This year is the 40th anniversary of ‘Soldiers Under Command’, the first Stryper album I ever bought, and Michael Sweet (lead vocals, guitar), Oz Fox (guitar), and Robert Sweet (drums) are still there while Perry Richardson (bass) joined in 2017. At the time I was blown away that there was a Christian band playing rock music as all I was used to was Cliff Richard and Larry Norman, and it was through them that I then discovered bands such as Petra as well. The lyrics had a message, but they also had great melodies and were catchy, and it was no surprise that they soon became big in Japan.
Over the years I have reviewed quite a few of their albums, but for me nothing ever really captured the imagination like ‘Soldiers’ and ‘The Yellow and Black Attack’, although when I saw them in concert a few years ago they were just as stunning as ever. But these days it is a case of if you have heard a recent Stryper album then you know exactly what this is like. For some reason they are often called “metal”, I supposed so they fit in with the White Metal movement, but they have always been melodic hard rock with a very American take. This is not exactly going through the motions but there is little here to get excited about: it is not a bad album per se, just not one I can see myself returning to again. The production is very good, care of Michael Sweet, but if they had used an outsider, possibly, they could have been pushed more. Michael still has a great voice, the guitars still chug along nicely while Robert has always been a great drummer, but the hooks are missing.
Rating: 6/10
