For many years, record labels have created so-called “supergroups” or projects to give musicians the opportunity to create additional, often different, music besides their main fields of activity and to please die-hard fans. As is well known, the absolute frontrunners in terms of projects are the people from Frontiers Records, mostly with a significant contribution in relation to songwriting, production and keyboards from Alessandro Del Vecchio. One of the most important and successful was founded in 2006 around superstar Joe Lynn Turner: SUNSTORM. After five albums, the former Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force, Deep Purple and many other singers left, and all of the original comrades-in-arms gradually left and were replaced by mainly Italian musicians. One of the – next to Allessandro – who apparently shouldn’t be missing from any Frontiers activity is Ronnie Romero on the microphone, who is there for the second time. It would be interesting to ask why the name SUNSTORM is still used.
What is important, however, is that the basic musical orientation hasn’t changed much: melodic hard rock with slight AOR borrowings, deeply rooted in the late 70s and early 80s. As with their role models RAINBOW, WHITESNAKE, DEEP PURPLE and the like, guitar and keyboard instruments are on an equal footing, especially when the Hammond organ hammers à la Don Airey or Jon Lord on some tracks or neo-string wizard Simone Mularoni presents crisp solos and riffs.
As with the predecessor “Afterlife”, variety is the order of the day with “Brothers In Arms”: Powerful, energetic rockers with melody and harmony, with which the somewhat metal-heavy voice of the Chilean fits perfectly. Mid-tempo songs with catchy melodies and refrains and tracks with a certain AOR touch are also represented. Of course, a thoroughbred ballad (“Back My Dreams”) is also essential. The Italian-Chilean brotherhood in arms is recommended to all fans of cultivated melodic hard rock.
