Artist: Stryper Title: “The Covering” Label: Big 3 Records Release Date: 2/15/2011 Genre: Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Rating: 4.5/5
For decades you have known them as the yellow and black attack for the power of Christian Metal and serving the genre as a reminder to the fans about God’s glory and love for all mankind. They’ve held up this banner with releases such as “Soldiers Under Command”, “To Hell With The Devil” and most recently “Murder By Pride” and they are still going strong as a touring band with all original members in their lineup. Their newest release is called “The Covering” and it will answer any of the questions that might come about in regards to just how a Stryper rendition of a particular song or artist might sound. The important thing to know right off the bat is that this collection really pulls out some surprises and there are songs that I never expected them to give a reworking. They start us off with “Set Me Free” by The Sweet and if you don’t know this band yet for shame as they are one of the most influential of them all. The guys deliver some justice in their “Stryperization” of it from the get go. A cool hit to the bleachers comes via their delivery of “Blackout” which has remained one of my personal favorites from The Scorpions. I was initially surprised to hear them doing Black Sabbath’s “Heaven And Hell” from the bands Dio era but when one considers that all of these tracks were important to them as growing musicians and band then it makes perfect sense even if the theme is a little darker than we are used to from them. It’s not like they’re covering Slayer or Merciful Fate after all. The UFO classic “Lights Out” hits your speakers hard and this has to be a great one in concert for them if they are doing it. It still resonates with power when UFO does it, and if performed properly can be a hit in anyone’s set list. Continue reading “The Covering” by Stryper→
At the beginning of the week I decked the halls with New York’s own Twisted Sister who had once again set out to deliver their “Twisted Christmas Holiday Extravaganza” and this festive hoedown too place at The Nokia Theatre in Times Square. We documented all the fun from that night HERE, and that evening’s happenings were part of the reason that we were on point for this special occasion down on Wall Street today.
Artist: Stryper Venue: Fillmore at Irving Plaza (New York, NY) Opener: Manic Drive, Flight Patterns Date: 9/18/2009 Label: Big3 Records
In celebration of the bands 25th Anniversary, Stryper was back in New York City to deliver their most cherished hits and also the best material from their newest studio release “Murder By Pride”. While I clearly walk on the heavier side of Metal’s providers these days, I have always enjoyed what Stryper did and how they managed to successfully blend their positive messages into some truly powerful Hard Rock music. They were a constant on MTV with their videos and this was at a time when being on the network actually meant something to heavy music fans. Resultant of this a number of their tunes became radio staples and now over two decades later are bona fide classics. To the best of my knowledge they had not toured around these parts since 2005 when I caught them in support of their “Reborn” CD. The tour was also the introduction to the fans of their new bass player Tracy Ferrie after founding member Tim Gaines had decided to move on and pursue other interests. Traumatic family issues put the band on hold as Michael Sweet’s wife Kyle was diagnosed and eventually succumbed to Ovarian cancer. The bands newest release came only months after she had passed away and perhaps his touring with the guys again was helping in the healing process as much as his own faith would be doing. Returning for the tour would be original bassist Tim Gaines stepping back into place for the absent Ferrie. Originally the tour was set to be done in two parts with the first half being new material and the second half the older classics. Ferrie had issues of his own to deal with and this would prevent him from the rigors of touring with the band. The show was at The Fillmore NY in The Big Apple and while there would be a number of opening acts we would not arrive until just before Stryper was set to hit the stage. I had initially wanted to see the band that singer Dayna Jade was fronting as well as witness what Flight Patterns was all about. The latter band actually features Michael Sweet’s son so the plan was to absorb them if at all possible. Alas this would not be the case but here is how the Stryper set went down. Continue reading Stryper @ Fillmore at Irving Plaza (9/18/2009)→
Artist: Stryper Title: “The Roxx Regime Demos” Label: Fifty Three Five Records Release Date: 7/7/2007 Genre: Hard Rock Rating: 3.5/5
In the Beginning, well in 1983 to be more exact, four musicians with a similar goal joined forces and called themselves “Roxx Regime”. They hit the club circuit on the Hollywood strip as it was rich with musical activity and while the band would perform at the very same clubs that Poison and Ratt were playing, their music would have a crucial difference from that of their peers. Roxx Regime had decided to sing hard-edged songs of praise to the Most High which was definitely risky and nowhere near tunes about wild parties and girls that the other Hair Metal acts were delivering. Yet so strong were their Christian beliefs and faith to make this thing work that they pressed on. The gamble paid off and the band was able to build up a strong following that was made up of both religious and non secular fans. The group would eventually change their name to Stryper and embark on a very promising career but that is not what we are here to discuss. Rewinding to the very roots of the band this CD takes us back to how it all started out and presents to their fans of today the sounds that they had originally. I like the idea of the band releasing their demos to the public years later as this offers a great little collectible and stops the sale of bootlegged material of the same kind as well. The material here is young, rough in sound and at times might seem quirky but the listener should be aware that no remixing or remastering was done at all. What you are hearing now is how the demos sounded at the time of their recording and as you listen you can hear that the band had some solid potential to make a break for the big time. The lineup of Roxx Regime would be the same through many years of Stryper releases with Michael Sweet (vocals, guitar), Robert Sweet (drums), Oz Fox (guitar, vocals), and Tim Gaines (bass, vocals). Continue reading “The Roxx Regime Demos” by Stryper→
Artist: Stryper Title: “Greatest Hits: Live In Puerto Rico” Label: MVD Entertainment Release Date: 4/24/2007 Genre: Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Rating: 4/5
Let’s all raise a hearty “Hails and Hosanna” for those Metal Messengers of the Most High for they have returned and released their first full concert DVD in the bands history. I know some of you Old Schoolers are saying that back in the day a live concert from Japan was released but that has never seen the light of DVD and is long out of print on VHS as well. Younger fans are saying “what’s a VHS” but I digress. This concert was filmed in Puerto Rico back in March of 2004 and it finds a reunited lineup of Stryper performing the greatest hits from their albums in front of a very enthusiastic and appreciative crowd. During the “Hair Metal” years of the eighties Stryper was a band that ruled the video networks of MTV and were immediately recognizable from both their positive Christian message as well as their yellow and black spandex outfits. Today Stryper has abandoned the spandex costumes but the message and the music remains strong and sounds better than ever before. The DVD is a great way to catch up on these guys and what they are capable of musically and this is especially true if you only know of songs like “Honestly” or “Calling On You”. There is certainly a lot more to absorb with this performance and you will soon find that in the concert setting that this is a band that sounds really, really good. I am confident that you will be impressed with just how good as a matter of fact. The show in PR was led up to with the band reuniting around their CD Best Of compilation “7: The Best Of Stryper”; it was a disc that found all tracks remastered and sounding very upfront as opposed to the original mixes. Continue reading “Greatest Hits: Live In Puerto Rico” by Stryper→
