Saw this morning (oddly enough as I was getting ready for Church myself) a story that surprised me a little. The Christian metal band Stryper’s new album will be an album of covers. That kind of thing has been done a few times before, most recently Queensryche’s album of covers “Take Cover“, where they covered Sabbath’s Neon Knights. I found it amusing that Stryper is covering Sabbath too, and the Dio Era as well with the title track of “Heaven & Hell”. Here’s the complete listing of tracks, all of which should be familiar to Sabbath fans:
- Judas Priest – Breaking the Law
- Iron Maiden – The Trooper
- Scorpions – Blackout
- Ozzy Osbourne – Over the Mountain
- Sweet – Set Me Free
- Van Halen – On Fire
- Deep Purple – Highway Star
- Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell
- UFO – Lights Out
- Kansas – Carry on Wayward Son
I hit the official Stryper site and found this text about the covers album:
Hey Everyone, Just as promised, I wanted to outline some more details regarding the new Stryper record. We grew up listening to many different styles of music and there is a list of bands that influenced us throughout our musical education. Bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Van Halen, UFO, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Kansas and many others, helped to shape our sound and make us who we are today, musically speaking.
We grew up on the streets of LA playing every club in town from Gazzari’s to The Whisky to The Troubadour to you name it. We played covers from all the bands mentioned above and we shaped our own sound from listening and performing songs from these classic bands.
We wanted to step outside the box and record a record that shows you, the fans, where we come from – our historical, musical roots so to speak. It’s a side to Stryper that no one has really seen or heard before, or at least quite like this. We performed “On Fire” by Van Halen on a few tours and we also performed “Breaking The Law” by Priest on this last tour. The response was far beyond our expectations each time we performed these songs. People seemed genuinely surprised to hear Stryper cover these songs and even more surprised to hear Stryper perform these songs relatively well. This will be an opportunity for Robert, Oz, Tim and myself to loosen up and have some fun.
For those of you who may think that we’re walking away from our faith – your wrong. We’ve never been more serious about our faith at any point in our lives. It is however important to enjoy what you do and lighten up from time to time. That’s what we plan to do. This will be a fun record to make and we hope that this comes through, as well as the chance to showcase the abilities that we’ve been blessed with. More details to come and a specific song list and sequence to follow.
We’re looking forward to getting back into the studio and more important, to seeing all of you on the road again this year!
This isn’t the first time Stryper has done a cover before. Back in 1990 on their “Against the Law” album, they covered (quite well, I might add) the old Earth, Wind, & Fire song “Shining Star”. Check it out here. Look for the really great voice by Robert Sweet at 3:15. :)
I know a lot of Black Sabbath fans see “Christian Metal”, and check out, but that’s a shame. Stryper has done some great stuff over the years, and you should check ’em out. Yes, I am a Christian too, so the message is far more uplifting than the garbage that permeates hard rock and metal music (Yeah, I’m thinking of drek like Slayer). Anyway, you should check ’em out if you haven’t done so – some of their recent output (Murder by Pride & Reborn) has been quite good stuff! They preach the good word of the Lord, and that’s always a good thing! I realize I’ll probably take some grief for this paragraph, but there’s far worse things to be hated over than wanting people to know God. If you want to attack me for that, bring it on. Or if you want to know about God, email me about that, I’d love to talk to you. As for those who would attack me.. Matthew 5:10 states “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Thanks to Blabbermouth for the track list, which didn’t appear on the Stryper site, oddly enough.
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