_{NI Rocks Recommends SHAKRA – “POWERPLAY”}

_{This was an album I was really looking forward to hearing and the anticipation has been well rewarded. I’ve been a big fan of Swiss rockers Shakra for a few years and I have to admit I was a bit concerned when original singer Mark Fox left after the 2009 album “Everest”. But replacement John Prakesh has now delivered two absolutely fantastic albums and in my very humble opinion Shakra are simply getting better and better!!}

_{“Powerplay” brings a harder hitting sound that the earlier albums, driven as always by some great guitar riffs from Thom Blunier and Thomas Muster. Again, John Prakesh delivers an outstanding vocal performance. From the first listen every track has hit the mark and instantly became a favourite.  Ten of the twelve tracks are guitar driven, blistering rock tunes with the other two being slower power ballads including the first single “Wonderful Life”. Even after listening to the album a few times I’ve been struggling to highlight any specific tunes as particular favourites but opening track “Life Is Now”, “Save You From Yourself” and “Because of You” would probably make my top three.}

_{The album was released on 11th January by AFM Records and is promoted by MEPR.}

_{You can find out more about Shakra at www.shakra.ch or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/shakraband}

_{About “NI Rocks Recommends”}

_{I'm not a reviewer but wanted to acknowledge some of the great music being submitted to Rock Radio NI by artists, promoters and labels both within and outside of N Ireland. That was the idea behind “NI Rocks Recommends”. I'm not giving marks or ratings, trying to categorise bands or compare artists. To be honest I’m not really a big fan of most reviews as they’re simply one person’s opinion!! Therefore “NI Rocks Recommends” is just my personal recommendation. Let's just say that if I've went to the bother of writing this, I think it's worth taking a listen to and you’ll be hearing it played on my shows on Rock Radio NI!!}