Description
When We Were Kings is the sixteenth studio album by the American metal band Stryper, released on Frontiers Records in September 2024. The album was written and produced by band member Michael Sweet. The album was recorded and mixed by Danny Bernini at Spirithouse Recording Studio in Northampton, Massachusetts. Additional engineering and editing by Kenny Lewis.
Stryper is Michael Sweet on lead vocals, as well as lead and rhythm guitar; Oz Fox on lead and rhythm guitar, as well as vocals; Perry Richardson on bass and vocals; and Robert Sweet on drums and percussion. Additional background vocals provided by Charles Foley and Keith Pittman. Keyboards, organ, and Moog synthesizer provided by Paul McNamara.
“It’s the End of Days/ And the final bow/ The world is aflame As the scriptures avow/ Angels will weep – When the heavens unfurl/ On this dark and Broken World”
So begins When We Were Kings, Stryper’s latest effort, proving that they are in fact still the kings of Christian pop-metal – or whatever it is they play. Some things are just hard to nail down. Certainly, the music is heavy and rocks relentlessly (for the most part), reveling in the locomotive propulsion of Robert Sweet’s drumming, the operatic metal of Michael Sweet’s vocals, the furious attack of Oz Fox and Michael’s guitar work (including lots of the signature Stryper harmony soloing), and the dependable and often stand-out bass work of Perry Richardson. Still, it would be wrong to label them strictly as a metal band – even a pop metal band. The truth is, Michael Sweet – the band’s principal songwriter – really knows how to construct a song with a classic verse, chorus, verse format and irresistible hooks. The fact that these four men really know how to rock puts a raucous edge to the whole affair, giving every Stryper song an energy, passion, hope, and fire that you seldom find the often-dark world of Metal bands.
The aforementioned opening track blasts out of your speakers like gangbusters, blazingly apocalyptic and ending with as stentorian a scream as Michael ever performed (yes, you need to look that one up). This is followed by a steady slow burning hard rocker called «Unforgivable», a track that shows how meat-and-potatoes the band can be when they want to – bang your head and revel in the guitar solo.
“When We Were Kings – Of our own time/ We started young – And hoped to climb/ But seasons change And so did we/ Now we long for what We used to be.” The title track seems to be a wistful look back to the past – but it’s hard to hear this as a lament to be ‘what we used to be’ – because this moderately paced but powerful tune shows that they’re a band still in their musical prime. «Betrayed by Love» follows with heavy chords and a deliberate pace in a tale of betrayed love as Michael sings, “The pain’s hard to bear – As I stop and stare/ At the mountain I’ve built from my own despair/ I’ve made up my mind – I won’t stop till I find The reasons why I Used to care” in powerful Stryper Ballad style. The following track’s hooky harmony-filled chorus and twin guitars deliver «Love’s Symphony» in the band’s classic rock/pop/metal style.
Right in the center of the album is a hard-driving shouter. «Trinity» is exactly what you might think: a little rock exposition about the triune nature of God: real rock and roll, with a stunning guitar solo and another of Michael’s trademark screams. This is followed by the big, slow, heavy, relentless «Rhyme of Time». Despite the title, «Raptured» is not an end-times song but actually (lyrically, anyway) a genuine love song. What makes it unique is that it’s structured in a very funky blues-rock format, albeit with a very hooky harmony-filled chorus (“I’m Raptured, Raptured – Raptured by your love – I’m Captured, Captured – Captured by your love”). At 3:45 it’s the shortest track on the album but delivers the goods in a tight, funky package.
The pop/metal returns on «Grateful», a song with a great sing-along chorus and an impressive harmony guitars section – Summer single, anyone? The hard rock comes back with «Divided by Design». The vocals are sung with the attitude of a warrior (a soldier under command?) and the chords are big and fuzzed appropriately with Richardson’s bass ringing out nicely between the phrases. The song even has a beautifully old-school solo with some wah-wah tossed in for good measure.
