Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Stryper
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2018
Length: 44:43
Rating: 4/5
Stryper are a long-running American hard rock outfit. A band of hard rock crusaders, really, white rockers, or as the music critics like to say, they’ve been playing so-called Christian rock since day one of their career. That’s hard rock loaded with lyrics about God’s sermons and turning to the Lord (daily tip included). Biblical stuff, in other words.
Even though the Christian-enlightened Stryper have been careful from the start to project a »broadly appealing image« to the uptight American public, which brought them a huge commercial breakthrough in the eighties, it’s surprising that Walmart, one of America’s biggest album retail chains, has refused any activity tied to promoting and selling »God Damn Evil«. As the »sharp-witted« businessmen at Walmart put it, they spotted controversial content in the album title and, backed by numerous Christian activists, concluded that Stryper had gone too far this time. Michael Sweet, undisputedly the band’s lead voice and leader, has officially complained that the band is shaken, shocked and deeply disappointed by the decision. Sweet also said that with their lyrics the band has always aimed to get listeners thinking outside the usual molds, patterns and frames of everyday life. According to Sweet, »God Damn Evil« is a prayer to God and a plea for God to deliver the world from all the evil that has been spreading like wildfire in recent years. Let’s be honest. Despite the Walmart boycott (and whoever else’s), the album will reach the band’s loyal fan base without any trouble, and no conservative machine that pushes people into »obedience« and »groveling« is going to stop it.
Anyway, all we really care about is the music, and »God Damn Evil« is an interesting album because it feels retro and nostalgic, which was nowhere near as pronounced on its two studio predecessors, »Fallen« (2015) and »No Moew Hell To Pay« (2013). »God Damn Evil« flirts much more intensely again with the band’s songwriting approach from the second half of the eighties. The title track in particular, followed by You Don’t Even Know Me and The Valley, brings back the albums from the start of the band’s career, »To Hell with the Devil« and the debut »Soldiers Under Command«. The album is closed out by the short but »fast-moving« »The Devil Doesn’t Live Here«.
Stryper sound a bit more retro and nostalgic this time than you’d expect given the two studio predecessors, there’s less of the general blending of classic metal elements with hard rock, and the album, as said, really does sound somewhat more rustic. The opening doesn’t give that impression, though, since it’s kicked off by the very un-Stryper-like Take It To The Cross, which surprises with its choppy, bristling attitude, especially the pointedly unmelodic chorus that dictates nothing but the song title in an extremely fast-sung string of words (with plenty of repetition). Next come two completely contrasting tracks, Sorry and Lost, with distinctly musical choruses, where Michael Sweet, with his unmistakable and superb vocals, puts »everything back in its place« and the album gets that 100% outline of a proper Stryper record.
On top of that, Stryper have of course routinely drenched everything in a massive dose of AOR-style »pompous« bombast that follows the album at every turn, and which first really shines in the chorus of Lost, where Sweet simply stuns with how well his voice has held up, carrying him to extreme vocal heights even in his later years. The lead vocal is backed at many points, especially in the choruses, by additional vocal choirs, which deepens the theatrical drama of the album. The production keeps the band’s core trademarks of style and sound. There’s a heap of skillfully used lead motifs, and brilliant soloing from Oz Fox and Sweet. Then there’s new bassist Perry Richardson (Firehouse), whose clearly distinctive bass lines add contrast to the tracks. Once again the band has packaged it all very skillfully into atmospheric climaxes within the choruses. 44 minutes fly by in a blink! An album bursting with ideas that maintains Stryper’s clear artistic image and pose. True Stryper fans have had this album at home for ages. The band still has no shortage of talent and inspiration, even in its mature years.
Lineup
Michael Sweet – vocals, guitar
Oz Fox – guitar
Perry Richardson – guitar
Robert Sweet – drums
Production
Michael Sweet
Tracklist
1. Take It To The Cross
2. Sorry
3. Lost
4. God Damn Evil
5. You Don’t Even Know Me
6. The Valley
7. Sea Of Thieves
8. Beautiful
9. Can’t Live Without Your Love
10. Own Up
11. The Devil Doesn’t Live Here
