Customer Reviews

Sunstorm

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When it comes to these "project" albums, no one can touch what Frontiers has done lately with some of the genre's best vocalists. In 2004 it was From the Inside (featuring Tyketto's Danny Vaughn) and Starbreaker (featuring TNT's Tony Harnell). In 2005 they gave us Place Vendome (with ex-Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske). And to close out 2006 we get Sunstorm, which features none other than the great Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple) on vocals.

Sunstorm is easily the best AOR album of 2006. Sometimes all of the planets are in alignment and everything just works perfectly, and Sunstorm is a great example. I loved Turner's work with Rainbow and Deep Purple, but haven't been crazy about his recent solo material. On this album though, he is in top form, sounding every bit as good as he did on Rescue You. In addition to the incredible vocal performance, the songwriting is first class. Turner is joined by AOR heavyweights such as Jim Peterik (Survivor), Jack Ponti (Surgin') and Dan Huff (Giant), who have put together a collection of songs that take you back to AOR's glory days. To top it all off, the album was mixed and produced by Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69), who is probably the best in the business. Ward also provides guitars for the album.

Sunstorm is classic, old-school AOR all the way, and will put a huge smile on the face of anyone who still loves Journey, Foreigner, and Survivor. This is a guaranteed winner, and will take you back to 1986 before the first song is done!

Another great release from JLT. All the songs are great. His voice has never sounded better. If you liked the usual supsects the you will love sunstorm. Enjoy.

There are very few albums available today that one gets excited over. After the 1990's destroyed rock and roll with its uncanny ability to promote the worst production sound, most untalented vocalists and abysmal musicianship, most of the 70's and 80's bands packed it in. A few made some very strong comebacks but were always compromised by trying to adhere to the idiot model of the 1990's grunge scene. Joe has been coming back strong making excellent albums with Brazen Abott as well as with his own band. This album brought back the clear, high energy production that made 80's music so great. I think it is a credit that he held back nothing and brought back the 80's sound on this one. After all the refuse from the 90's, that is still being promoted as "rock" today, its refreshing to see that someone had the guts to bring back music. If its untalented droning vocalists with 3 chord pseudomelodies you want, go to a local seedy bar. If you want professional talent and production, listen to this..In short, rejoice! Rock is back.

JLT is in such fine form on this release and the songs are so good....I'm truely blown away by this cd!! IMO, he hasn't sounded this good since "Odyssey' (I LOVE that cd!). This cd has 1985 written all over it, but with a bit more modern production. The guitar solos are fantastic...Please stop reading and buy this!

The Good

You'll feel that the 80s melodic rock scene is back when you hear the opening keyboard and guitar tones of "Keep Tonight." When you hear Joe Lynn Turner's scratchy yet melodic vocals kick in, you'll swear you were back in the 80s. After all of these years, Turner can still belt it out. "Fame and Fortune" is by far the best track on the album. It has that high production sheen to it, and lots of chucky riffs and pulsing keys. The lyrics make you wonder if this is about someone Turner knows, or if it's autobiographical. What a great chorus hook.

The synthesizer is traded for a piano on the heartfelt ballad "Heart Over Mind." Like most power ballads, this one starts off slow and unassuming, but builds to an over-the-top crescendo. Sunstorm keep the power balladry going with a string of them; "This is My Heart," "Strength Over Time," and "Another You." Each range from slow to mid-tempo and showcase Turner at his touching and melodic best. Sunstorm set their guitar phasers on rock on "Fist Full of Heat." "Night Moves" is full of passion and power as Turner challenges his insatiable lover.

The Bad

Nothing

The Verdict

12 tracks of over-the-top rockers and ballads full of catchy rhythms, pulsing keyboards, driving guitars, and powerful melodic vocals. It even comes complete with all of the gloss and sheen of a classic eighties arena rock production. Even twenty years later, Joe Lynn Turner knows how to please his die-hard fans.

