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SUNBOMB “Light Up the Sky”
SUNBOMB “Light Up the Sky”
By Colonel Angus
I’ll be honest with you, I had every intention of checking out SUNBOMB’s first disk “Evil or Divine” a few years ago when it first hit the racks. I can’t for the life of me tell you why I never got around to picking it up but the end result is that I am reviewing this as a new band. I can’t compare this to the previous record but I can tell you that this is a match made in heaven (or hell depending on how you look at it). I have always liked Michael Sweet’s vocals and I rank STRYPER’s “Soldiers Under Command” as one of the best metal releases form the 80s. TraciI Guns is also a very under-rated guitarist and his work with L.A. GUNS has stood the test of time but I didn’t know how this collaboration would work. Sweet’s legacy is more on the cleaner side of metal whereas Guns’ playing, I always felt, was more raw and dirty (in a great way). Well, whatever styles they possess individually, their collaboration is this great mix of the best of the 80s with some 70s hard rock sprinkled in for good measure.
Upon first listen, there is a lot that sounds familiar but after repeated spins, there is a lot to unpack with each track paying homage to the decade where they first came to prominence but still adding their own spin. “Unbreakable” starts the record with this menacing riff that has BLACK SABBATH written all over it but Sweet’s aggressive vocals take things in a different direction. I don’t think I have ever heard Sweet push his vocal performance in that type of aggressive area but I love it. He has a great set of pipes and on “Light Up the Sky”, you can hear him pushing himself to match the riffs that Guns is putting forth. While that track still sound 80s metal, it has that 70s SABBATH groove and it is peppered throughout the disk. The next track “Steel Hearts” takes the listener into a heavy, strutting metal direction with a great stop/start riff that, while still 80s sounding, sounds more modern than the rest of the material on “Light Up the Sky”.
SUNBOMB return with a plodding SABBATH-y metal workout called “In Grace We’ll Find Our Name” that sounds like something that would have been on “Seventh Star”. There is some earlier SABBATH elements but Sweet’s vocal performance reminds me a lot of Glenn Hughes from that time period. This is one of the longer tracks on the disk and even though it is six minutes, it goes by really quickly. Speaking of SABBATH, I don’t even think they are trying to hide the fact that the title track has similarities to OZZY OSBOURNE’s tune “Diary of a Madman”. Not the whole song mind you, but there are parts that will have you wondering if this is SUNBOMB. It’s a great tune (as is Osbourne’s) and it’s a great example of taking something familiar but adding their own elements to create something sorta new. “Rewind” is a very short little strutting metal track that goes by really quickly and I feel is a great idea but doesn’t seem like it’s completed. At two and half minutes, and compared to the other material on this record, it feels a little unfinished (or maybe I enjoy the groove and wished it stayed a little longer).
As the record progresses, I hear a bit of the SCORPIONS (“Animal Magnetism” era) on “Scream Out Loud”. I know I have been comparing these tracks to other 80s metal bands or songs but I need to be clear. While I hear these familiar sounds, Sweet and Guns add their own ingredients to make it their own. “Light Up the Sky” is more than these familiar elements from our metal memories. Well, back to the song at hand, “Scream Out Loud” is a fist pumping rocker that pulls all the best aspects of 80s metal into one three minute song. That short little tune gives way to the epic “Winds of Fate” which really showcases the talents of both Sweet and Guns. Just grab a listen to the awesome emotional solo in this track and you will see why I stated that he is under-rated. At this moment, if I had to choose a favorite, “Winds of Fate” would be my pick for best track but honestly, it has been changing each time I listen to the record.
If we are talking 80s metal, you can’t forget the band DIO and “Beyond the Odds” has a DIO vibe about it. I think it is more the guitar playing but it has this early DIO sound, that again, is not a rip-off or copy, but more of an influence to build upon. Before we get into the ballad “Where We Belong”, SUNBOMB dive into something that has a bit of LED ZEPPELIN to my ears. “Reclaim the Light” has a 70s vibe mixed with some newer elements that give that older hard rock sound a new sheen. The disk ends with the previously mentioned ballad that would not be out of place on a STRYPER record and another SABBATHy rocker called “Setting the Sail”. This last track bookends the disk nicely with the first tune.
Again, I don’t know what made me miss out on the first SUNBOMB album but fate has a way of correcting things. “Light Up the Sky” is a record that I will be playing often and prompting me to go back and get “Evil or Divine”. I didn’t think that this pairing would work but sometimes the most unlikely collaborations create the best material. “Light Up the Sky”, while not one hundred percent perfect, comes close and will be regarded as one of the best releases of 2024.
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