British rock band Wraith celebrated the 30th anniversary of their formation with the release of the album “Revelation” through Ice Rain Records / Cargo Records on 4th August. (Much to my despair 30 years actually takes us back to 1987 and not the 70’s – how’d that happen!!!) Wraith worked with some big names during the late 80’s including Pete Way and Lemmy and released 3 albums up to 1997. “Revelation” is the product of the latest evolution of the band and came to us via our friends at Rock ‘n’ Growl promotions. I featured the track “Lifeline” on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 4th August.
“Road Rage” is the first album from Quiet Riot since “10” in 2014. That album featured 6 studio tracks with Jizzy Pearl on vocals along with 4 live tracks recorded during Kevin DuBrow’s final shows in 2007. “Road Rage” was released on 4th August and features James Durbin on vocals. I had chatted with Durbin on the Friday NI Rocks Show back in March; just after the announcements that he was the new singer and that previous recordings for the album were to be scrapped ( http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/3099-ni-rocks-interview-with-james-durbin-from-quiet-riot.html ) . It seems like no time at all from talking with him about writing the tracks until I was actually playing them on the Friday NI Rocks Show. “Freak Flag” was included on the Show on 23rd June and “The Road” is featured this week.
“Rhapsodies in Black” by Exit Eden was released through Napalm Records on 4th August. I posted an article about the upcoming release a few weeks ago as the band and album concepts grabbed my attention for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the band Exit Eden is fronted by four female rock singers, including the amazing Amanda Somerville. Secondly, the album “Rhapsodies in Black” consists of cover versions of 11 popular tracks. I played “Unfaithful” on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 21st July and “Impossible” on 28th July whilst “Incomplete” is on the Show this week.
Read more: NI ROCKS Recommends "Rhapsodies in Black" by EXIT EDEN
A few days ago Nikki Sixx published a photo on Instagram of his old band, London, playing at the Starwood Club in L.A. in the late 70’s and mentioned watching a band called Snow there. To be honest the name of the band means very little to me, though I’m fairly sure they’re mentioned in “The Dirt” (it’s been a while since I read it). The band did however have a cult following in L.A. in the late 70’s / early 80’s and their self-titled EP was well received. Co-incidentally, Escape Music released an album called “At Last” by Snow on 21st July and I’ve included a track from it called “Oh Baby” on the NI Rocks A-Z Show this week.