Stryper
No More Hell to Pay
Frontiers Records
2013
Stryper return yet again, with another album following the re-recordings and “songbook” projects, and this time it’s a proper studio one – their, eighth one if memory serves correctly and I haven’t missed any one out.
The band is not exactly what it used to be back in the day of it’s prime, but it has aged very gracefully, actually it’s one of those bands that one could say that “they have matured” and “mean it”, without, meaning that they have “lost it”. The band is just playing a bit heavier, a bit more technically and maybe with a little less enthusiasm than in their youth, but with a lot more conviction and experience.
Michael Sweet both as a player and a singer is also better and while he can deliver he is more restrained. He still can deliver high notes and does so when needed with more gusto, more powerfully and with better technique. It might not appear to be as impressive as a frenzied shriek, but it’s still tonally impressive and it’s “correct”.
The opening salvo for the album is “Revelation” a heavy mid-paced number with strong riffs that seems to be an ideal opener which paves the way for the leadoff single which is none other than the title track itself...
“No more Hell to Pay” a track that picks the pace slightly and has some pretty cool melodies that harken back to the early days of the band… (around the time of “To Hell With the Devil”)
But it the very next song “Saved By Love”, where MS, has to struggle, just a tiny bit, as he seemingly pushes himself to the “ceiling” of his range, (mostly in true voice) but he comes off pretty damn impressive! It’s a fast paced but yet, incredibly melodic song, about obviously, being saved, by, the love of “the savior”...
Need I say that as an atheist both White and Black metal really makes me go hm? But you can’t take it from Stryper that they were really damn talented musicians and could pen a pretty catchy tune! And Michael Sweet was one hell of a singer, if you’d pardon the pun!
The Stryper boys, make their own Doobie Brother’s “Jesus is Just Alright” by giving it the heavy treatment... had I not known the song, I’d have no problem believing it was their own, but I suppose the “style” ‘d betray that it really ain’t … as it’s a bit more bluesy/gospely…
“The One” is a really soulful ballad, which really offers a nice change of climate and really smooths things out.
However “The Legacy” quickly, undoes the placid, with its threatening riffs and extremely high angelical vocals. Possibly one of the heavier songs that the band has done in a while... and mightily impressive… surely among the highlights of the album.
“Marching into Battle” that follows it, is a heavier apocalyptic related number, that is not as immediate, but is quite impressive with its heavy riffs and hypnotic vocals. Oh and those final piercing screams.. Jeees...
“Te Amo” is a very commercial, much softer, rocker – a rock prayer if you will. It almost as if Bon Jovi, had written a “prayer”.... well take living on a.... out of it… and you got something quite as catchy as this.... funny fact : with a title such as this, I was expecting a song in Spanish... it’s not! Other than the line on the chorus, the rest of the song is in English! Go figure!
“Sticks & Stones” is a modern rocker that’s not particularly dark, but it’s not exactly happy either... it’s possibly a song about letting go of things that hurt you and moving on...
“Water into Wine” is another mid tempo number and I suppose it is a little boring at this point... the chorus isn’t entirely bad, but it ain’t nothing too special either...
“Sympathy” is a pretty strong song “late” in the album, a sort of anthem, which the band will no wonder to include in their live sets! With a video clip done for the track, I suppose it must also be some sort of second single as well (?)…
Finally, the ultimate song on “No More Hell to Pay” is “Renewed” a strong not incredibly fast, but nether too slow, rather decaying sort of track, that seems to be ideal as an epilogue for the album with Sweet once again stealing the show with some pretty dramatic vocals.
Overall, without rising to the height of the first three albums, (which would be almost impossible), “No More Hell To Pay”, marks another presumably rather successful and quite interesting chapter in the history of The Yellow and The Black Attack! True Believers ye know what the lord and your heart compels you to do...
The band is not exactly what it used to be back in the day of it’s prime, but it has aged very gracefully, actually it’s one of those bands that one could say that “they have matured” and “mean it”, without, meaning that they have “lost it”. The band is just playing a bit heavier, a bit more technically and maybe with a little less enthusiasm than in their youth, but with a lot more conviction and experience.
Michael Sweet both as a player and a singer is also better and while he can deliver he is more restrained. He still can deliver high notes and does so when needed with more gusto, more powerfully and with better technique. It might not appear to be as impressive as a frenzied shriek, but it’s still tonally impressive and it’s “correct”.
The opening salvo for the album is “Revelation” a heavy mid-paced number with strong riffs that seems to be an ideal opener which paves the way for the leadoff single which is none other than the title track itself...
“No more Hell to Pay” a track that picks the pace slightly and has some pretty cool melodies that harken back to the early days of the band… (around the time of “To Hell With the Devil”)
But it the very next song “Saved By Love”, where MS, has to struggle, just a tiny bit, as he seemingly pushes himself to the “ceiling” of his range, (mostly in true voice) but he comes off pretty damn impressive! It’s a fast paced but yet, incredibly melodic song, about obviously, being saved, by, the love of “the savior”...
Need I say that as an atheist both White and Black metal really makes me go hm? But you can’t take it from Stryper that they were really damn talented musicians and could pen a pretty catchy tune! And Michael Sweet was one hell of a singer, if you’d pardon the pun!
The Stryper boys, make their own Doobie Brother’s “Jesus is Just Alright” by giving it the heavy treatment... had I not known the song, I’d have no problem believing it was their own, but I suppose the “style” ‘d betray that it really ain’t … as it’s a bit more bluesy/gospely…
“The One” is a really soulful ballad, which really offers a nice change of climate and really smooths things out.
However “The Legacy” quickly, undoes the placid, with its threatening riffs and extremely high angelical vocals. Possibly one of the heavier songs that the band has done in a while... and mightily impressive… surely among the highlights of the album.
“Marching into Battle” that follows it, is a heavier apocalyptic related number, that is not as immediate, but is quite impressive with its heavy riffs and hypnotic vocals. Oh and those final piercing screams.. Jeees...
“Te Amo” is a very commercial, much softer, rocker – a rock prayer if you will. It almost as if Bon Jovi, had written a “prayer”.... well take living on a.... out of it… and you got something quite as catchy as this.... funny fact : with a title such as this, I was expecting a song in Spanish... it’s not! Other than the line on the chorus, the rest of the song is in English! Go figure!
“Sticks & Stones” is a modern rocker that’s not particularly dark, but it’s not exactly happy either... it’s possibly a song about letting go of things that hurt you and moving on...
“Water into Wine” is another mid tempo number and I suppose it is a little boring at this point... the chorus isn’t entirely bad, but it ain’t nothing too special either...
“Sympathy” is a pretty strong song “late” in the album, a sort of anthem, which the band will no wonder to include in their live sets! With a video clip done for the track, I suppose it must also be some sort of second single as well (?)…
Finally, the ultimate song on “No More Hell to Pay” is “Renewed” a strong not incredibly fast, but nether too slow, rather decaying sort of track, that seems to be ideal as an epilogue for the album with Sweet once again stealing the show with some pretty dramatic vocals.
Overall, without rising to the height of the first three albums, (which would be almost impossible), “No More Hell To Pay”, marks another presumably rather successful and quite interesting chapter in the history of The Yellow and The Black Attack! True Believers ye know what the lord and your heart compels you to do...