_{“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!}

_{My first album recommendation for 2018 is for the debut album from multi-national group Panorama. The album “Around the World” is released through Rock of Angels Records (ROAR) on 12th January. Reading the PR material from Rock n Growl, what sparked my interest was the involvement of Dennis Ward; not just in production, but as a member of the band. A quick listen to the album confirmed that it was definitely worth checking out further. To date I’ve played two tracks from the album on the Friday NI Rocks Show – “Around The World” on 1st December and “Standing my Ground” on 5th January.}