SUNSTORM – The Road To Hell

Between 2006 and 2012, legendary rock vocalist Joe Lynn Turner lent his talents to three great albums by Sunstorm; releases which celebrated his many years on the melodic rock scene as well as added to his impressive catalogue. 2012’s ‘Emotional Fire’ was especially interesting as it revisited Joe’s 80s legacy, presenting covers of songs on which he’d originally contributed backing vocals. In the hands of Sunstorm, Michael Bolton’s ‘Gina’ and ‘You Wouldn’t Know Love’ (a big hit for Cher, and old a final voyage into rock for “old two haircuts” himself) sounded as good as ever. Although 2016’s ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ was an enjoyable record and a worthy addition to the Sunstorm catalogue, it gained more of a mixed response for a couple of reasons: firstly, it had a rockier feel and furthermore, it was effectively Sunstorm in name only – Turner was now fronting a completely different band.

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SUNSTORM – Edge Of Tomorrow

sunstorm 2016 lpIn 2015, the legendary Joe Lynn Turner lent his vocal stylings to an all-star project entitled Rated X. A hard rock release best designed to impress fans of a Euro metal style and injected with an obvious influence from Rainbow, the album found Joe in good voice. It was also by far the best thing Carmine Appice had been associated with since 1986. Fans hoped that Turner would next reappear as part of the resurrected Rainbow and, by all accounts, he was keen to get involved, but Ritchie Blackmore – and perhaps, more importantly – Ritchie Blackmore’s ego had other plans.

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MAGNUS KARLSSON’S FREE FALL – Kingdom Of Rock

karlssonBack in 2013 Magnus Karlsson released an album entitled ‘Free Fall‘, a disc of hard rock collaborations with various guest vocalists that yielded mixed results. Mixed, maybe, but when those collaborations worked, in terms of classic hard rock, they hit the spot.

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Joe Lynn Turner to play UK acoustic shows

Legendary vocalist Joe Lynn Turner returns to the UK in April for a run of intimate acoustic shows where he will draw material from across his thirty year career.

While Joe has most recently been heard on albums by Rated X, Brazen Abbott and Sunstorm, for most fans, he is best loved for his three album stint with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow in the 80s, lending his talents to the classic ‘Difficult To Cure’ in 1981, before ‘Right Between The Eyes’ and the under-rated ‘Bent Out of Shape’.

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Yngwie Malmsteen box set imminent

February 2015 sees the release of ‘Now Your Ships Are Burned’, a four CD anthology of work recorded by Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen.  The set covers his years with Polydor Records from 1984-1990.

The set will be a domestic budget priced reissue of the previously Japanese only collection which included the first six albums.  Like similar sets from Saxon (‘The Carrere Years’) and Tangerine Dream (‘The Virgin Years’), the length of the albums is such that six releases can easily be condensed into a 4CD package.

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