Album Review — Sunbomb

Sunbomb — Evil And Divine

How’s this for an unexpected duo? Tracii Guns and Michael Sweet have teamed up to form Sunbomb. The band is being billed as a Doom Metal band, although I’m not sure I agree with that label fully. Either way, the two titans of hard rock have combined their love of metal to release “Evil And Divine” through the ultra productive Frontiers Records label.

The interesting thing about Sunbomb is it doesn’t sound like L.A. Guns or Stryper. Yes, Michael Sweet’s voice is instantly recognizable, but musically the band sounds completely different from anything I’ve heard from either member. The bands that come to mind when I hear this record include Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden.

The album starts off with a Maiden-type guitar intro and Sweet announces his presence with authority with a mighty scream. It’s an aggressive track and a great start.

“Take Me Away” has that Black Sabbath Doom Metal influence we’ve heard about. Sweet can sing anything and he has no problem here either.

The first single, “No Tomorrows”, has a similar feel to the opener. It’s a little more melodic and reminiscent of classic Iron Maiden. We’ve heard Sweet cover Maiden before on Styper’s covers record and he’s fantastic here as well.

“Born To Win” has some more of that early Sabbath influence to start before speeding up quite a bit.

“Been Said And Done” is the lone ballad on the record. It’s mostly acoustic and is a nice break from all the metal going on.

The album closer, “They Fought”, has another Maiden-esque riff and is a strong track to finish things off. It kind of reminds me of “Run To The Hills”.

There are a couple of things that stand out to me about “Evil And Divine”. First, it’s a metal record. There is some variety here but except for the one ballad, this is a heavy metal record. Second, Michael Sweet is no mere mortal. The man can truly sing anything. His vocal is so powerful on this record that it overshadows everything else.

The performances on this record are top notch. Any issues I have this record are simply personal preference. I would have liked to see a little more melody here and a little less Doom Metal. But if you claim your record is a Doom Metal record, you better back it up and Tracii and Michael certainly have.

If I’m rating this record on performance, it’s highly impressive. So if you are into the Doom Metal scene or anything heavily influenced by early Black Sabbath, you should get on Sunbomb immediately.

With it not being my preferred genre, I can honestly say that I really like half the record while the other half is good but not really my thing. But man, that Michael Sweet guy can sing.

85 out of 100

Track Listing

01. Life *
02. Take Me Away
03. Better End
04. No Tomorrows *
05. Born To Win
06. Evil And Divine
07. Been Said And Done *
08. Stronger Than Before
09. Story Of The Blind
10. World Gone Wrong
11. They Fought *

*Best Songs