When Joe Lynn Turner left Sunstorm it was truly the end of an era. The arrival of the always busy Ronnie Romero allowed the band to explore a harder sound on 2021’s ‘Afterlife’ and 2022’s ‘Brothers In Arms’, but they essentially sounded like a different band. They were still capable of enjoyable tunes, but for those who’d enjoyed hearing Joe belt out classic AOR tunes like ‘Gina’ (originally recorded by Michael Bolton before he turned his back on rock music in favour of an easy listening crowd) and ‘You Wouldn’t Know Love’ (a staple from Cher’s rock period), the “new” Sunstorm might not have always hit the mark.
The band’s eighth studio album ‘Restless Fight’ could easily have had its name inspired by Sunstorm’s inner turmoil. The only musician on this record to have appeared on a prior Sunstorm disc is Romero – the golden boy of the Frontiers Records stable – who with three years loyal service can now consider himself a Sunstorm veteran. Everyone else has been a member of this band since 2023. The record label obviously considers the Sunstorm name to be of some bankable value, even if, on paper, this seems a little too close to “Rod Evans’ New Deep Purple” for comfort. Moving on from any quibbles as to how this could possibly be anything more than another Ronnie Romero album, on its own terms, most of ‘Restless Fight’ is actually great. Far better than it had any real right to be.
Following a moody intro, ‘I’ll Wait For You’ sets out its musical stall as being potentially more melodic than anything on the two previous albums when a chunky mid tempo riff is joined by a loud, stabbing keyboard motif, calling back to Sunstorm’s earlier records. As things progress, there’s a great balance between AOR tinged keys/backing vocals and verses chugging melodic metal guitars that are more sympathetic to Romero’s big voice. Two verses in, it sounds very good – even on first listen – but the real magic comes courtesy of Secret Sphere guitarist Aldo Lonobile who steps up with a fiery lead break that’s fairly flashy without derailing any of the number’s melodic qualities. A small quibble might be that Romero’s performance is a little too “big” for the material in hand, but he gets more than enough opportunity to shine within the following forty minutes or so. Going for something even more AOR-centric, again, as per the early Sunstorm, ‘Love’s Not Gone’ boasts a huge twin lead guitar break as opening gambit, before dropping into a mid-paced arrangement where a pumping bass (played by DGM’s Andrea Arcangeli) locks down a great tempo, giving Romero an easy backdrop from which to work. He’s in suitably big voice here, and when a particularly old school 80s sounding chorus hits, he really soars. What’s most notable, though, is how much the music sounds like classic, melodic Sunstorm, to the point where you can pretty much imagine how Joe would’ve sounded against the main hook’s chiming keys. Even a slightly more metal-centric lead guitar break doesn’t detract too much from the number’s late 80s heart. Assuming you’re okay with Romero booming away like his life depended on it, this is definitely one of the albums highlights.
‘Hope’s Last Stand’ occasionally flaunts a heavy rhythm guitar sound that is reminiscent of something that’d be more at home on Judas Priest’s ‘Turbo’, but essentially delivers another finely crafted melodic rocker. Sunstorm stick rigidly to the mid tempo which is clearly their default, but the spacious quality to the arrangement allows for a killer guitar solo that injects a few metallic fills into some thoughtful, flowing notes, whilst a huge backing vocal on the chorus brings a bigger sound, before everything drops into a much purer late 80s melodic rock arrangement for a brilliant cover of the Ozzy classic ‘Shot In The Dark’. A tune that’ll be familiar with almost everyone thinking about listening to a Sunstorm album, it’s a real pleasure to hear it finally tackled by someone with a genuinely great voice. Along with ‘Love’s Not Gone’, this makes ‘Restless Fight’ worth the price of admission.
Rocking things up a little, the intro of ‘In & Out’ hits the listener with a busy guitar riff loaded with twin lead sounds. This immediately shows off this line up of Sunstorm with plenty of fire, and a chorus that mixes huge vocals with a heavy, bottom end riff revisits some of the heavier sounds present on the previous couple of albums. Linking these two elements, the track’s verses explore more of a spacious, keyboard-centric sound. Romero, in especially good voice, sounds a little like a rawer Stefan Berggren once more – a perfect fit for the Sunstorm sound – bringing a classic rock approach that really balances out this number’s punchier aspects. ‘Dreams Aren’t Over’ happily flaunts Sunstorm’s harder edge too, as it thunders through a selection of riffs that sound like a more melodic take on Euro metal, very much placing Lonobile in the spotlight. As with the bulk of the material here, the chorus finds time to inject far more melody thanks to a wall of harmony vocals. It may be punchier, and it may have strayed a little further from Sunstorm’s roots, but there’s plenty of energy bristling through these four minutes, and Romero’s fans are likely to have a blast.
Elsewhere, ‘Against The Storm’ shares a perfect AOR sound augmented by a chugging rhythm guitar, taking Sunstorm back to the classic sounds of 1989, and ‘Running To You’ shamelessly supplies a keyboard sound that sounds as if it were lifted from a film soundtrack from forty years prior to this recording. The latter takes a predictable melodic rock stance, but shows how Sunstorm can still find time for something that sounds as if it were written with Joe Lynn Turner in mind. Joe, of course, would never have chosen to end this performance with a huge, unaccompanied roar, which is a little misjudged from Romero, but it doesn’t spoil the number as a whole. Almost as strong, the title cut kicks off with a superb melodic metal riff that falls somewhere between the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and ‘Right Between The Eyes’ era Icon, before slipping, somewhat effortlessly, into a piece of punchy melodic rock that showcases a huge blanket of keys, a world of busy guitars and Romero in full scenery-chewing mode. It’s rather more bombastic than a lot of Sunstorm sounds, but Romero sounds as if he’s really relishing the chance to cut loose, before a more melodic middle eight and massive guitar solo with a classic metal tone provides a stronger link with this album’s best cuts.
Sunstorm might only be Sunstorm in name only here, but there’s no filler on ‘Restless Fight’ and the assembled band sound superb throughout. The album’s return to even bigger chorus hooks feels really natural and often pulls Romero and friends further back towards the band’s roots. That alone will please some people, whilst others should be able to find more than enough material to be enjoyed on its own terms. If you’re able to do that, then this is a slab of melodic rock that can certainly be highly recommended.
Buy the CD here.
September/October 2024