It is customary in album reviews to write a short intro talking about the band's biography introducing it to the readers. But in situations like this what can really be written about Joe Lynn Turner? I mean he has connected his name with bands like RAINBOW and DEEP PURPLE that are also found in any Heavy Metal bible that respects itself. It would be really ridiculous to try to even scratch the surface of Turner's career in order to introduce the second SUNSTORM album. The only data I can provide, is that the SUNSTORM story/idea was born inside the brain of Serafino Perugino who happens to be the president of Frontiers Records. The proposition was to use the tracks that were supposed to succeed Turner's solo debut Rescue You that saw the light of the day in the mid 80s.
As it is expected the sound signature here, has to do with the early 80s and dives deep into the Hard Rock scene that was wrapped around the wonderful keyboard / hammond organ melodies. It is always impressive to hear the guitar-keyboard marriage introduced more than two decades ago to still have the same effect on our ears. And this was the exact vintage feeling I got while listening to the opening groove of Divided. I don't know why -actually don't care to find out- but this specific Hard Rock genre fills me up emotionally and takes my mind over those days that are long gone. No, I am not the kind of person that thinks that everything that came out after the 80s sucks. On the contrary, I strongly believe that we are still getting very good albums but something is missing from the Metal scene and that is emotion. And the AOR scene is filled with this!
Turner sounds as he is supposed to; his voice breathes through all these years of experience revealing once again his powerful vocal and octave range that nowadays is extremely rare. His timbre travels you in the past of RAINBOW and DEEP PURPLE with heart hitting melodies and groovy guitar phrases. Dennis Ward is the one to 'blame' (again) for the excellent sound production that can be considered as the 'know how' for all the Hard Rock albums.
It is hard for me to distinguish tracks from this album because I am fond of its entirety; but I cannot but admit that I did hit the play button several times listening to Gutters Of Gold with the Hard Rock up-tempo groove and the more than addictive bridge and chorus. I dare you not to sing-along with it! Of course, House Of Dreams is a definite AOR tune with the classic guitar rhythm that leads you smoothly to another beautiful chorus that you die to listen in Rock clubs with a bunch of good friends and some additional pints of alcohol! Just listen to the guitar solo and tell me that your heart is not aching! The icing on the cake is the Walk On ballad co-written by Turner and Desmond Child and can originally be found in Jimmy Barnes's album Freight Train Heart from 1987.
I don't have to add something else in this review. Joe Lynn Turner is one of the personas that we are lucky to have in the Metal scene. I want to believe that this specific genre will continue to exist and keep us company in good and bad times. Thank you Joe!

P.S.: If you are young in age and have not been introduced to this part of Metal then SUNSTORM is a hell of a fine reason! Click below to listen to some song samples (Divided, Don't Give Up, I Found Love, House Of Dreams).