Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Stryper
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2013
Running time: 69:40
Rating: 4.5/5
The Lord works in mysterious ways. Ways that bring rock music and Christianity together. The impossible is possible. All for the money. Among the rare few still standing today, besides the occasional kick from Mastedon and/or Petra, are Stryper! Probably the biggest name of the movement from the second half of the eighties, when white rock bands were running wild on the other side of the Atlantic pond. Stryper are known for their incredible melodic rhetoric and a knack for working melody into the framework of true rock rowdy culture, powered by a strong, authoritative, potent guitar riff. Those of you who’ll dig into the lyrics and aren’t committed Roman Catholics have no business here. Those of you whose ears slide right past the lyrics, welcome to hard rock heaven.
Stryper haven’t released a new studio album since 2009, and they’re trying to bridge the long wait with stopgap releases. The tried-and-true moves of acts going through their »second spring« are getting more and more predictable. The first such »stunt« that bands in their second spring usually pull is a covers album. Stryper have already cashed in on that one, putting out »The Covered« in February 2011. It’s a less exciting affair, a collection of covers of artists who, along with his heavenly highness the Father, shaped the musical development of Stryper’s members one way or another. And since there’s still no studio album in sight, Stryper set about reviving their own back catalog, featuring re-adapted versions of songs from the EP »The Yellow and Black Attack« (1984), the debut »Soldiers Under Command« (1985) and its follow-up »To Hell With the Devil« (1986).
A sure thing. A proven musical setting, a proven musical statement. There was no way Stryper could miss here. »Second Coming« has absolutely everything on that front. All the bombast, carried over from the eighties into the new era, with new recording technology, for new times. Michael Sweet has an incredibly warm, authoritative and ultra-melodic voice, which pairs up perfectly with the vivid, dynamic guitar work – especially Oz Fox’s phenomenal solos and transitional flourishes – into a one-of-a-kind active ingredient known as the Stryper school of hard rock. »Second Coming« has all the most recognizable classics that cemented the Stryper name on the map of the best-known Christian rock acts in the second half of the eighties. The obligatory hit singles »Calling on You«, »Free« and »Honestly« are of course all there. In this new musical environment of new times, the band’s preacher side comes through even more intensely, woven into the chorus melodies of choral multi-harmonies. At times they give off an almost fanatical gospel-choir feel, which shows up not only in classics like »Makes Me Wanna Sing« but even in the new »Blackened«. Yes, there are two brand-new Stryper songs on this one.
Speaking of the two new songs, »Blackened« and »Bleeding From The Inside Out«, we have to point out the feeling that washes over you as you chew through the material on »Second Coming«: the arrangements of both new tracks were clearly shaped by the band flirting with the material from their first three studio releases. That’s why they sound like lost songs from those records. Two excellent tracks. You can’t add or take away a thing. As such, they boldly foreshadow the next studio album, which will be full of strengths if Stryper manage to hold on to the current dynamic of their chemical composing processes and carry it over onto the recording tapes of the future release.
The tracks follow in chronological order. You can feel the gradual shift from the raw bite, partly influenced by the American speed metal boom of the early eighties and by listening to Judas Priest, toward a »purism« often expressed in the major-key structure of the later songs, with their pompously inflated sermon-like melodies (»Calling On You«).
The new production is killer! On that front, as well as in the playing of the individual building blocks of Stryper’s music, these versions of the classics are even better than the originals. Michael Sweet and company would 100% agree that they’d have killed for the kind of production that the remade classic »Rock That Makes Me Wanna Roll« gets on »Second Coming«, had they only had the chance to use the new recording technology back in the eighties. Music purists who get bothered by every last sonic hair, meanwhile, will be listening to just »Second Coming« for a while.
»Second Coming« is also an extremely welcome addition to the CD collection for all of you who don’t know Stryper’s music, who can’t get your hands on the Stryper albums released in the eighties one way or another, and who are devoted fans of the ultra-melodic approach to hard rock. So »Second Coming« makes for an excellent introduction to the world of Stryper. A sort of »best of« of freshly re-played classics, which, let’s hope, also gives the band wings to finally get a new studio album out. The outlook is very good.
Line-up
Michael Sweet – vocals, guitar
Robert Sweet – drums
Timothy Gaines – bass, backing vocals
Oz Fox – guitar, backing vocals
Production
Michael Sweet
Track list
1. Loud N’ Clear
2. Loving You
3. Soldiers Under Command
4. Makes Me Wanna Sing
5. First Love
6. The Rock That Makes Me Roll
7. Reach Out
8. Surrender
9. To Hell With The Devil
10. Calling On You
11. Free
12. The Way
13. Sing Along Song
14. More Than A Man
15. Bleeding From Inside Out*
16. Blackened*
*… new songs
