Stryper – Even the Devil Believes

Stryper

‘Even the Devil Believes’

Frontiers Records

Hard Rock/Heavy Metal

FFO: Dokken, Def Leppard, Barren Cross, Nitro, Rage of Angels, Icon

Stryper have always been the 80’s poster boys for Christian hard rock and have often faced ridicule amongst the more the hard-faced metal fans for their religious message. More recently, Stryper have been in a Golden Age, releasing three superb albums ‘No More Hell to Pay’, ‘Fallen’ and ‘God Damn Evil’ with the this year has the Californian’s returning with their latest album ‘Even the Devil Believes’.

                When it comes to ‘Even the Devil Believes’, Stryper have hit somewhat of a plateau, the band have still have that creative spark there, that cannot be denied; but, this album doesn’t push the boundaries of what Stryper are capable and it is rather ‘safe’ with the Christian message being considerably more overt than over the last few albums that may put some listeners off. However, there are still plenty of excellent pieces to be digested here; Stryper have always been masters of crafting melodies and big stadium singalong anthems such as ‘Make Love Great Again’, ‘Do Unto Others’ and the fiery ‘Middle Finger Messiah’ with the band even touching the territory of The Beatles and Electric Light Orchestra with some beautiful vocal harmonies during ‘How to Fly’ that would be the envy of any choirmaster.

                ‘…Devil Believes’ continues Stryper’s streak, sure, this album doesn’t reach the heights of the previous few albums and it does take more than a few plays to really get into, but it is enjoyable nonetheless. What the listener gets is some good hard rock and whilst the content of which may not appeal to everyone, it does not take away from the decent music and Stryper do what they do very well.

Adam McCann