_{“Crimson” is the debut album from Italian band Volturian and it was released on 24th April by Scarlet Records. The band was formed by singer Federica Lanna from Sleeping Romance and guitarist, vocalist and keyboard player Federico Mondelli from the band Frozen Crown. The press release describes the band as ‘melodic modern metal with a twist of gothic chic’. The track “Broken” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 10th April.}

_{“A Universe From Nothing” is the fifth album from Danish band Freddy and the Phantoms and it was released through Mighty Music on 24th April. The blues rock band was formed in 2010 by singer and guitarist Frederik ‘Freddy’ Schnoor. The lead-off single from the album “First Blood Universe” was first included on the Friday NI Rocks Show last August, but is included on the Show again on 1st May. The track “Freedom Is A Prison” was included on the Show in January.}

_{“Side By Side” is the fifth studio album from English band Absolva and it was released on 17th April by Rocksector Records. The band was formed by singer and guitarist Chris Appleton in 2012 following the demise of Fury UK and since then it has been almost constantly recording or touring. Chris was my guest on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 6th March and that interview and four tracks from the new album were repeated on the Show on 17th April - http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/3739-ni-rocks-interview-with-chris-appleton-from-absolva.html}

_{“The Dark Delight” is the seventh studio album from Swedish band Dynazty and it was released by AFM Records on 3rd April. The band formed in 2007 and released their debut album in 2009. This is their second album since signing with AFM Records. Singer Nils Molin has also been providing vocals for Amaranthe since replacing Jake E in 2017. The first single from the new album, “Presence of Mind”, was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show back on February, followed by “Heartless Madness” and “Waterfall” in March. “Presence of Mind” was also featured in the NI Rocks A-Z Show on 14th April.}

_{“Worlds Apart” is the first album from a new collaboration between singers Russell Allen and Anette Olzon and it was released on 6th March via Frontiers Music. Another key element in the package is multi instrumentalist and producer Magnus Karlsson (who was my guest on the Show last October). Together those three have delivered a great melodic metal album – hardly surprising really, given the calibre of the artists involved. The album’s title track was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show during January and the track “Never Die” the following month.}

_{“Damon’s Rage” is the sixth solo album from former Silent Rage front-man Jesse Damon. It was released on 28th February by AOR Heaven. The album is very much a two man show with Paul Sabu doing the production as playing bass and keyboards, performing backing vocals and doing the drum programming. Jesse Damon plays lead and rhythm guitar as well as doing lead and backing vocals. The track “Love Gone Wild” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show back in January.}

_{There are two NI Rocks Shows uploaded each week on Rock Radio NI. These are the playlists for those shows for the month of March – all of which are still available from the On Demand Player. There are tracks by around 150 different artists on the Shows this month. Playlists for February were published previously and these Shows are also available via the On Demand Player – http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/news/rrni-updates/3736-ni-rocks-playlists-for-february-2020.html}

_{This month the Friday NI Rocks Show included interviews with Chris Appleton from Absolva and Greg Fraser from Storm Force and Brighton Rock. All interviews can be found here - http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews.html. There was also a special promo feature/interview with Code Orange to coincide with a new album release.}

_{Guitarist Gus G will be known to many as Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist for eight years, but long before he joined up with Ozzy he started a band called Firewind. On 15th May that band releases a new album through AFM Records simply called “Firewind”. If you include a 1998 demo release, it is the tenth studio album to be released by Firewind. Over the past twenty years Gus G has also released an album with Ozzy, three solo albums, three albums with Dream Evil, three albums with Mystic Propecy and two albums with Nightrage; as well as contributing to numerous others.}

_{I recorded an interview with Gus on 3rd April and we chatted about Firewind and the new album, as well as the current Coronavirus crisis, his solo work, a potential instrumental album and much more.}

_{That interview was originally broadcast on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 10th April, but at that point we could only play one track from the new album. It was repeated again on 15th May; this time with three tracks from the new album.  The latter Show is now available from our MixCloud page - https://www.mixcloud.com/NIRocks/interview-with-guitarist-gus-g-from-firewind-ozzy-osbourne-etc-15th-may-2020/}

_{“Mad World” is the twelfth studio album from Swiss band Shakra since they formed in 1997, and the third since the return of lead singer Mark Fox in 2015. It was released on 28th February by AFM Records. I managed to pick-up one of the orange and black marbled vinyl editions of the albumthat were limited to 100 copies! I’ve been a big fan of the band for quite a few years and I’ve featured three tracks from the new album on the Friday NI Rocks Show since mid January – “Too Much Is Not Enough”, “Turn The Light On” and “Fireline”.}

_{“Against” is the fifth album to be released by Italian female-fronted band Secret Rule since they formed in 2014 and I’ve published recommendations for all five. The latest album was released on 21st February through Pride & Joy Music. The band have featured regularly on the NI Rocks Shows on Rock Radio NI over the past five years and the track “Purgatory” from the new album was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 24th January.}