I'm not sure of the type, it was here when I moved in. But it could wel be a sunburst, they go dark red eventually, but right now they're yellow, orange and red, not unlike a Fender Strat "sunburst" colour!
anyway, it look slike blackfly, i'd never even heard of it before, but it's infested, they reall like the new leaves at the end of each branch, they're really sludgy and sticky.
Hosepipe or light detergent soultion no good, as the tree is pretty large, about 12-15 fott to the top.
Is it fatal?