Sunstorm - Sunstorm
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Keep Tonight |
| Genre | AOR |
Joe Lynn Turner
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Vocals
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| Tracks | 12 |
Uwe Reitenauer
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Guitar
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| Runningtime | 53 Min. |
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Guitar
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| Label | Frontiers Records |
Dennis Ward
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Bass
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| Release | 22 Sept. 2006 |
Chris Schmidt
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Drums
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| Country | USA/Germany |
Jochen Weyer
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Keyboards
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| Similar artists | Journey, Lou Gramm, Survivor | ||
Sunstorm is a project with a quite fascinating background since the origins lie in tape trading. Serafino Perugini (Frontiers Records President) and Mario de Riso (Frontiers Label Manager) used to exchange music in the eighties and one day Mario got hold of a cassette with unreleased Joe Lynn Turner material, songs that was meant for his second solo album. This album however never saw the light of day but when Frontiers Records signed Joe Lynn Turner to their label much later Serafino took the chance to ask Joe about those songs. Turner responded that it was time to take off the dust to that material. Inspired by these songs Joe also wrote some new stuff together with Jim Peterik (Pride Of Lions, ex-Survivor) and hired Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69) for the production spot of this project.
Personally I didn't just exclusively listen to thrash- and heavy metal in the eighties, a lot of vinyl filled with AOR and melodic hard rock also found its way to my record collection back then. Maybe that is why I'm sitting here with a big smile on my face because Sunstorm really offers a smorgasbord of great AOR the way it sounded at that time. In fact, if it wasn't for the production I could have sworn that this album was released 1985. Why create something that already has been done before you might ask? A proper and quite understandable question my dear Watson. My answer would be that when it's perfected in the best of ways with such passion and dedication as the case is with Sunstorm, then I say why not? A good song is a good song no matter what.
I would lie if I said that Sunstorm is a solid record with killers all over because the album has a few weaker moments that have affected my overall judgment a bit. The lion part of the record however is the best AOR I've heard in years. The quite familiar sounding Fame And Fortune stuck in my head on the first listening session, a great verse with tasteful guitars leads up to a chorus that you keep on humming over and over afterwards. Strength Over Time inhabits a killer chorus that lifts even higher because of the stunning harmonies, probably my absolute favorite on the album. Worth mentioning is also the great ballad Making Up For Lost Time which is superbly arranged and increased in tempo along the way. I also would like to add that the verse of This Is My Heart sound suspiciously close to Springsteen's Because The Night…
Sunstorm is nothing for those of you who want it hard and heavy but for every fan of AOR or melodic hard rock from the eighties this must be considered as a must buy. This is also the best record with Joe Lynn Turner behind the microphone I've heard in a long time. Depending of how successful the project turns out the participants has explained that a continuation is possible. Let's hope for that!
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Production
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Vocals
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Compositions
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7,5 |
9 |
7,5 |
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Summary
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7,5 chalices of 10 - Hawk |
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