The concept of a Christian glam-metal band dressed entirely in black and yellow spandex remains an outré one, and Stryper have not been without their Spinal moments over the years (even their name is deliberately misspelled with the ‘y’ so no-one could confuse it with ‘Stripper’, an altogether less godly conceit), but we should tip our hat to them for hanging in there.
The band have had their share of ridicule, and also their successes, first with the platinum-selling To Hell With The Devil in 1986, and latterly in the Christian market – plus, for singer Michael Sweet, a spell in Tom Scholtz’s Boston.
Here they present 14 re-recordings of tracks from their 80s heyday, plus a couple of new songs. And with a little fizz in the production, their happy, cheesy, melodramatic hair-metal still packs a punch, especially when propelled by Sweet’s extraordinary, multi-octave yodel. That’s at its best on a new To Hell With The Devil, on which he hits notes that could repel Satan himself.