Long a fan of Rainbow with Joe Lynn Turner, I picked up this Sunstorm CD out of curiosity. I was more than pleasently surprised. Songs like "This is my heart" and "Love's gone wrong" have hooks that do not quit. "Fist full of heat" is sung with a swagger and a growl. "Keep Tonight" should have been a hit song. There is some fabulous music here, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

WOW ! This is the "album" we have been waiting for from Joe Lynn Turner ever since his debut masterpiece "Rescue You" was released in 1985. From the opening track "Keep Tonight" , you will be amazed on how really good this CD is. One listen to the song "Strength Over Time" will just keep you listening to this CD over and over again. What a wonderful return for JLT to the music that his fans expect from him. On an even brighter note : Just previewed 2 songs from his new upcoming CD which will be released this April , and all I can say is that he is right on track to please his fans once again. Welcome back JLT !!

The Good

You'll feel that the 80s melodic rock scene is back when you hear the opening keyboard and guitar tones of "Keep Tonight." When you hear Joe Lynn Turner's scratchy yet melodic vocals kick in, you'll swear you were back in the 80s. After all of these years, Turner can still belt it out. "Fame and Fortune" is by far the best track on the album. It has that high production sheen to it, and lots of chucky riffs and pulsing keys. The lyrics make you wonder if this is about someone Turner knows, or if it's autobiographical. What a great chorus hook.

The synthesizer is traded for a piano on the heartfelt ballad "Heart Over Mind." Like most power ballads, this one starts off slow and unassuming, but builds to an over-the-top crescendo. Sunstorm keep the power balladry going with a string of them; "This is My Heart," "Strength Over Time," and "Another You." Each range from slow to mid-tempo and showcase Turner at his touching and melodic best. Sunstorm set their guitar phasers on rock on "Fist Full of Heat." "Night Moves" is full of passion and power as Turner challenges his insatiable lover.

The Bad

Nothing

The Verdict

12 tracks of over-the-top rockers and ballads full of catchy rhythms, pulsing keyboards, driving guitars, and powerful melodic vocals. It even comes complete with all of the gloss and sheen of a classic eighties arena rock production. Even twenty years later, Joe Lynn Turner knows how to please his die-hard fans.

"Sunstorm" is the AOR/melodic hard rock project built around iconic singer Joe Lynn Turner and this is their debut album of 2006 put together by "Frontiers Records". On "Sunstorm" Joe is backed by a German-hard rock line up featuring "Pink Cream 69" members bassist Dennis Ward and guitarist Uwe Reitenauer along with drummer Chris Schmidt and keyboardist Jochen Weyer.

Music-wise "Sunstorm" draws considerably upon `80s "Rainbow" recapturing a great deal of that vibe while being substantially heavier. With Dennis Ward producing this debut you can expect a really thick yet transparent output of up-front guitars, harmonious keyboards and robust rhythm section. The vocal harmonies are also more extensive than the ones found on Turner's solo albums making for intense verses and climactic choruses.

Songwriting-wise Joe co-writes the first two songs of the tracklist "Keep Tonight" and "Fame and Fortune" yet the majority of songs are written by "Survivor" mastermind Jim Peterik. Really there is no filler on the "Sunstorm" debut, but standouts would probably be "Keep Tonight", "Strenght over time", "Night Moves", "Danger of love" and the immense power-ballad "Another you". Overall "Susntorm" is a very cohesive and authentic AOR/melodic hard rock offering bringing together some of the greatest names of the German and American scene on this remarkable debut.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this album but I was looking for JLT music and the clips sounded good (and often they don't at all but I was happy listening to them for a change - they often make me not get a song if I've never heard the band before). The album was a hundred times better than the clips. All the songs are just very well done and have the melodic rock sound that I miss so much (I dislike the new bands who try to be rock or grunge or whatever they call that screaming with whining guitars). The last good melodic rock bands were Bad English and Damn Yankees. Though there is a bit of polished-ness about these songs that might not appeal to the hard core grunge crowd, to the people who like to hear power ballads and good integrated musicians who know what they are doing, this album is well worth a listen. The price is pretty low compared to more established groups so I thought it was worth the price. I'd have paid more if I would have had to though. I really like it. The songs sound great in the car (if you have a good stereo) in an enclosed space loud or sitting in your living room playing on the surround sound built in home stereo system at a level that won't make your family come running and yell at you to turn it down or slam their doors. This album integrates well into my Journey, John Waite/Bad English/Babys, Rainbow (also with JLT) and Foreigner stacks. This is harder than Journey but softer than Dokken for musician sound. JLT's vocals are just at their best. It is a wonder he is almost ten years older than me and still sounds like or better than he did in the eighties. He is just wonderful!