Sunbomb is the highly anticipated new musical alliance between two steadfast warriors of the US hard rock/metal scene, Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns) and Michael Sweet (Stryper). They have put together an absolute blinder of a heavy metal album, melding influences of classic metal bands such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest with Tracii‘s love of metal sub-genres, specifically doom metal. The band’s debut album, “Evil And Divine,” is out May 14. A video for the album opener, ‘Life’, can be found below
According to a press release, “Evil And Divine” is “an absolute blinder of a heavy metal album, melding influences of classic metal bands such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, with Tracii‘s love of metal subgenres, specifically doom metal.”
Initiated and conceived after Serafino Perugino, president and A&R director of Frontiers Music, reached out to Tracii about working on a new musical project for the label, the idea of a classic heavy metal-sounding album was born. The music style on “Evil And Divine” is much heavier than what one would expect from these two musicians and is firmly planted in the “metal” category. While Tracii wrote the music for the album, the fact that Michael Sweet has been writing/playing in an increasingly heavier style in the latter era, and extremely well-received Stryper albums made him a very logical choice to sing for the band. And since doom metal, often known for having powerful singers like Messiah Marcolin from Candlemass, was a massive influence on Tracii‘s songwriting here, Sweet‘s ability and range were a perfect match.
Tracii says: “Sunbomb was an idea, then an experiment. When I heard the first vocal completed, I was blown away by Michael‘s voice. It’s an exciting album.”
Michael says: “Hard to believe that I met Tracii for the first time just a few years ago. We hit it off right away and we obviously share the same love for metal.
“Tracii sent me a song and I loved the vibe and then he eventually asked me to sing on the entire album.
“What I love about it is it’s definitely different not only for me, but for Tracii as well. I think fans will love this album, and although it’s reminiscent of some of the greatest metal bands of the past, it also has a fresh spin to it. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it! I’m honored to be a part of it.”
Tracii leaked the news of the new project in a March 2019 tweet, where he described the project’s debut LP as “the metal record I would have made when I was 17 years old.” In May 2020, he mentioned on “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” that “the Sunbomb record is really kind of like [L.A Guns‘ 2019 album] ‘The Devil You Know’ times three. It’s more on the heavy side of ‘The Devil You Know’ album. And Michael Sweet, he’s a really fantastic metal singer.”
Drums on the album were handled by Tracii‘s old L.a. Guns bandmate Adam Hamilton, and bass was recorded by Mitch Davis, with the exception of the track ‘They Fought’, which features current L.A. GUNS bassist Johnny Martin.
“Evil And Divine” track listing:
01. Life
02. Take Me Away
03. Better End
04. No Tomorrows (stream)
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
Available on CD/LP/Ltd. Ed. Color LP/Digital. Standard Black vinyl is available from all physical retailers. Limited Edition Red vinyl is available exclusively from the Frontiers‘ US and EU webstores. Limited Edition Yellow vinyl is available exclusively from Newbury Comics (US customers only). Pre-order options here.
Video for ‘Life’
Recording lineup:
Tracii Guns – Guitars
Michael Sweet – Vocals
Adam Hamilton – Drums
Mitch Davis – Bass
Johnny Martin – Bass (on “We Fought”)
