_{When I saw Ralf Scheepers was listed as the vocalist on this album it immediately raised my expectations and I wasn’t to be disappointed. Blackwelder is a new collaboration of artists and “Survival of the Fittest” is their debut album. It was released through GoldenCore Records / ZYX Music on 24th April. Primal Fear frontman Scheepers is recognised as one of the best voices in power metal, which is why he was selected by Blackwelder’s founder Andrew Szucs for this project.}

_{Szucs is a well established guitarist from Cincinnati, probably best known for his work in Seven Seraphim. This album was apparently commenced by Szucs as a Seven Seraphim album, but he realised that it was a very different  sound that needed a new band. Bjorn Englen (Dio Disciples / ex Yngwie Malmsteen) was recruited to play bass and Primal Fear’s Aquiles Priester joined to play drums; before vocalist Scheepers completed the line-up.}

_{From the first listen, the stand-out track for me was “Freeway of Life”. This is included on the Friday NI Rocks Show broadcast 8th May. Other favourites would include “The Night of New Moon”, “With Flying Colours” and “Oriental Spell”.}

_{For more info check out https://www.facebook.com/BlackwelderMetal}

_{About “NI Rocks Recommends”}

_{The simple idea behind “NI Rocks Recommends” is to acknowledge and promote some of the great music being submitted to Rock Radio NI. I'll not be giving marks or ratings or analyzing the tracks in great detail; just telling you something about the artist and the album. It’s a personal recommendation, not a traditional “review”!}

_{My musical tastes cover most things rock; from the not too melodic to the not too heavy. The albums that I’ll be recommending are merely those that I would buy myself and which you’ll be hearing played on my shows on Rock Radio NI.}

_{Check out NI Rocks on Facebook – www.facebook.com/NIRocks or Twitter - www.twitter.com/NIrelandRocks}