STRYPER's MICHAEL SWEET: Fans 'Are Gonna Be Shocked' When They Hear Next Album

January 30, 2015

Christian hard rockers STRYPER will enter the studio this weekend to begin recording their new album for a late spring/early summer release via Frontiers. The band's guitarist/vocalist Michael Sweet told Eddie Trunk's SiriusXM satellite radio show, "Eddie Trunk Live": "The [other] guys [in STRYPER] come out here in three days, to my house, and they're gonna be here for eight days. I'm gonna teach 'em all the songs. We're gonna go through two songs a day and get 'em down — really, really get 'em down. Then we're gonna go in the studio. We load in on February 1 at the studio we always record at, SpiritHouse [Recording Studios] in Northampton, [Massachusetts]. We've done the last five albums there. We're gonna load in on [February 1] and we start tracking on [February 2]."

Regarding the musical direction of the new STRYPER material, Sweet said: "It's gonna be… I don't wanna scare any fans away or anything, but it's gonna be the heaviest album we've done. Not in the sense that it's gonna be thrash metal or anything like that. It's definitely got a little bit of a darker vibe to it lyrically and musically. Some of the songs are tuned down — not like the modern drop-B stuff; I'm talking like the E dropped to D, 'Unchained' VAN HALEN kind of stuff. And it's just got a heavy sound to it. And I think when people hear it, in a good way, they're gonna go, 'That's STRYPER? What?' I think they're gonna be shocked."

STRYPER's original lineup comprised of Michael Sweet (vocals/guitars),Robert Sweet (drums),Oz Fox (guitars) and Tim Gaines (bass) released a concert CD/DVD combination called "Live At The Whisky" on September 23, 2014 via Frontiers. The live recording was captured at a sold-out show in November 2013 at the legendary Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood, California. The 16-track collection documents the band's first show in support of their latest, critically acclaimed release, "No More Hell To Pay".

"No More Hell To Pay" sold around 9,600 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 35 on The Billboard 200 chart.

"Second Coming", a collection of re-recorded versions of STRYPER's classic songs, opened with around 4,400 units back in April to land at No. 117.

STRYPER's covers album, 2011's "The Covering", registered a first-week tally of around 4,600 copies to enter the chart at No. 175.

The band's previous collection of new material, 2009's "Murder By Pride", premiered with 5,900 copies to debut at No. 73.

"No More Hell To Pay" was released on November 5, 2013 in North America via Frontiers Records.

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