SUNBOMB
“Light Up The Sky”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Sunbomb are a heavy metal band from the USA founded in 2019, releasing two albums to date – ‘Evil And Divine’ (2021) and ‘Light Up The Sky’ (2024).

Formed by two legends of hard rock and heavy metal – Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns) and Michael Sweet (Stryper) – Sunbomb deliver metal music in the vein of icons such as Black Sabbath, Dio and Judas Priest. The eleven songs on offer run for forty six heavy hitting minutes, gritty too, for Sunbomb ooze an in your face attitude with groove and melody, ensuring listeners remain hooked every second of the way – ‘Unbreakable’ shattering the silence as it staggers in, the bold. bombastic sound of nineties hard rock effortlessly mixing with heavy metal and a groove orientated riff that’s simply to die for! That riff is delicious, every listener devouring ‘Unbreakable’ and wanting more – much more! And don’t worry, ’cause the band have more – lots more! For the albums only just begun – ‘Steel Hearts’ maintaining the heart melting groove riffing from the previous song, the infectious level shooting right through the fucking roof! What a quality opening brace from Guns and Sweet, but then again, I didn’t expect anything less! Did you?

And at six minutes in length, ‘In Grace We’ll Find Our Name’ is the second longest song on offer, bringing to the fore a little of the doom heavy style of metal, the doom heavy style of ‘Sabbath to be more precise – Sunbomb striding tall with immense elegancy! Now I’ve said it before in a few previous reviews, but it seems like in recent years, that bands born forty years ago during the eighties birth of heavy metal, are producing some of the finest albums released today! And of course I realise Sunbomb wasn’t around back then, but L.A. Guns and Stryper were, performing at the forefront of the worldwide hard rock and heavy metal scenes respectively. And if you’re thinking the duo’s collaboration here is just a vehicle to pass the time while waiting for retirement to come calling – you’re fucking wrong! Sunbomb mean business – ‘Light Up The Sky’ marching on with (probably the title song) ‘Light Up The Skies’. A mellow first twenty seconds or so is followed by a punchy mid tempo swagger, the more melodic end of the heavy metal genre syncing perfectly with the heavier end of hard rock, the band delivering a sound that melds together two of my favourite four genres of music (the other two being thrash and power metal).

I tell ya readers, sometimes I wish I could just rewind time and go back to the eighties and re-live my youth when I first discovered metal and rock – but sadly I can’t! But with so much new metal and rock being released today, I’m still enjoying discovering it as much now as I did over forty years ago! And when two of my childhood icons collaborate like right now, I’m in heavy metal and hard rock heaven – and at just two and a half minutes in length, ‘Rewind’ is the shortest song on ‘Light Up The Sky’. Yet what it lacks in length it sure makes up for with a punchy crunch full of bone breaking intentions! The gritty, sleazy attitude pouring outta this album is surprising when you consider one half of the duo is more well known for producing highly polished heavy metal by way of Stryper – although I have noticed over recent years the band has taken a much heavier path than ever before. And with Stryper’s new album waiting in the wings to be reviewed, I may find a few more surprises there too! But I digress, let’s get back to Sunbomb and their second album – an album that roars loud – ‘Scream Out Loud’ screaming down the freeway at high speed! The band are at their mightiest here, delivering a highly head bang-able foot to the floor slice of heavy metal, everyone everywhere rocking their heads back and forth faster than at any other time so far.

And clocking in at over six minutes in length, ‘Winds Of Fate’ is the longest song on offer, and sees the band resume the elegant mid tempo swagger that’s graced ‘Light Up The Sky’ on more than one occasion already, Sunbomb dropping a slight hymn-like feel here too! The variation of metal and rock styles on the album has been staggering, the band not wishing to be pigeon holed into just the one musical genre, fair play to the writing genius of the founding duo Guns and Sweet – and I wanted to say this earlier when I used the term “Guns and Sweet” for the first time, I wonder if they thought of using “Sweet Guns” as a name for the band! I know I would have! Anyway, Sunbomb it is, and on with the album we go, ‘Beyond The Odds’ hitting the ground hard with an immense old school flavour, the iconic foot on the monitor feel rising high in the air – along with clenched fists too, every listener punching the air to salute a corker of a song.

The intensity of the album since it began has been spot on, holding everyones attentions tightly and not letting go, ‘Reclaim The Light’ squeezing even tighter as the hustling, bustling nature of heavy metal comes striding forth. It’s fucking magical the blend of old and new school, Sunbomb spanning several generations with their all conquering sonic assault – an assault that ain’t over yet! ‘Where We Belong’ returns balladry to the fore, a mid to slow tempo stroll across the land enticing listeners to raise lighters high in the air, the power threatening to surge outta ‘Where We Belong’ held back beautifully by the band. Which brings us to the albums final song, ‘Setting The Sail’ oozing a mighty Southern rock swagger alongside the bands root traditional metal leanings. The band have surprised and dazzled all album long, right from minute one to the final forty sixth.

Overall, a stunning blend of heavy metal and hard rock, ‘Light Up The Sky’ is a genre spanning, head bang-able and infectious listening experience.

TRACKLIST

Unbreakable
Steel Hearts
In Grace We’ll Find Our Name
Light Up the Skies
Rewind
Scream Out Loud
Winds of Fate
Beyond the Odds
Reclaim the Light
Where We Belong
Setting the Sail

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