Stryper – The Covering
Big3 Records – 2011
Well we were very excited that we were lucky enough to get an advance copy of this latest Stryper offering here at the Untombed offices. So we threw it in the player as soon as we got our hands on it! The band did a lot last year to promote this new one! From unveiling rough drafts of the artwork, to promoting the CD with 30 second clips of each song through the bands website, the band really helped get the buzz going on this one!
And generate buzz it did, this one has been talked about all over the world wide web, with reports coming in from people that either were really thrilled! or they were completely miffed as to why the band would pay tribute to something that was obviously not Christian! Love them or hate them the band doesn’t seem to really care what people think these days to much, they have been the whipping boy and poster child of the Christian Music scene way back to their humble beginnings playing small clubs and churches!
This writer thinks people just need to lighten up! Yes as Christians we are accountable, yes we are a light in the dark, yes we need to be that person the world looks upon and sees that light! But we can do that and still let our hair down once in a while and have a little fun while being accountable! And that is just what the guys did here on this release! Nothing disrespectful, nothing vulgar, nothing to bold to be ashamed from in front of man or God! Let’s just hope the Westboro Baptist Church doesn’t catch wind of this album, or you may see picketers at your next Stryper show!
Well let’s start off by taking a little closer look at the artwork, liner notes and story line of ‘The Covering’. Late in 2010 the band released a not quite finished sketch of the album cover. The cover featured a tattered, and evil looking angel that appeared to be full of anger and hate, wearing a leather jacket donning the Stryper logo on his chest. Right from it’s unveiling people began to criticize (as it seems they always do when it comes to a Stryper release) without seeing the whole concept behind it. Well it turns out when you finally see the finished product the back cover shows the same angel in a completely different light, hmmm? Well let’s open the booklet to see what this is all about.
As you read through the comic book like story you see the angel portrayed is an evil character, but he has not come in contact yet with our 4 yellow and black angels that will eventually help him see the error of his ways. It was a challenging road for these 4 angels to get him to see the light, but the fearless angels held strong and eventually prevailed! We won’t tell you much more then this, we don’t want to spoil it all for you now do we?
If you have been following the band through the years, you may recall back in 2000 there was a very limited edition comic book that came out from Quest comics entitled ‘Soldier of God’. This featured Robert Sweet as an angel like character and another character named Creed that together battled evil and prevailed! Similar concept here, so it would be a treat to see ‘The Covering’ expanded in to a full comic book or even a series in a similar fashion.
Now let’s get in to the meat and potatoes of the release, the music from ‘The Covering’, thirteen songs of straight forward hard rock and metal. This CD does not let up from start to finish. The album includes 12 classic cover songs that the guys cite as being influences on them or their playing styles through the years. As well as one brand new track to close it out entitled ‘God’.
Why don’t we be a little different and start at the back of the CD for this review. ‘God’ is one of the heaviest most powerful tunes I think the band has ever written. And if anyone thinks for a minute that these guys hearts have been tainted, I challenge you to pick the CD up to hear the lyrics on this one song alone. With lyrics like ‘Hearts are weeping, souls are keeping on ice, spirits dying, wickedness won’t suffice’ or ‘God have mercy on us for we know not what we do’. Very powerful words from a very powerful song, that coincidentally fit in quite well with the overall story line and concept of ‘The Covering’.
Let’s get to the cover songs on ‘The Covering’. Here we have Stryperized interpretations of balls out metal songs like Judas Priest’s ‘Breaking the law’ which the band had been playing on their last tour at select shows, and they have this one nailed! ‘Trooper’ from Iron Maiden and ‘Over the Mountain’ from Ozzy (for the first time FEATURING Ozzy on guitar and not singing! Ha, ha!) are a couple more of the heavier tunes on the CD and the guys do great interpretations of both! Rounding out the heavier tunage on the disc we have superb renditions of ‘Black out’ by the Scorpions and the bands version and salute to Ronnie James Dio by way of the classic track ‘Heaven and Hell’ by Black Sabbath! I think Dio would be honored to hear the rendition the guys have put on here in his remembrance. Last of the 80’s metal tribute has the band playing a rendition of a not so familiar Van Halen track called ‘On Fire’. This is another track the band has a little history with having played it for a few select shows back in 1990 from their Against the Law tour. It was very nice to hear a cleaned up studio version of this instead of the crappy quality bootleg versions floating around.
Aside from the classic metal tunes of the 80’s, the band also pays tribute to many classic rock acts from the 70’s on this one. But let me tell you they don’t turn down the volume for these hard rocking tunes either! Right off the bat track one is a smoking rendition of ‘Set me free’ from Sweet, I always kind of liked the original of this song, but it was always a little to light for my taste. Well I think Stryper nailed this one! If I had to choose one song where I actually think the cover is even better then the original it would be this track (Could be just that I am a little more of a metal head). We are also treated to some tracks by UFO (Lights out), Kansas (Carry on my wayward son), Deep Purple (Highway Star), Kiss (Shout it out loud) and ending the CD we have a classic version of Led Zeppelin’s immigrant song!
If you were expecting any ballads on this disc, you may be disappointed and want to skip it and go back to a more classic CD from the guys. But if you want something that rocks hard, you will want to check this out! So don’t hesitate come February 15th when this thing hits the streets! This is one hard rocking tribute CD from beginning to end that sure will sure be getting a lot of play in my CD and MP3 players this year!
Well now that we have seen it and heard it, we here at Untombed Magazine, being of sound mind and body, tip our hats to the band for what turned out to be an amazing slab of hard rocking tribute songs!
Review by: Bill Bafford for Untombed.com
