Stryper’s next studio album to have a little bit more of “raw groove oriented” sound

Stryper’s next studio album to have a little bit more of “raw groove oriented” sound

Stryper frontman Michael Sweet was recently interviewed by Jimmy Kay for Canada’s The Metal Voice. Sweet recently announced that he had finished writing the music for the songs for Stryper‘s follow up album to their critically acclaimed album Even The Devil Believes which landed the #1 spot on the Sleaze Roxx Readers’ Top 20 Albums of 2020 and finished at #2 on the Sleaze Roxx’s Top Ten Albums of 2020.

With respect to the upcoming new Stryper album, Sweet indicated (as provided by The Metal Voice): “The options for the new album were to postpone it because of my eye. I have a long road to recovery to be able to see out of this eye so I am going to be wearing a patch for a while. I realized when I started writing the album just two and a half three weeks ago, it’s a lot more difficult to play as well. Your perception and hand placement that falls on the guitar neck and everything is off a little bit. I decided we are not going to put the album off because that just makes no sense for too many people It’s not just me that is involved there are many people that are involved and that is going to alter everyone’s plans and schedules and so I made a decision we are going to push on and do it and we’re doing it. The guys fly out in two weeks and we start rehearsals on the 25th of January. We are going to rehearse two songs and then go and record them, then rehearse two songs and record them, we are doing it a little differently this time. Maybe it will be a little more metal because of the eye patch.”

In terms of what will the new album sound like, Sweet advised: “I always go back to Soldiers Under Command when I do a new album and somehow try to recapture a little bit of that energy and that raw power but I always want to record something new. This album has its own signature on it already I can tell you that. I don’t want to compare it to Guns N’ Roses but it’s got a little bit more of that raw groove oriented but it’s metal all the way. There is no official piano, acoustic  ballad on this album.”

With respect to how many songs will be on the new album and the lyrical themes, Sweet indicated: “Eleven songs on this album. The lyrics are already  being written in an unusual way and I will leave it at that. There is a little bit of a spin on the lyrics.” In regard to the time frame for the album, Sweet opined: “We will turn it in in mid-April 2022, if all goes well and if I had to guess the release and I can’t say for sure, I would say the end of the year, maybe October, November of 2022.”