I have been trying to keep up with all the releases that have Ronnie Romero pegged down as the singer. I first saw him with RAINBOW in Birmingham. That was in 2016. The second time was also with the BLACKMORE'S NIGHT band playing Heavy Metal. That was in London in 2017. Both times he showed he could cover any singer that had played with The Man In Black throughout his career. He was discovered through his LORDS OF BLACK albums, which sound quite good. I've also got the VANDENBERG album "2020", where he does a very good job. He has also played live with the brilliant MICHAEL SCHENKER, and a lot more in the meantime. The latest pop-up band is SUNSTORM, with their new album "Brothers In Arms". And no, this is not a cover.

Of course, the musical style that is being played is Melodic Rock/Metal. Not very surprising, due to the fact it's release is by Frontiers Music SRL. At first glance I was extremely disappointed, as it felt like all the cliches within that musical genre was passing by. And the connection with RAINBOW and DEEP PURPLE were slapping me across the face time and time again. But, as I kept repeating the album on my headphones I had to agree that SUNSTORM is made out of several layers. And they were slowly exposing themselves to me. One by one the songs started to develop some depth, lost their shallow edges. They relay started to make sense to me. And isn't that the requirement of one of those gems that in time will turn into a diamond album? Well, it usually is, but it is much too early to decide that just now. So, only time will tell how far this is going to go.

I also found out why I thought of "Brothers In Arms" as a disappointment at first. The vocal lines that singer Ronnie Romero uses are extremely safe. He doesn't go and try to surprise you with something that might be completely unexpected. The question I have is: why not? Is it due to the band already having the lyrics ready for him in advance, or is he just not experimental himself? I guess we'll never know, but in the end it's only a side note, as "Brothers In Arms" is a very steady album. Musically and vocally quite good, only very predictable. Alas, nothing more, nothing less.