.