Album of the Weekend

Stryper-God Damn Evil

First off, the title. Wal Mart and some Christian book stores are choosing not to sell the CD because of the title. There should be no debate on if they have that right or not. They do. But a Christian store not selling a Stryper CD is the epitome of cutting off your nose to spite your face. Stryper (aside from Creed, maybe) is the most successful and mainstream Christian hard rock band out there. Aside from putting out great albums that even secular metal fans enjoy, they've taken the gospel to people who otherwise never would hear it. Christian bookstores should keep that in mind.

Sorry for two recent album of the weekend posts from the same band, but their new album came out last Friday. 

Is the album good? Yes, but with some songs you might skip over. I have a feeling that 'Take it to the Cross" will be one of them. It starts off with over a minute of silence-I'm not sure what they were going for. The song also sounds much harder (the chorus has a machine gun sound) than recent songs by them. Listen to it first before you download. "The Devil Doesn't Live Here" is also among the harder songs on the album, it's one of my favorites aside from "Lost". "The Valley", at least in the beginning, reminds me of the classic "Harvester of Sorrow" by Metallica.

Michael Sweet has an amazing voice, it reminds me of Rob Halford from Judas Priest. I'm amazed that he still has that capability after all these years. I have huge respect for him, and Stryper. This album shows they can still release good music and hopefully have a few more albums like this in them.