Artist: Sunstorm
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2006
Rating: 4/5
Sunstorm is a project fronted by the legendary vocalist Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple, Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force,…) alongside Germans Uwe Reitenauer (guitar), Chris Schmidt (drums), Jochen Weyer (keyboards) and a true perpetuum mobile – workaholic personified Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69), who played bass, rhythm guitar, backing vocals and extra keyboards, and on top of that took care of the production of the whole album.
The track list swings between covers of AOR classics (Van Stephenson, Righteous Anger), a few lesser-known songs and some previously unreleased tracks written by former Survivor member Jim Peterik (Pride Of Lions, Kelly Keagy), which with the birth of the Sunstorm project finally got their chance to find a home on a record. The album kicks off with Van Stephenson’s Keep Tonight, an ideal AOR banger for opening this kind of commercial rock album, with a proper “eighties” feel and tasteful production that proves the sound of the eighties can still be damn appealing today.
The experience and refined touch of Dennis Ward count for a lot here, because without the right treatment of the material and a tastefully put-together running order, the songs would never have come to life, and you’d have potentially ended up with a lukewarm or watered-down album. Of course, the production has that European – German sound, with the guitars pushed forward in places, but without the dominance that would turn the sound into something closer to heavier hard rock. The sound is full, the guitars are bombastic and topped off with a bold, fitting seasoning from the keyboards and classical piano (the latter especially in the calmer songs). The songs are all on equal footing, with solid structures and infectious choruses that drive each track to its atmospheric peaks.
The German musicians deliver a punchy performance of the material, with Joe Lynn Turner’s velvety commercial AOR vocals built right into it. Seriously. The material on an album like “Sunstorm” is a textbook case of using 100% of Turner’s vocal capabilities. The more melodies you hand Turner, the more of his potential you tap into. The velvet-voiced singer is flawless. The vocals on “Sunstorm” recall Turner’s solo debut “Rescue You”, and in terms of sound and song style you can draw parallels with Joe’s “solo” career. The man literally shines in the performance and his tone is perfect for Sunstorm’s commercial AOR sound. There’s simply no need to go overboard with compliments for Turner’s vocal performance. Even though Turner brought the great Rainbow the desired turn toward a more radio-friendly AOR direction and later showed up in the mighty Deep Purple too, and worked with Hughes in Hughes Turner Project, it’s really his solo albums and, say, the vocals he contributed to the melodic hard rock band Brazen Abbot that are the works where he showed and convinced us which waters of rock music (AOR, melodic hard rock) he actually feels best in. And Turner sounds especially convincing because he keeps going at it with the fire of a twenty-year-old.
This is a typical AOR melodic album, full of classics, predictable and true to the tradition of the eighties. But in the hands of these musicians it’s all pulled off in a way that has its own kind of magic, the kind that only the best performers in AOR melodic rock bring to the sound. It’s an album aimed not only at fans of the genre, but also at the wider music crowd. “Sunstorm” is an essential buy for every Joe Lynn Turner fan, as well as for all lovers of classic AOR sounds!
Line-up
Joe Lynn Turner – vocals
Uwe Reitenauer – guitar
Jochen Weyer – keyboards
Dennis Ward – bass, backing vocals, guitar, keyboards
Chris Schmidt – drums
Production
Dennis Ward
Track list
1. Keep Tonight
2. Fame And Fortune
3. Heart Over Mind
4. This Is My Heart
5. Strength Over Time
6. Another You
7. Fistful of Heat
8. Love’s Gone Wrong
9. Night Moves
10. Danger of Love
11. Making Up For the Last Time
12. Arms of Love
Album length: 52.59
