Stryper - Murder By Pride

After the controversial “Reborn” PMRC’s favorite band strikes again releasing a new album titled “Murder By Pride”. Stryper (for those unaware..) are the pioneers of what we now call Christian Hard Rock. They managed to make hard rock popular to the ignorant American audience of that time ( we’re talking about 1985) praising the Lord through their music (which mother wouldn’t want her daughter hanging around with respective young boys like themselves rather than the glam/sleaze bums of Hollywood?). Many years have passed since then but what Stryper do today is trying to stick to their values while at the same time to sound a bit modern in order to step up with today’s demands of the genre they represent.
\r\nWhat they do manage is to keep their old fans interested in their music while sounding like a modern band and not like a ghost of the past. All the elements that made them popular back in the day are here as well. Lord-praising lyrics, melodic solos and their distinctive gospel-sounding ballads which I think is their trademark.
\r\nThose of you still missing the glorious days of “To Hell With The Devil” don’t expect to listen to something like this, these days are long gone anyway. Besides Stryper showed their new intentions on their previews release which wasn’t exactly what we would call “inspired” comparing it with their early days. Mike Sweets once crystal clear voice is still expressive and warm yet is far from the powerful voice of the past. On the other hand I’m not sure if today’s hard rockers would be interested in their music if they weren’t the legendary Stryper. It’s hard to say. The thing is that while in most of the tracks they sound like the good-old Stryper, there are some elements that sound “strange” and I don’t think they fit.
\r\n“Murder By Pride” is definitely not an average album, is surely way better than “Reborn” yet it’s not the masterpiece that some were waiting for.
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\r\nDimitris Karantounias  
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