_{“Sign of the Dragonhead” is the first Leave’s Eyes album to feature new vocalist Elina Siirala and it was released on 12th January via AFM Records.  This is the seventh release from the symphonic metallers since they formed in 2003 and like all the others, the album is focused on a specific story. “Sign of the Dragonhead” once again focuses on the Viking legends and the eleven great tracks on the album all tell specific stories. The track “Across The Sea” is included on the Friday NI Rocks Show this week.}

_{“Darkness Remains” was the second full-length album released by Californian metal band Night Demon. It was originally released via Steamhammer/SPV in April 2017 and for some reason escaped my attentions at the time. On 12th January an “Expanded Version” of the album is released, featuring different mixes of all the tracks, a commentary on each and a number of bonus tracks. To make up for my previous lapse, I wanted to get a recommendation posted for this new release. I played the track “Life on the Run” from the album on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 22nd December.}

_{I’ve seen bass player Marco Mendoza performing with a few bands over the years – Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Black Star Riders and most recently The Dead Daisies – and he never fails to impress. I arranged to speak to Marco via Skype on 3rd January to talk about his new solo album “Viva La Rock” which is released through Mighty Music on 2nd March, and the tour that is planned to coincide with the album launch. The tour includes a date in Voodoo, Belfast on Sunday 18th February.  We chatted for almost an hour, about the new solo album, the upcoming tour, working with Ted Nugent, Neal Schon and others, the new Dead Daisies album and more. We could have talked for even longer to be honest!}