Openly Christian hard rockers STRYPER will release their new album, "Even The Devil Believes", on September 4 via Frontiers Music Srl. The 11-track project is STRYPER's first studio LP with Perry Richardson (FIREHOUSE) on bass and background vocals.
Sweet, who also produced the new album, told "FOX 17 Rock And Review" about the effort (see video below): "This album, I kept saying, 'It's a metal album. It's a metal album,' and it is. It's for sure a hundred percent metal album. But at the same time, we really wanted to incorporate more melodies and bring back a little bit more of the melodic side of the band as well as the edgy side of the band. So, these are metal songs, but with lots of melodies and vocal parts going on."
Sweet went on to say that his next year is "pretty booked solid" despite the fact that live concerts are still mostly prohibited, with no end in sight.
"We're gonna be doing a couple of on-demand live shows here," he said. "Those won't come out till a little bit later on, but the guys are here now; we're doing that — rehearsing for that. Then I'm gonna finish singing the SUNBOMB album will Tracii Guns. And then I've got two projects to do with Frontiers. The next year, I'm gonna do a solo album early in the year. And then I'm talking about a [third] SWEET & LYNCH album [collaboration with George Lynch], and then we'll do a STRYPER album at the end of the year or beginning of the following year."
Most of the recording sessions for STRYPER's new LP took place at SpiritHouse Recording Studios in Northampton, Massachusetts with engineer Danny Bernini.
Formed 37 years ago, STRYPER is the first overtly Christian metal band to go mainstream. The group's name comes from Isaiah 53:5, which states: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
STRYPER's albums include "To Hell With The Devil", "Second Coming", "No More Hell To Pay", "Fallen" and "God Damn Evil".
Sweet's tenth solo album, "Ten", was released in October via Rat Pak Records in North America and Frontiers Music Srl in Europe.
