A regular recap highlighting some of my favourite album releases each month. I don’t do “reviews” – this is simply a few words about the albums that appeal to me and about the artists releasing them. Tracks from these albums will have been featured on the Friday NI Rocks Shows over the past few months. This month we focus on new albums from Thundermother, Juliet’s Not Dead, Crazy Lixx, XIII Doors, Francesco Marras,  Avantasia and Robin McAuley.

 

_{THUNDERMOTHER – “Dirty & Divine” – AFM 7^th Feb}

_{“Dirty & Divine” is the sixth studio album from Swedish band Thundermother, but their first with new singer Linnea Vikström Egg. It was released on 7^th February by AFM Records. The track “Speaking of the Devil” was featured on the Friday NI Rocks Show back in January and March 2024, followed by “So Close” in September, “Dead or Alive” in November, “Bright Eyes” on 10^th Jan 2025 and “Can’t Put Out The Fire” on 17^th Jan.}

 

_{The band was formed by guitarist Filippa Nässil in 2009 and has gone through a number of line-up changes including in 2017 and 2023 when all the band members left except for Filippa. The debut album in 2014 and second album in 2015 featured Irish singer Clare Cunningham, whilst the next three albums between 2018 and 2022 featured Guernica Mancini.}

 

_{The new line-up has Filippa on guitar, Linnea on vocals, Majsan Lindberg on bass and Joan Massing on drums. Linnea was my guest on the Show back in 2018 when she released an album with QFT - https://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/3355-interview-with-linnea-vikstrom}

 

_{Website - https://www.thundermother.com/}

 

 

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_{JULIET’S NOT DEAD – “This World is Ours” TMR 7^th February}

_{“This World Is Ours” is the debut album from English band Juliet’s Not Dead, however they previously released an album under the name Twister. The album was released on 7^th February by TMR Records. The track “Thrillseekers” featured on the Friday NI Rocks Show back in October 2024 and “Sinner or Saint” more recently on 7^th February.}

 

_{Juliet’s Not Dead are Stevie Stoker on vocals and guitar, Dan King on guitar, Niall Whittaker on bass and Jack Corbett on drums.}

 

_{Website - https://www.julietsnotdead.com/}

 

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_{CRAZY LIXX – “Thrill of the Bite” – Frontiers 14^th February}

_{Crazy Lixx is a band that I’ve been wanting to see live for many years and that will finally happen this May when they before in Belfast as part of the BEL-AOR ROCKS Festival. The Swedish rockers released their ninth studio album, “Thrill of the Bite”, through Frontiers Music on 14^th February. So far five tracks have featured on the Friday NI Rocks Show - “Call of the Wild” in September 2024, “Little Miss Dangerous” in October and November, “Midnight Rebels” in November 2024 and January 2025, “Hunt for Danger” on 24^th January and “Who Said Rock n Roll is Dead” on 14^th February.}

 

_{Singer Danny Rexon has been a guest on the Friday NI Rocks show twice – first in 2014 and then again in 2019 - https://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/3597-ni-rocks-interview-with-danny-rexon-from-crazy-lixx-2019}

 

_{The other band members are Jens Lundgren and Chrisse Olsson on guitar, Jens Andersson on bass and Robin Nilsson on drums.}

 

_{Website - https://www.crazylixx.com/}

 

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_{XIII DOORS – “Into The Unknown” – Independent 20^th February}

 

_{Irish band XIII Doors released their debut album “Into The Unknown” on 20^th February – around the same time as it was announced that they would be supporting Michael Schenker on tour in Belfast and Dublin in May. The track “Face The Truth” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show back in August 2024 whilst “See How You’ve Come So Far” featured in January and “Sorceress of Lies” on 21^st February.}

 

_{XIII Doors are DJ O’Sullivan on lead vocals and guitar, Flash Murphy on guitar, Pat Byrne on bass and Cian O’Sullivan on drums.}

 

_{Website - https://www.xiiidoors.com/}

 

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_{FRANCESCO MARRAS – “Out of the Fire” – Hell Tour Productions 21^st Feb}

_{He is probably best known as the guitarist in Tygers of Pan Tang and Screaming Shadows, but Francesco Marras released his latest solo album, “Out of the Fire”, on 21^st February.}

_{There was an interview with Francesco and three tracks from the album on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 28^th February. Those tracks were “Lost Souls” (featuring David Readman on vocals), “Soldiers of the Light” (featuring Daniele Ledda on vocals) and Carnival of Darkness (featuring Gianni Pontillo on vocals). The first of those tracks had previously featured on the Show in June 2024, whilst “Soldiers of the Light” was first played on the Show in January of 2024 . Other tracks to have been featured are “More Than Life” in October and “Cyber Lust” (featuring Iacopo Readman on vocals) in December.}

 

_{Six of the tracks on the album feature Francesco on vocals, whilst the other four feature guest vocalists.}

 

_{Interview - https://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/3926-ni-rocks-interview-with-francesco-marras}

 

_{Website - https://www.francescomarras.com/}

 

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_{AVANTASIA - “Here Be Dragons” – Napalm 28^th February}

_{“Here Be Dragons” is the tenth studio album from Avantasia, but their first with Napalm Records who released the album on 28^th February. There was a special promo feature with Tobias Sammet talking about the new album on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 28^th February along with the tracks “The Witch” featuring Tommy Karevik and “Against The Wind” featuring Kenny Leckremo. The latter track had already featured on 21s Feb, whilst the track “Creepshow” was included on the Show in December.}

 

_{Avantasia was initially formed by Edguy vocalist Tobias Sammet as a two album studio project but developed into a multi album, live music extravaganza often described as a rock opera. The first two albums were released in 2001 and 2002 and over the years a huge number of guest vocalists and musicians have participated on the albums or in the live performances.}

 

_{The vocalists on the latest album are Geoff Tate, Michael Kiske, Tommy Karevik, Ronnie Atkins, Bob Catley, Adrienne Cowan, Kenny Leckremo and Roy Khan.}

_{Ronnie Atkins interview 2020 - https://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/3765-ni-rocks-interview-with-ronnie-atkins-from-pretty-maids}

_{Bob Catley interview 2016 - https://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/2621-ni-rocks-interview-with-bob-catley-from-magnum}

 

_{Website - https://avantasia.com/}

 

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_{ROBIN MCAULEY – “Soulbound” – Frontiers 28^th February}

_{Irish singer Robin McAuley will be best known for his collaborations with Michael Schenker, but over the past few years has released two albums with Black Swan and a number of solo albums. “Soulbound”, which is his fourth solo album was released by Frontiers Music on 28^th February and is his third solo album in four years. The track “Til I Die” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show in December, followed by “Soulbound” on 10^th January and “Wonders of the World" on 14^th February.}

 

_{Robin was my guest on the Friday NI Rocks Show in 2021 when the first of his recent solo albums, “Standing on the Edge”, was released - https://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/3813-ni-rocks-interview-with-robin-mcauley}

 

_{Joining Robin on the album are guitarists Andrea Seveso and Alessandro Mammola, bass player Aldo Lonobile and drummer Alfonso Mocerino.}

 

_{Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RobinMcAuleyRock}