Sunstorm Hits A High Note on "The Road To Hell"

Joe Lynn Turner is a legendary vocalist who's had a storied career and is most famous for his work with Rainbow, Deep Purple and Ywngie Malmsteen. He has now recorded 5 albums under the Sunstorm moniker for Frontiers Music at the request of label president Serafino Perugino. The latest work, The Road To Hell, was a bit obscured by the fact that Joe Lynn Turner suffered a heart attack almost at the exact moment the album was released. If you missed out on this album, you missed a lot. Thankfully Joe has made a nice recovery.

First of all, this album sounds better if you have good speakers and you crank it up some. The production has some compression but it's airy enough for the drums and guitars to really come through. Turner is a beast on vocals. He sings with raw emotion and his tone and delivery are perfect for this type of melodic rock. Furthermore, all of Turner's influences are present. Deep Purple, Rainbow, Malmsteen and his past solo works all factor in to the big, lush sound of Sunstorm.

The album's first track "Only The Good Survive" is an almost perfunctory rocker and might seem ordinary compared to some of the other songs. But the message in the lyrics and Turner's powerhouse reading of it make for lead single material. Guitarist Simone Mularoni is a cross between Neal Schon and Richie Blackmore. House band leader Alessandro Del Vecchio adds the right amount of Hammond B3 and other keys when needed.

The title track, "The Road To Hell" has an Ozzy Osbourne vibe to it, with thumping drums and guitars and with Turner's echoed vocals proclaiming "touch the bottom if you really want to live". The song is about overcoming struggles and JLT pulls off a killer vocal. The word has it that Joe did some songwriting for this project and the results speak for themselves. Mularoni does some expert soloing - the kind that elevate the rest of the song and make you look forward to what is next.

All 11 tracks on this record are excellent. I will focus on some of the highlights so as to not make this review go on forever. "On The Edge" with the line "blood runs cold" might be the sequel to the last Sunstorm record's theme of being on The Edge of Tomorrow. Turner puts much of his storytelling energy into being worried about the future. And most sane people would agree with him. "My Eyes On You" is a progressive-meets melodic track mixing modern melodic rock with elements of Journey and Rainbow. "Everywhere" sounds like it could have been a lost track from Journey's Eclipse album with Turner singing in power ballad mode. The track morphs into a hard rocking slow tempo ton of bricks. "State of The Heart" is the most Rainbow song on the album and even has one or two guitar chord moments where you can hear Rainbow's "Street of Dreams". But the similarities are barely noticeable in the larger scheme of things. "Calling" keeps the apocalypse going with Turner pleading through his lyrics for the world to hear.

"Still Fighting" ends the album on an up note both lyrically and with the more optimistic sounding melody. Drummer Edo Sala is super solid through the entire record with no downside. Bass player Nik Mazzucconi holds down the bottom end and is produced in a way that gives the rhythm section a deep resonance.

Sunstorm may be just a cool name or a melodic rock concept, but listening to this will make you feel like you were actually in a musical storm of some kind. These songs were all created with a lot of attention to detail. The songwriting fits perfectly with the production and instrumentation. Joe Lynn Turner is able to plead his case for humanity through these 11 masterful hard rocking songs. These songs will echo in your consciousness long after you've put the CD back in it's case. This is a powerful testimony to a veteran rocker who's found a great production team who understands his legacy and the present age. This album gets 5 big stars.