VELVET THUNDER

It’s a well-known fact that Stryper is a Christian rock band which, bizarrely, turns off some rock fans but to do so is to miss out on a crucially vital hard rock band with a string of stunning metal albums in the back catalogue. As Sir Cliff Richard said in 1979 with the song of the same name “Why Should The Devil Have all The Good Music?” which puts everything into context and I wonder how many times Sir Cliff gets mentioned in a Stryper review? Therefore, with no further mention of the band’s religious leanings, it is on to the music.

The Final Battle is Stryper’s 14th album in a career that goes all the way back to 1983. This means that next year sees the 40th anniversary which is a landmark worthy of celebration although there has been several periods of inactivity. The band has consistently released exceptional hard rock albums with the last decade or so most definitely seeing the band getting louder and heavier especially so with albums from 2018’s Fallen onwards with 2020’s Even The Devil Believes being as good a metal album as you will ever hear! As with the last couple of releases, the band remains as Michael Sweet on vocals and guitar, brother Robert on drums, Oz Fox on guitar with Perry Richardson (ex-Firehouse) being the relative new boy coming on-board in 2017. In Sweet the band has a rock and roll singer with an exceptionally powerful voice which shows no sign of diminishing with the passing of the years and when he cranks up to full power and maximum volume the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Indeed, he has a high-pitched scream that matches Rob Halford for intensity and he is an excellent guitarist too with his work with Oz Fox being stunning as they produce crunching riffs to lay down a full metal attack over which they revel in a veritable barrage of killer solos, metal simply does not get better! The rapport between Robert Sweet and Perry Richardson grows ever stronger as they build a rock-solid platform for the guitar heroics which are such a trademark of the Stryper sound.

Melody has always been central to the core of the band so that no matter how heavy it gets it remains the same old Stryper that we know and love with a rhythm and intensity that always delivers. As ever, the songs are perfect examples of how vital the 5-minute epic can be with Sweet giving his usual vocal masterclass over a veritable wall of searing guitar that leaves you in awe of the talent within the band. Of course, the themes and lyrics have a Christian slant which is central to the band and totally in keeping with the music that the band delivers so sublimely.

The album starts with a real statement of intent with Transgressor which grabs you by the throat and shakes you into submission with the intensity levels kept through to the equally insistent Ashes To Ashes with its Exciter vibe that ensures you put the album on repeat play. Each track is a mini-epic that totally delivers in the same way that the metal masters Judas Priest do and if you are a fan of Priest then you will definitely relish the works of Stryper.

The Final Battle is another stunner from one of the great metal bands of our time and those lucky enough to hear it will surely consider themselves Blessed.

Stryper – The Final Battle is out now on Frontiers Records