{"id":32731,"date":"2013-10-27T21:19:35","date_gmt":"2013-10-28T02:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=32731"},"modified":"2014-02-08T08:38:19","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T13:38:19","slug":"stryper-no-more-hell-to-pay-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/stryper-no-more-hell-to-pay-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Stryper | No More Hell To Pay<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Mark Allen<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"StryperBeing a Christian metal band, Stryper undoubtedly eschews lying, so when they claim No More Hell To Pay<\/em> is their best album ever, you want to believe they aren\u2019t selling you a barrel of bullshit. Luckily, opinions are subjective, so any statement proclaiming \u201cthis is the best\u201d cannot actually be proven to be true or false. So whether or not Stryper\u2019s pre-release hype is accurate will be up to individual listeners to decide.<\/p>\n

Now, had they claimed that No More Hell To Pay<\/em> is ONE of the best albums they have ever recorded \u2026 well, that is something we could all agree on.<\/p>\n

With thundering drums and a crushingly powerful production, plus slamming guitar hooks and solos with more sizzle than ice cubes dropped on a hot griddle, this is a surprisingly heavy album for a band so often associated with the \u201880s hair-metal heyday. While there are a few nods to the style of To Hell With the Devil<\/em> and In God We Trust<\/em>, most of this release is reminiscent of the more metallic days of The Yellow and Black Attack<\/em> and Soldiers Under Command<\/em>. Less concerned about commercial hooks\u2014though they are also here in abundance\u2014and more interested in just rocking the hell out of you.<\/p>\n

Michael Sweet\u2019s high octane\u2014er, octave\u2014vocals sound as good now as they did in \u201984. You are advised not to drink anything out of a glass container when listening to this album because when Michael hits those high screams, you\u2019ll be wearing the contents. The rest of the yellow-and-black pack is in equally fine form. Robert Sweet absolutely punishes the drums and resisting the urge to head-bang to the beats is futile. Oz Fox is a rock \u2018n\u2019 roll animal (to borrow a phrase from Keel) on the guitar, slinging the axe like a man on fire. And it\u2019s great to hear Tim Gaines\u2019 bass given prominence in the mix for a change, providing the beefy backbone upon which all great metal thrives.<\/p>\n

As with all Stryper efforts, there are a couple of skip-worthy songs, but the bulk of the album consists of keepers. The cover of the Art Reynolds tune \u201cJesus is Just Alright\u201d is one of the highlights, taking a dust-and-mothballs pop ditty and completely Stryper-izing it with pounding rhythms, tear-it-up guitars, slick harmonies, and the kind of catchiness most bands would kill for. \u201cSticks and Stones\u201d is a heavy-rocking commercial track with a big, polished chorus that would have been right at home on In God We Trust. Your head will bang, your body will move, and you will sing along \u2026 everything you want from a Stryper tune. And then there is \u201cWater Into Wine,\u201d one of the best songs the band has ever recorded. A heavy riff, ripping guitars, gut-punch drums, huge hooks, soaring chorus \u2026 yeah, hard to imagine any Stryper fan not getting excited by this one.<\/p>\n

The band promised one hell of an album (not their words exactly, but you get the point) and they have kept their word, cranking on all cylinders once again and delivering an excellent love-letter to their fans. Some of those fans have given Stryper hell for some of their past decisions, but with this top-notch album, the band should have no more hell to pay.<\/p>\n

Genre: Christian metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nMichael Sweet (vocals)
\nOz Fox (guitars)
\nTimothy Gaines (bass)
\nRobert Sweet (drums)<\/p>\n

Track Listing
\n1. Revelation
\n2. No More Hell To Pay
\n3. Saved By Love
\n4. Jesus Is Just Alright
\n5. The One
\n6. Legacy
\n7. Marching Into Battle
\n8. Te Amo
\n9. Sticks & Stones
\n10. Water Into Wine
\n11. Sympathy
\n12. Renewed<\/p>\n

Label: Frontiers Records<\/p>\n

Webpage: www.stryper.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Allen – Senior Columnist — Being a Christian metal band, Stryper undoubtedly eschews lying, so when they claim No More Hell To Pay is their best album ever, you want to believe they […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":32735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[2317,7340,374,7901,1922],"class_list":{"0":"post-32731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2013","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-christian-metal","10":"tag-frontiers-records","11":"tag-no-more-hell-to-pay","12":"tag-stryper"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}