Review SUNSTORM “Restless Fight”

Sunstorm is a project or more accurately a collective founded in 2006. The debut album featured guys like Joe Lynn Turner and Dennis Ward. In the course of time the line-up changed and the album “Afterlife” from 2021 was the first Sunstrom release with Ronnie Romero at the mic.

With “Restless Fight” the eighth studio album hit the shelves and besides Romero the project includes a completely new band. The re-arrenged five-piece recorded eleven new songs for the album and what you get is excellent AOR rock. There is no doubt that Romero’s voice is perfect for this kind of music, but also from a songwriting point of view things went very well.

AOR is a genre that probably doesn’t leave any new ground and so it’s not surprising that “Restless Fight” is not the big innovative push. What the album offers instead is very powerful rock music that has the big benefit of Romero’s strong vocals.

The first three songs are an impressive demonstration of professionally done AOR that doesn’t shy away from screaming guitars that march along with catchy keyboard melodies. The result is a dense musical experience that also includes a cover version. “Shot in the Dark”, originally by Ozzy Osbourne, was recorded by Sunstorm and the band does a good job, although they stay very close to the original version.

The standards for such an album include a ballad and in this case it is “Without You” that acts as the tearjerker on “Restless Fight”. The title track features some heavier guitars and expands the musical breadth of the album as melodic metal is very nearby. A song in a similar category is “Dreams Aren’t Over”. Romero and his bandmates once again show that they know how to craft energetic rock songs that avoid the ever-present risk of cliché.

“Restless Fight” is another well-done album from Sunstorm, and although the line-up of this collective has changed quite often, the name Sunstorm stands for quality, melody and craftsmanship. It doesn’t always have to be the big innovation that’s exciting. Sometimes it’s a passionate approach to music that makes for great music, and that’s what “Restless Storm” reflects from start to finish.