_{This week The Dead Daisies finally confirmed the rumours that Glenn Hughes was joining the band and replacing singer John Corabi and bass player Marco Mendoza. Those rumours sadly slightly over-shadowed the release of the latest album from The Dead Daisies on 23rd August. The album “Locked And Loaded” was released by Spitfire Music and it features ten great covers performed by the various line-ups of The Dead Daisies to date. The track “Fortunate Son” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 2nd August.}

_{Swedish metal band Hammerfall released their eleventh studio album, “Dominion”, through Napalm Records on 16th August. The PR guys at Napalm had sent us through the singles from the album to feature on the Shows and that was enough encouragement for me to purchase “Dominion” when it was released. The album is available as a limited edition boxset or in gold vinyl on the Napalm Records website. The track “(We Make) Sweden Rock” was first played on the Friday NI Rocks Show back in May and was included again on 16th August. The track “One Against The World” was featured in July.}

_{“Warrior” is the third album from Soleil Moon and it was released on 9th August by Frontiers Music. Musically the album is a little too AOR / melodic for me at times, but there can be no doubting that it is an outstanding release in that genre. The band was formed by singer Larry King and keyboard player John Blasucci back in 1999 and those two are at the centre of each album with other musicians making guest appearances.}

_{“Last Place on Earth” is the debut album from Italian band Ardours and it was released on 9th August by Frontiers Music. The band features Mariangela Demurtas, who is the Italian singer for Norwegian gothic metal band Tristania, as well as multi-instrumentalist and producer Kris Laurent. The Ardours sound is more rock and 80’s influenced than the Tristania albums. The track “Last Moments” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show in May and “The Mist” is included on the Show on 30th August.}

_{Bass player Rob De Luca was one of the founding members of the band Spread Eagle back in 1989. The band’s self titled debut album in 1992 was highly praised, but by the time their second album was released the following year the rock music scene had changed and the band split not long after. In 2006 Spread Eagle reformed but it wasn’t until 9th August 2019 that a new album “Subway To The Stars” was released by Frontiers Music. In the interim Rob has also been part of Sebastian Bach’s band and plays bass for rock icons UFO.}

_{I was fortunate enough to grab some time with Rob late on 25th August just before he headed off on a ten week tour across the USA; first of all with Sebastian Bach and then UFO. We chatted on the phone about the new Spread Eagle album, the history of the band, touring with Sebastian Bach, playing with UFO and his other band, Of Earth.}

_{You can hear that interview on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 30th August – available now from the On Demand Player – http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/hosts/ni-rocks-friday-rock-show.html (uploaded 29th Aug).}

_{On 9th August Frontiers Music released three albums from bands that were initially active in the late 80’s and/or early 90’s. I’ve already posted recommendations for the Roxy Blue and Spread Eagle albums. The third is “Big Blue World” by Unruly Child. It’s more melodic / AOR focused than the other two and not all of the track necessarily tick the boxes for me, but it’s definitely worth checking out. The track “Living In Someone Else’s Dream” was included on the NI Rocks A-Z Show in July and “Will We Give Up Today” was on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 16th August.}

_{Frontiers Music have a growing reputation for working with new bands, but they also continue to do what they’ve done for many years – releasing great new albums from bands that first formed in the 80’s or 90’s. This month there were three such releases – I’ve already posted about the Roxy Blue album. Another release worth checking out is “Subway To The Stars”, the exellent new album from Spread Eagle that was released on 9th August. The band had released two albums in the early 90’s and reformed in 2006, but this is their first new album since then. The track “Grand Slam” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show in June and there will be more from the band on the Show very soon.}

_{American band Roxy Blue returns with the release of a self-titled album through Frontiers Music on 9th August. The band had formed in Memphis in 1989 and released the album “Want Some?” in 1992 before splitting shortly afterwards. That album eventually gained some recognition and something of an iconic / cult status. The band has recently reformed and recorded their first new tracks in almost thirty years. “Silver Lining” was featured on the Friday NI Rocks Show in June and “Rockstar Junkie” on 16th August. There will be more from the band on the Show very soon.}

_{On 20th September American band Axe release their first studio album in almost twenty years, after being talked into coming out of retirement by Escape Music Ltd. At the heart of Axe is of course guitarist Bobby Barth, who was also the band’s lead vocalist on their earlier albums from 1979 to 1983. He was also the frontman and guitarist for Blackfoot for several years. I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity to chat with Bobby on the phone for almost 40 minutes on 19th August and we talked about the new Axe album, the history of the band, working with Blackfoot and much more.}

_{You can hear that interview on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 23rd August – available now from the On Demand Player - http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/hosts/ni-rocks-friday-rock-show.html (uploaded 22nd Aug) and from our MixCloud page - https://www.mixcloud.com/NIRocks/interview-with-bobby-barth-from-axe-and-formerly-blackfoot/}

_{“Nothing But Wild” is the fourth album from German rockers The New Roses and it was released by Napalm Records on 2nd August. The band formed officially in 2012 and had released a couple of albums before they caught my attention in 2017. Since then I’ve played tracks from the third and fourth albums a few times on the Shows and had already purchased “Nothing But Wild” on iTunes before it appeared in our inbox. The track “Down By The River” was on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 12th July, followed by “Glory Road” on 9th August.}