Reviewed by: Jeff de los Santos
Not long after releasing Second Coming which was an album where they re-recorded several of their songs from their previous albums along with a couple of new songs, Stryper released a new full-length album with all new original songs- No More Hell To Pay.
All of the original band members are back and jamming like they did ‘back in the day’. The album contains twelve tracks which includes a cover of the 1966 Art Reynold’s song “Jesus is Just Alright” which was a top hit for The Doobie Brothers when they covered it in 1972. All throughout this album, you can tell that the band is back into fine-form, from Robert Sweet’s perfectly timed drumming to Tim Gaines’ deftly played bass lines to Oz Fox’s blistering licks to Michael Sweet’s soaring vocals.
-In the song “Saved By Love” shows the band hasn’t lost a step as the speed of the song is similar to “The Reign” from To Hell With The Devil. The guitar work is mind-blowing and Michael’s vocals on the song are fantastic. When Michael sings “Saved by love” it almost sounds like he’s about to totally lose control his voice but he just keeps it coming. He sounds a bit like Axl Rose a bit when he does that.
-The song “The One” sounds a bit like “First Love” from Soldiers Under Command, but, is so much more complete with regards to the music. Everything just sounds perfect. A
-The vocal harmonies that really separated Stryper from a lot of other bands is evident in the title track “No More Hell To Pay”. How tightly they sing the harmonies really shows how tight they are as a group.
-One of the more interesting tracks on the new Stryper album is “Te Amo” (Spanish for “I Love You”). It’s a love song but it’s anything but a ballad. It’s one of the faster tunes on the album and features some great guitar work as well as excellent drumming. While the title of the track is Spanish, the rest of the song is in English – with the exception of singing “Te Amo” from the band.
There’s no filler in this album. Every track is loaded with classic Stryper – from the opening track of “Revelation” all the way to the closing track “Renewed”. If you love Stryper’s classic sound, then you definitely need to get No More Hell To Pay.
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Stryper – Revelation [Official Lyric Video]