_{Burning Rain have been around since 1998 but “Epic Obsession” is only the third album by the band that features Doug Aldrich on guitars, Keith St John on vocals, Sean McNabb on bass and Mat Starr on drums. The album is released by Frontiers Records on 17th May 2013. As is to be expected what you get is an album full of great tracks liberally sprinkled with Mr Aldrich’s magic touch on guitar and powerfully delivered by Mr St John. And you certainly don’t get short changed either with 14 tracks lasting almost an hour and a quarter!}

 

WELL, no Belfast date, but don't forget your June slice of prog-metal weirdness as Mastodon play in Dublin on June 12 and 13th at The Academy - given the first night clashes with Slayer and Walking Dudes in Belfast some might be tempted to see the Atlanta men once again.

IF there is one quintessential rule in any music genre - but especially in metal - it is to get yourself a memorable name. And only the stupidest person would deny that 7.5 Tonnes of Beard is a memorable name.

The next rule is to get yourself some damn good music. And sometimes the more extreme that music the better.

OH DEAR Lord Lemmy forgive us humble mortals for we be bereft of the funds to be worshiping at the glorious altars of rock and metal this week!

And what a week there is in store for us humble souls...

Saturday - take your pick - Limelight 2's Distortion Project with By Any Means, Skypilot, Warcrux and Death By Consent or

OKAY people, by now you shouldn't need any more reasons to head along to see Audrey Horne on Monday night other than seeing the immense Audrey Horne, but we'll give you another four letter reason to make sure you are there - SAHG.

Norwegian doom psychedelia rock, SAHG is a one of the many projects King has in the bag, and this

 

_{Bands like Trucker Diablo and albums like “Songs of Iron” are what led me to start NI Rocks over 4 years ago. Great local bands producing fantastic music that should be heard by rock fans around the world!! Of course in the three years since I first saw Trucker Diablo perform, the band has engineered a fairly successful assault on the international music scene, getting signed to Ripple Music, making numerous festival appearances and supporting some big name bands. The band’s second album “Songs of Iron” is the next step up the ladder and is released on 14th May.}

 

THE winners have been drawn from the Belfastmetalheadsreunited/rockradioni Audrey Horne competition; the Jager baseball hat was filled with more than 100 entries and drawn from the hat were Wayne and Mark/

They have already been notified via email, so if you didn't get an email - you're NOT a winner.

Which means you've now no

 

_{I have to admit to being a big fan of The Burning Crows, having played tracks from their debut EP “Never Had It So Good” quite extensively on Rock Radio NI over the past year and having seen them play in Auntie Annies in Belfast in September. You’ll also find an interview with Lance and Whippz from last August on the RRNI website. So, needless to say when the promotional package for their new album “Behind The Veil” landed in my email in-box I had high expectations, particularly after watching the video for the first single release “All The Way”. I wasn’t to be disappointed!}

 

WHEN it comes to Trucker Diablo you can be guaranteed of a superb live show, but after the phenomenal success of début album The Devil's Rhythm, can they repeat it on record, or will they suffer from second album syndrome that afflicts so many bands?

Rather than just take our views on this we enlisted three other reviewers for their