When one sees the name Michael Sweet on an album cover there will always be certain expectations such as the lyrics will be heavily Christian, the vocals will be outstanding and the music will be very melodic indeed, normally in a hard rock setting. Here he has used the opportunity of a solo album to actually be more pop-based than would be expected with Stryper, with quite a few acoustic guitars in the mix as well as electric. About the album he says, “It’s totally different… it’s not a rock record. It’s an eclectic mix of everything I grew up on,” he explains. “I didn’t want to follow any rules—I just wanted to do whatever I wanted to do.”
The result is an album which does most of what we expect from him, apart from the fact that while it is okay, it is often little more than that, with songs such as “Lord” feeling low on message and high on filler. Like many others it is obviously highly personal but probably remains better in a testimony setting inside a church as opposed to an album. What lifts this album throughout are his vocals, still as powerful and melodic as they have always been, but for those (like me) who have been following his career since the very early days it is something to play once and then put on the shelf unlikely to be heard again.
Rating: 6/10