The album closes explosively, just like it began – looking at this «Imperfect World». The song ends the project in grand Stryper form, full of great guitar work, pounding drums and Michael Sweet hitting impossible heights with his patented scream. And yes – harmony guitars!
In many ways this album reminds me of Soldiers Under Command – maybe because it’s a batch of songs that really show you everything this band is capable of. Produced by Michael Sweet, this feels very much like a live-in-studio project. Stryper is showing its chops – and they’re considerable. Not very introspective, yet it’s often profound, and it’s always loud. Because, well … the bottom line is not that they were kings but that they sing about one particular King. Crank up the Royal stereo. [Bert Saraco, The Phantom Tollbooth, 27 August 2024]
If you’re a shred fan you’ll love this. Michael Sweet and Oz Fox are axemen who could truly trade licks every bit as good as those from Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen. If you’re a rock singer connoisseur you’ll love Michael Sweet, a cathartic vocalist who can shriek his songs with more intensity then a madras curry and whose scream is able to sandblast resistance from religiosity or spiritual indifference. If you’re a long-term Stryper enthusiast you’ll find that this, their 13th studio release, is right up there with their classics of 1984’s ‘The Yellow And Black Attack’, 1985’s ‘Soldiers Under Command’, 1986’s ‘To Hell With The Devil’, 1988’s ‘In God We Trust’ and 2022’s ‘The Final Battle’. If you caught one of their tumultuous US gigs at Christmas just gone, you will recall hearing songs like «Divided By Design» and «Unforgivable». Or if you’re a pop ‘n’ rock lyric lover who recognises that the best songsmiths can pen poetic lines as affecting as Plath or Keats you’ll connect with Michael Sweet’s latest song batch (“Bitterness, a crutch/ It clings like a cloak/ The poison of hate/ It has to be revoked” or his dazzling evocation of the Trinity “In perfect harmony they stand /Holiness, the great I AM/ Eternal, infinite your ways/ Is worthy of all praise”). One reviewer recently suggested that ‘When We Were Kings’ “harnesses the fusion between melodic heavy metal and commercial melodic hard rock.” I don’t really go in for the tendency to subcategorize rock metal into 100 different stylistic tributaries, but I thought the dear chap who wrote that did emphasise one of singer/guitarist/producer/songwriter Sweet’s great strengths, his ability to write songs which work without always resorting to pummelling power chords and bruising riffery. The truth is Michael Sweet writes melodically appealing songs which would work done acoustically or in modern country. And for a metal maestro that’s some achievement. Another plus for the album is the striking sleeve illustration. When I first saw the ‘When We Were Kings’ title announced I thought it would show Michael Sweet, Robert Sweet, Oz Fox and Perry Richardson, maybe dressed one more time in spandex as they nostalgically recalled when they were right up there at the top table of metal with Motley Crue, Guns N Roses and Van Halen. Instead, it shows their future rather than their past. On the sleeve the band are illustrated in heavenly robes with divine crowns floating above their heads. And the Lord himself is centre sleeve with his crown of thorns. As a piece of daring cover art it’s right up there with ‘To Hell With The Devil’. [Tony Cummings, Cross Rhythms, January 2025]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/when-we-were-kings/1753105419)
CD tracklist:
01. End Of Days
02. Unforgivable
03. When We Were Kings
04. Betrayed By Love
05. Loves Symphony
06. Trinity
07. Rhyme Of Time
08. Raptured
09. Grateful
10. Divided By Design
11. Imperfect World
Note: Released on both CD and 12-inch vinyl LP by Frontiers Records, with the vinyl edition housed in a gatefold sleeve with lyrics printed on the inside. (Also available pressed on Limited Edition colored vinyl; Tiffany Blue, Orange Marbled, Black/Yellow split, and Yellow/Black Splatter)
Stryper, 2020 (L-R): Perry Richardson, Robert Sweet, Michael Sweet, Oz Fox.
“When We Were Kings” (MUSIC VIDEO)
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