_{Chances are that you won’t have heard of Royal Mess until now. I certainly hadn’t  heard of them until I received a message on the NI Rocks Facebook page from Nalle Pahlsson, the singer, writer and all-round musician behind the band. The message simply suggested that I check out the band. When I did, I really liked what I heard and suggested Nalle send a couple of tracks through for airplay. He very kindly sent through the complete self-titled album ahead of its release on the Melodic Rock Records label on 25th September. After a couple of listens, I really liked the album and reckoned I had 4 or 5 tracks to highlight as favourites. Listening to the album again over the past few days before writing this recommendation, there are now about 10 tracks that I could mention specifically! Bottom line – it’s a great album and I suggest you check it out!}

_{Nalle Pahlsson has been around the music scene in Sweden for many years, playing bass and providing backing vocals for many projects. He was voted Bass Player of the Year on MelodicRock.com in 2010. I noticed that he also turns up in the new video from Nigel Bailey’s band Lifeline for the track “Jezebel”. With Royal Mess, Pahlsson finally gets to release his own album where he provides lead vocals and plays bass, rhythm guitar and keyboards. He also produced and arranged the album. The tracks are also quite personal with many reflecting his own bad relationships and drinking problems. There are many guest appearances on the album; featuring members of Europe, Yngwie Malmsteen, Dynazty, The Poodles, Hammerfall etc.}

{youtube}NIm30KFJ9pA{/youtube}

_{There is a quote from Pahlsson in the press release that accompanied the album which I quite liked – “People also seem to find it refreshing that I have made a classic rock album that reminds them of the Seventies and Eighties. But this is quite simply the kind of music I grew up listening to. I guess the only target group I had in mind was me!”}

_{I played “Hell City” on the Friday NI Rocks Show a few weeks ago and “Gold Digger” is included on the Show this week. The latter is one of those songs that gets stuck in your head all day! It really is difficult to pick a handful of favourites – there are those that you instantly like and others than sneak up on you to become favourites!}

_{For more info check out http://www.royalmess.se/ or https://www.facebook.com/ROYAL-MESS-421691307925595/timeline/}

{youtube}o-0jkmrCTtM{/youtube}

_{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}