On the new episode of Talking Metal, host Mark Strigl speaks with Stryper frontman Michael Sweet, who talks about the band, his Sunbomb project with Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns), guitarist Oz Fox's health and more.

On Sunbomb: "It's a very raw... not a lot of overdubs, very raw and in-your-face approach. That's what's really cool about it. It's a throwback to the early days, the early '80s, and some of the music is almost like the '70s, a little Sabbath. It's definitely got a different, darker vibe to it musically and lyrically speaking. It's definitely a litle different for me which is really cool."

Sunbomb is the highly anticipated new musical alliance between two steadfast warriors of the US hard rock/metal scene, Tracii Guns and Michael Sweet. 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

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.

Initialized and conceived after Serafino Perugino, President and A&R director of Frontiers Music Srl, 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 Guns 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 Sweet 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. Traci 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] 'he 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 handled by Mitch Davis, with the exception of the track "They Fought", which features current L.A. Guns bassist Johnny Martin.

Tracklisting:

"Life"
"Take Me Away"
"Better End"
"No Tomorrows"
"Born To Win"
"Evil And Divine"
"Been Said And Done"
"Stronger Than Before"
"Story Of The Blind"
"World Gone Wrong"
"They Fought"

"Life" video:

"No Tomorrows" lyric video:

Lineup:

Tracii Guns - Guitars
Michael Sweet - Vocals
Adam Hamilton - Drums
Mitch Davis - Bass
Johnny Martin - Bass (They Fought)

(Photo - Sunbomb Facebook)