ALL ACCESS: Tim Gaines

CD Review: Stryper – Fallen
Frontiers Music srl
All Access Rating: A-

Styper - Fallen 2015

Placing its faith in heavy, crunching riffs and bold, uplifting melodies enveloped in fire-and-brimstone bluster paid off handsomely for a reinvigorated Stryper on 2013's No More Hell to Pay, an album that drew rave reviews from critics once reluctant to pay them any respect whatsoever.

A Frontiers Music srl release, Fallen continues their glorious crusade back to metal relevancy. Holding nothing back in terms of its growing creative aspirations and staying on message with determined zeal, the yellow-and-black attack is increasingly intense and relentless on the mighty Fallen, where high-minded principles and sentiments sometimes clash with righteous indignation.

All of which is found in the epic opener "Yahweh," as storming thrash-metal anger collides with angelic choirs and rousing, uplifting power-metal drama in a tour-de-force production that's as ambitious as anything the Christian metal stalwarts have ever attempted. Driving furiously through fast-paced, gripping tracks such as the Black Sabbath cover "After Forever" and "Till I Get What I Need," Stryper seems to relish throwing off the shackles of its hair-metal past. And when provoked, they can turn downright vicious, passionately pounding the pulpit with thundering sonic authority while condemning Hollywood for its false portrayal of Christians in "Big Screen Lies."

On Fallen, the band's 11th original album, there is darkness and light, with Oz Fox and Michael Sweet trading various combinations of searing, hot-wired guitar licks that seem to take dead aim at Stryper's detractors and Sweet singing with dynamic force and great conviction, as drummer Robert Sweet and bassist Tim Gaines flex their rhythmic muscles. Brawling, weighty guitars grind through the title track, "Pride" and "Let There Be Light," their gnarled hooks gripping tightly to desperate souls seeking salvation, while "Heaven" smolders, "Love You Like I Do" stings with melodic sweetness and the lovely pop-metal ballad "All Over Again" swoons with sighing harmonies.

Without completely reinventing themselves, Stryper has shown that an old dog of an '80s metal band can learn a few new tricks and not lose its identity in the process. There are times on Fallen where it seems Stryper falls back too easily on what's worked for them in the past and becomes formulaic, but for the faithful who've stuck with them through it all, that's probably a comfort.
– Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Stryper – Live at the Whisky
Frontiers Records
All Access Rating: A-

Stryper - Live at the Whisky 2014

A modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah in the '80s, the Sunset Strip was swimming in sin and depravity. It was the sort of place a vengeful God might reduce to rubble with a wave of His mighty hand.

Into this devil's playground walked four yellow-and-black clad crusaders, carrying the cross of Christian metal into dens of iniquity like the Whisky a Go Go. What a place for a band like Stryper to try to make a name for itself, fighting the good fight and eventually gaining acceptance from skeptics with a rugged, uplifting pop-metal sound full of blissful vocal interplay and spiraling, pealing guitar harmonies.

Some 30 years later, long after the platinum success of To Hell With The Devil, Stryper's original lineup of vocalist/guitarist Michael Sweet, guitarist Oz Fox, drummer Robert Sweet and bassist Tim Gaines made its return to the Whisky last November, eager to perform for the first time material from the heaviest album of their meaningful lives, No More Hell to Pay.

Available now as a 16-track CD/DVD package from Frontiers Records, Live at the Whisky is the raw, punched-up recording of Stryper letting it all hang out that night, kicking into high gear immediately with a venomous, hard-charging version of No More Hell to Pay's "Legacy" and churning through the tough, defiant riffs of "Marching into Battle," before sinking their perfect teeth into the big, joyous pop hooks, striking melodies and ragged glory of "Reach Out," "Calling on You," "Always There For You" and taking a whip to a high-spirited cover of the Doobie Brothers' "Jesus Is Just Alright."

Playing to a raucous crowd behind them every step of the way, Stryper deliver the goods and then some, giving as good as they get in return with a tight, energetic performance, as Fox and Michael Sweet reach deeply into their bag of tricks to solo like demons and harmonize like angels. A rampaging take on "The Way" rams into the double-barreled blast of "To Hell With The Devil" and "Soldiers Under Command" with all the force of a wrecking ball, as Robert Sweet's drums snap and crack and Gaines controls the low end with a firm hand.

This is Stryper firing on all cylinders, invigorated and sweaty, evangelizing without sermonizing and having the time of their lives. On message and on point, they play with renewed vigor and a sharpened sense of purpose that should be obvious to anybody with an open mind. The yellow-and-black attack is back, and it's ready to embark on another crusade.
– Peter Lindblad