_{“Battle of Leningrad” released by Frontiers Records on 24th January is the fourth album from Californian neo-classical rockers Ring of Fire, although it has been nine years since the last album as band members have been involved with other projects. Singer Mark Boals started the project in 2000 and the band released three albums between then and 2004.}

_{Military history has been a rich creative ground for rock song writers for many years – listen to the Iron Maiden back catalogue and you’re instantly an expert on the subject! Ring of Fire have taken the next step and released an album that tells the story of the Battle of Leningrad during World War 2 when the German army besieged the city of Leningrad for 900 days before being forced to retreat.}

_{Boals had previously toured with Yngwie Malmsteen and more recently fronted Seven The Hardway and Royal Hunt. Other members of the band are Tony MacAlpine on guitar, Vitalij Kuprij on keyboards, Bjorn Englen on bass and Jami Huovinen on drums. When the members of the band got back together in 2012 they decided to write an album about the Battle of Leningrad. Fans of the neo classical power metal genre certainly won’t be disappointed and those like me who only dabble in the genre will be impressed with the album. Tracks worth checking out in particular include “Mother Russia”, “Land of Frozen Tears” and “The Battle of Leningrad”}

_{Find out more about “Battle of Leningrad” by Ring of Fire at http://www.frontiers.it/album/5181/}

_{It’s also worth checking out the latest album release by Royal Hunt, the band fronted by Mark Boals. “A Life To Die For” was released by Frontiers Records in November - http://www.frontiers.it/album/5177/}

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_{About “NI Rocks Recommends”}

_{I'm not a reviewer and I certainly don’t claim to be a journalist, but I wanted to acknowledge some of the great music being submitted to Rock Radio NI by artists, promoters and labels. That was the simple idea behind “NI Rocks Recommends”. To be honest I’m not really a big fan of the whole idea of “Reviews” as they just represent one person’s opinion!!  So I'm not giving marks or ratings, trying to categorise bands or compare artists. The albums that I’ll be recommending are merely those that I would buy myself and which you’ll be hearing played on my shows on Rock Radio NI.}