Big, shocking news for Michael Sweet fans.
SUNBOMB, a project between L.A. GUNS‘ Tracii Guns and STRYPER‘s Michael Sweet has made an announcement today with a brand new album expected this year via Frontiers Records.
During an appearance earlier today (Tuesday, May 5) on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation”, Guns stated about the musical direction of SUNBOMB:
“I love black metal. I love black metal more than I love a lot of other things. Because black metal has a certain element of Randy Rhoads in it that people might not really identify that, but I always have. There’s something about the double picking and the way the chords are structured and the weight of the music.
He added:
“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.”
When host Eddie Trunk pointed out to Guns that Sweet — being the frontman of the most successful openly Christian hard rock band of all time — is likely not much of a black metal fan, Tracii corrected him:
“I think he is.”
“You have the biggest non-believer and the biggest believer.”
“But that’s the kind of guys we are — I’m able to separate the beliefs from the music; they’re not one and the same. And Michael and I have talked about it. I’m an open-minded person and I respect [other people’s perspectives].”
Fans went to social media and expressed their shock, saying:
“I knew it. Sweet IS the God Damn Devil!!”
“There’s nothing sweeter than Michael Sweet in a black metal band. Sweet Jesus! ??♂️”
“f*ckin idiot. Christians cant play black metal but they can fake it i guess”
“Way it should be. Don’t talk politics or religion, then you can hang for whatever. Yahoo should learn this lesson.”