_{“Discharge” is the excellent debut album from Brazilian band Electric Mob and it was released on 12th June by Frontiers Music. The album has produced one of the best singles of 2020 – the awesome track “Devil You Know”, which has featured on the Friday NI Rocks Show three times so far as well as on the NI Rocks A-Z Show. The tracks “Upside Down” and “Far Off” have also featured on the Friday NI Rocks Show recently.}

_{“New World – New Eyes” is the new album from House of Lords and it was released on 12th June by Frontiers Music. It is the band’s twelfth studio album and their ninth since reforming in 2000. All the albums since 2000 have been released by Frontiers Music. I’ve played four tracks from the new album on the Friday NI Rocks Show since March – “One More”, “New World New Eyes”, “Chemical Rush” and most recently “The Chase”.}

_{British band FM released their latest studio album, “Synchronized” through Frontiers Music on 22nd May. It is the band’s twelfth studio album since they formed initially in 1984 and their seventh since reforming in 2007. Bass player Merv Goldsworthy, one of FM’s founding members, was my guest on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 29th May when we played four tracks from the new album - http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/3760-ni-rocks-interview-with-merv-goldsworthy-from-fm.html . The singles “Synchronized” and “Superstar” had also featured on the Show previously.}

_{Sunday the 14th June, will mark the 25th anniversary of the passing of the late, lamented musician Rory Gallagher.}

_{With the current lockdown restrictions, understandably, events have had to be curtailed for the occasion; with the postponement of the unveiling of a statue outside of the Ulster Hall in Belfast, and the annual Rory Gallagher four-day music festival, in Ballyshannon, Ireland plus other planned tribute shows.}

_{However, like the musician’s own ability to improvise, the day will be marked by Rory followers around the world.}

_{There are two NI Rocks Shows uploaded each week on Rock Radio NI. These are the playlists for those shows for the month of May – all of which are still available from the On Demand Player. There are tracks by over 150 different artists on the Shows this month. Playlists for April were published previously and these Shows are also available via the On Demand Player – http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/news/rrni-updates/3757-ni-rocks-playlists-for-april-2020.html}

_{This month the Friday NI Rocks Show included a new interview with Merv Goldsworthy from FM, plus a repeat of the interview with guitarist Gus G from Firewind. All interviews can be found here - http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews.html.}

_{Firewind released their latest album via AFM Records on 15th May, and guitarist Gus G was my guest on the Friday NI Rocks Show to talk about the album, simply entitled “Firewind”. It is the band’s tenth studio album if you include the 1998 demo that was released, and the first with new singer Herbie Langhans. The interview with Gus G was originally included on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 10th April with one track from the new album, but was repeated again on 15th May with three tracks from “Firewind”. The interview can be read here - http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/3749-ni-rocks-interview-with-gus-g.html}

_{“Undress Your Madness” by Pretty Maids was one of my favourite albums of 2019 and the song “Serpentine” was probably the track of the year. When the album was released in November, singer Ronnie Atkins was in the midst of a battle with cancer. A few months later he has made good progress and Pretty Maids have just released the album “Maid in Japan – Back to the Future World” through Frontiers Music. I had the opportunity to chat with Ronnie via Skype on 3rd June. We chatted about the recent Pretty Maids releases, his ongoing battle with lung cancer, the impact of Covid-19, his involvement in the Nordic Union project and more.}

_{You can hear that interview on the Friday NI Rocks Show from 5th June which is now available from our MixCloud page - https://www.mixcloud.com/NIRocks/interview-with-ronnie-atkins-from-pretty-maids-on-the-friday-ni-rocks-show-5th-june-2020/}

_{English band Ryders Creed released their second album, “Lost Souls”, through Off Yer Rocka Recordings on 8th May. The band formed in 2016 and released their self titled debut in 2018. The track “Headspace” from that album was featured on the Friday NI Rocks Show twice that year. The lead off single from the new album was called “Lost Soul” and this was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 8th May.}

_{The latest Axel Rudi Pell album “Sign of the Times” was released by Steamhammer / SPV on 8th May – and it would be impossible not to post a recommendation! This the nineteenth studio album from ARP in just over thirty years. A prolific recording cycle has seen a new album appear every two years since 1989 – except for a few occasions when there were releases in consecutive years. I’ve now posted something about the last four studio albums. The track “Gunfire” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show in April and I’ll be featuring more tracks soon.}

_{“Phase Three” is the third album to be released by German band DeVicious in three years, but the first with their new lead singer. The album was released on 8th May by Metalapolis Records. I’d posted recommendations for the bands previous two albums and the new album is equally well worth checking out. The lead-off track “Firefly” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show in February and on the NI Rocks A-Z Show in March. The track “Mysterious” was featured on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 1st May.}