STRYPER
“When We Were Kings
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

11/10

Stryper are a heavy metal band from the USA formed in 1983 releasing fifteen albums across an incredible four decade career. The band are widely recognised as pioneers of the metal sub genre Christian Metal, but for me (and many metal fans worldwide), Stryper are simply a great heavy metal band. In recent years the bands musical direction has taken a heavier turn, yet hasn’t lost any of its highly melodious intent or phenomenal infectious nature. The bands most recent album ‘When We Were Kings’…

…released in 2024, contains eleven songs across forty six minutes, the four piece band featuring three original band members – vocalist/guitarist Michael Sweet (Sunbomb), drummer Robert Sweet, and guitarist Oz Fox, with bass player Perry Richardson completing the line-up. And to celebrate the bands forty year career, Stryper are heading out on their “40th Anniversary Tour” this autumn, performing classic hits and new-era material to their global fanbase. But right here, right now, it’s the bands new album that has my full attention – ‘End Of Days’ shuddering the ground across its first sixteen seconds before accelerating hard to roar off at top speed, the bands magical blend of melodic heavy metal hitting the sweet spot with sensational accuracy! And to be honest, I didn’t really expect anything less from the legendary metallers, Stryper have been a class act for forty years and have never disappointed – ‘Unforgivable’ maintaining the albums electrifying start, albeit with a mighty mid tempo thunder stomp, nearby buildings shaking under the immense force emanating from the album right now! The opening brace has breezed through the airways from opposite sides of the heavy metal genre, Stryper not a band to remain rooted to just the one spot, much preferring to roam around to deliver as much variation as possible.

The title song ‘When We Were Kings’ maintains the previous songs’ thunder stomp, adding a touch more elegance and a wonderful sing a long chorus that sounds more like a hymn come prayer – the band standing head and shoulders above most (if not all) of their contemporaries in terms of melodious intent, attractiveness and an immense infectious level that keeps listeners hooked on every single song Stryper have ever written, recorded and performed! If you’re looking for one of the finest hard rocking heavy metal bands ever to walk this Earth, you needn’t look any further than the Californian four-piece known as Stryper. The bands elegant prowess has never been in question, ‘Betrayed By Love’ displaying the highest level of elegance you can imagine, Stryper striding tall and very proud across power ballad territory oozing authority and assurance in equally sky high amounts! And I just know I’m gonna be accused of bias here, but I reckon Stryper could be well on their way to claiming the Album Of The Year title, the band continuing the recent years trend of the “old guard” dominating the end of year polls and charts! And maintaining the albums varied tone and feel, ‘Loves Symphony’ enters the fray with a bolder attitude than everything heard so far, the band changing tempo throughout to keep listeners on their toes – ‘When We Were Kings’ (the album) also at its most infectious right now.

I really can’t speak highly enough of Stryper, the band rocking my world for forty years ever since ‘The Yellow And Black Attack’ E.P. knocked me for six way back in 1984 – the same year I was also floored by the debut releases from Armored Saint, Grave Digger, Jag Panzer, Metal Church and Running Wild. Fuck that was a great year, ’cause Iron Maiden’s ground breaking ‘Powerslave’ was also released, along with Metallica’s ‘Ride The Lightning’, Saxon’s ‘Crusader’ and Van Halen’s ‘1984’. Fucking hell readers, am I really that old? Yes I am, but what a fantastic forty years of listening to metal and rock music I’ve had – here’s to the next forty eh! And I’m starting it with one of my all time favourite bands too, Stryper striding on at pace with ‘Trinity’, the classic sound of traditional heavy metal filling the air replete with the guitar tone so synonymous with the legendary NWOBHM evolution during the eighties – and although Stryper are (and were back in the day) over five thousand miles away from where the evolution began, the band one hundred percent took on board its ethos, spirit and aspiration, adding their own interpretation to create the bands signature sound, a sound that’s all consuming and has been grabbing the attentions of a worldwide audience for many years, the album marching on with masterful majesty and elevated elegance courtesy of the mid tempo ‘Rhyme Of Time’. Mixing breath taking balladry with a heavenly hymn-like swagger, ‘Rhyme Of Time’ is one the years finest power ballads, Stryper inviting everyone to raise lighters high in the air and sway from side to side! And bringing to the fore a meld of nineties hard rock, eighties sleaze metal and the bands own unique slant on traditional heavy metal, ‘Raptured’ is one of those genre spanning songs to attract a mesmerising myriad of rockers and metallers to the bands soundscape! Just why you wouldn’t be attracted to Stryper is beyond me, the band are, to coin an old saying “the greatest thing sliced bread”.

And surely everyone loves sliced bread – ‘Grateful’ taking on the mantle of a driving anthem, one of those songs to play loud with the windows down on a long country drive in the heat of summer! And not just in summer either, there’s autumn, winter and spring to play this one, metal music knowing no boundaries, especially the change of seasons! Stryper for me are one of those bands, just like AC/DC, Doro, Iron Maiden and Rage, that I could listen to every day for many years and never get tired, bored or fed-up – oh wait a sec, I have been! And still am – ‘Divided By Design’ shuddering the ground the hardest of any song on offer! The heaviness is jaw dropping, the band setting off underground earthquakes so fierce the entire planet is wobbling, and likely to roll off its axis too! And that guitar riff from two minutes fifty two seconds has just made me wet myself – not wet like a new born baby unable to yet control its bladder, I mean like an adult and an orgasmic sex wee! Stryper bring ‘When We Were Kings’ (the album) to a close with the bouncy and overly catchy ‘Imperfect World’. Striding forth with a gorgeous blend of melodic heavy metal that’s gonna have everyone from here to California and back smiling from ear to ear, every listener too is gonna be singing along to an absolute peach of a chorus, so come on readers, all together now “In our imperfect world, The canvas of our scars, Inside the twists and twirls, We all are shooting stars”. Simply stunning stuff from the sensational Stryper, and regardless of what the album title may suggest, the band are still kings as far as I’m concerned.

Overall, magnificence and elegance personified, Stryper have delivered a sensational album of infectious, heavy hitting metal and rock.

TRACKLIST

End Of Days
Unforgivable
When We Were Kings
Betrayed By Love
Loves Symphony
Trinity
Rhyme Of Time
Raptured
Grateful
Divided By Design
Imperfect World

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