VARIOUSBlackmore's Castle Volume II' Lion Music (2005) www.lionmusic.com

Like the first volume this one sees mixture of Rainbow and Deep Purple classics and again there is variance in quality! Domain start things off in fine style with a cracking romp through Purple's 'Stormbringer', whilst Dogpound do justice to 'Mary Long' (interestingly the two main people targeted in this song - Mary Whitehouse and Lord Longford - are now dead!) - now an established part of Deep Purple's set. Sadly Orion Riders 'Burn' has a poor production and the speed metal drumming doesn't quite fit the song. House of Shakira put in a fine performance on 'Starstruck', whilst Chris Heaven nearly outdoes Coverdale on 'Soldier Of Fortune'.

With these tribute albums you will either love or hate them - for me personally I enjoy most especially when the band/artist doing the cover tries to add a twist to the original (like Munkes & Kloos on Rainbow's 'All Night Long'). Overall better production and covers than volume one and I fell sure we will see a third volume at some stage in the future.