“Mad World” is the twelfth studio album from Swiss band Shakra since they formed in 1997, and the third since the return of lead singer Mark Fox in 2015. It was released on 28th February by AFM Records. I managed to pick-up one of the orange and black marbled vinyl editions of the albumthat were limited to 100 copies! I’ve been a big fan of the band for quite a few years and I’ve featured three tracks from the new album on the Friday NI Rocks Show since mid January – “Too Much Is Not Enough”, “Turn The Light On” and “Fireline”.


 

Since Shakra formed in 1997 the band has had three different lead vocalists. The first three albums were recorded with Pete Wiedmer, but he left for health reasons and was replaced by Mark Fox in 2002. Fox recorded four albums with Shakra before departing after the release of “Everest” in 2009. The replacement for Fox was John Prakesh, who recorded the albums “Back on Track” which was released in 2011 and “Powerplay” which was released in 2013. Prakesh announced his departure in April 2014 and it wasn’t until October 2015 that it was revealed that Mark Fox was rejoining the band. The album “High Noon” was released in 2016, followed by “Snakes & Ladders” in 2017; so a new album is well overdue!


Lead guitarist Thom Blunier, rhythm guitarist Thomas Muster and drummer Roger Tanner were three of the founding members of Shakra and they remain with the band. There have been a few different bass players over the years, but Dominik Pfister has been with the band for over ten years, playing on the six albums released since “Everest” in 2009.


Check out the Shakra website at https://www.shakra.ch/en/

 


About “NI Rocks Recommends”

This is purely a personal recommendation and some information about the artist and the album; not a traditional ‘review’. Most of the recommendations posted are for albums that have been sent to us digitally by the record label or promoter. Quite often I’ve also bought the album on CD or vinyl as well and sometimes I just feel the need to post a recommendation for an album that I’ve bought myself. Essentially these are albums that I like and which I’ve played some tracks from on the Shows on Rock Radio NI!