Stryper 2011

actordude

Member
Sep 29, 2003
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SoCal
Hey All ~

Huge Stryper fan here. They have a new disc called "The Covering" due out Tuesday. Stryper doing Iron Maiden, Sweet, UFO, Scorpions, etc. I've heard the tracks on You Tube and they sound fantastic. Michael Sweet continues to be one of my favorite singers ever, and the band does a solid job of keeping the classics sounding authentic while adding a flair of Stryper to them. Just wondering if anyone else is as interested in these guys as I am?

They start a US tour in a couple of weeks and I'll be seeing them here in SoCal in early March!!

Andy ~
 
Hey All ~

Huge Stryper fan here. They have a new disc called "The Covering" due out Tuesday. Stryper doing Iron Maiden, Sweet, UFO, Scorpions, etc. I've heard the tracks on You Tube and they sound fantastic. Michael Sweet continues to be one of my favorite singers ever, and the band does a solid job of keeping the classics sounding authentic while adding a flair of Stryper to them. Just wondering if anyone else is as interested in these guys as I am?

They start a US tour in a couple of weeks and I'll be seeing them here in SoCal in early March!!

Andy ~

I've been a long-time fan of the band, but their last couple of studio albums have sucked though. With that said, their live show is awesome! They still have the energy of Iron Maiden on stage and they sound and look fantastic! Overall, I like them better now than I did back in the day when they looked out right silly. I'm looking forward to seeing them again this year.

~Brian~
 
Just preordered it today from Amazon.

Been staying away from most the samples as want to hear it fresh - but what I've heard I like! :dopey:

Cool to see Stryper doing this, but isn't the truth behind this release that they doing this to basically get out of the contract with the label? (3 album deal)

I know Michael Sweet didn't seem happy with the way Murder By Pride was distributed/released.

An easy way to get out of it is do a cover album. For the third album, I'm wondering if will be Stryper rerecording old Stryper songs. Sweet posted on his twitter wondering if people were interested hearing how the old songs would sound now if recorded

Still, looking forward to Tuesday
 
Details from www.melodicrock.com :

"Christian rockers Stryper are offering fans a head-banging view of who their influences were early on, with the arrival of an almost entire album's worth of cover songs titled The Covering. Set for release on February 15th via Big3 Records, the album includes twelve rocking covers, as well as the all-new original tune, "God". And most significantly, the album marks the return of original bassist Tim Gaines back into the Stryper fold, setting up the first Stryper release in years to feature the definitive line-up of Michael Sweet (vocals/guitar), Oz Fox (guitar), Tim Gaines (bass), and Robert Sweet (drums).
According to Michael Sweet, the impetus for putting out a mostly covers set was a simple one. "Every Stryper album is pretty serious and pretty bold in the lyrical faith sense of the word. We just wanted to roll our sleeves up, cut loose, and have some fun." And when it came time to pick out a listing of tunes to cover, all the band had to do was look back upon their club days. "Growing up, before Stryper was even Stryper, we were a cover band. We played Gazzarri's on the Strip for years - we would do originals but also do covers, as well. We always did Priest covers and Maiden covers, all those bands we grew up on and who influenced us."
What fans get is a CD that runs the gamut from 1970's era classic rock (Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", Deep Purple's "Highway Star", Kiss' "Shout It Out Loud" etc.) to 1980's era heavy metal (Black Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell", the Scorpions' "Blackout", "Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" etc.). "A few things we set out to do on this album was to stay true to the original - we didn't want to disrespect the original versions," explains Michael. "I'm never going to sound like Bruce Dickinson or Ronnie James Dio, nor would I ever try to. And having me sing the song puts our own spin on it. We just all did our own thing and with our own touches and feel - Robert, Tim, Oz, and myself - it has that Stryper feel to it as well."
Big3 Records Chairman Bill Edwards adds, "We are excited to allow Stryper the creative freedom to do what they do best, and take this album to the next level. We are very excited about working with the band and helping make 'The Covering' a widespread success."
To support 'The Covering', Stryper is planning a tour that begins in March, and when it comes to the set list, it will contain quite a few surprises for longtime fans. "We're probably going to pull out four Stryper songs that haven't been played in the set in years. And then we're probably going to do four covers. We've also got a whole slew of other Stryper songs that we've been playing for a long time. So we probably have 20 songs in the set." Stryper fans rejoice, more anthemic metal will soon be on the way!

'The Covering' Track list: 1. Set Me Free (Sweet) 2. Blackout (Scorpions) 3. Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath) 4. Lights Out (UFO) 5. Carry On Wayward Son (Kansas) 6. Highway Star (Deep Purple) 7. Shout It Out Loud (Kiss) 8. Over The Mountain (Ozzy Osbourne) 9. The Trooper (Iron Maiden) 10. Breaking The Law (Judas Priest) 11. On Fire (Van Halen) 12. Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin) 13. God (Stryper).
For more information, visit: www.stryper.com."

stryper-thecovering.jpg
 
I'm a long time Stryper fan as well. I liked the last studio album, "Murder By Pride" somewhat. Didn't like "Reborn" that much.
It seems like that covers album has been in the works forever. I think I first heard tracks from it like a year ago.
I've seen them live every time they come down to FL. Looking forward to another tour, the last time through they sounded incredible.