_{Chris Appleton is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist with Absolva. However on 2nd February he releases his first solo album entitled “Restless” through Rocksector Records. I spoke to Chris on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 24th January and he told us why he was releasing an acoustic album at this stage. http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/1776-ni-rocks-interview-with-chris-appleton-absolva.html . The album contains nine tracks including an Absolva track, one from his previous band Fury UK and a cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mama I’m Coming Home”. It is well worth checking out.}

_{There are two NI Rocks Shows each week on Rock Radio NI. These are the playlists for the shows for the month of January. These shows are still available from the On Demand Player. There are over 120 different artists featured on the two shows this month as well as one interview. Playlists for the previous month are also still available - http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/news/rrni-updates/1759-ni-rocks-playlists-for-december-2014.html}

_{There were also 5 album recommendations posted in January - http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/back-stage/music-reviews.html - and two interviews.}

 

LET'S face it, right up front, no waffling, no bullshit - power metal can disappear up it's own ass; filled with pomposity, pretentiousness and prat-ishness. Thankfully, on 'Beyond the Red Mirror; a bombastic Blind Guardian avoid the traps of the cliché and complacency.

Of course, that doesn't mean that they are