God’s bumble bees, the yellow and black attackers, whatever the fuck you want to call them but nonetheless, they are Stryper! Stryper has been one of my favorite metal bands since I first heard them back in 1986 with the release of their groundbreaking album To Hell With The Devil
“‘To Hell With The Devil’ literally changed our lives,” says STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet. “During that tour, we went from playing theaters and mid-sized clubs to arenas, all in a very short amount of time. We never could have predicted the wild popularity of those songs and videos — especially in the mainstream market.”
Regarding the “To Hell With The Devil” songwriting sessions, Sweet told Guitar World magazine: “We always strive to outdo ourselves, so when we made ‘To Hell With The Devil’, we wanted to make it better than ‘Soldiers Under Command’. We just went in and made a record, and it just so happens that it wound up being our most successful and most beloved. God really blessed that album.”
Added STRYPER guitarist Oz Fox: “I think it came at the right time, too. Back then, MTV was doing the whole ‘Dial MTV‘ thing and we also had video budgets. The music definitely fit in with what was going on but it was also different enough to have its own niche.”
Sweet also talked about the controversy over the album’s original cover art. He said: “There were some Christian bookstores and carriers that wanted to carry the album, but they had a problem with the cover showing angels and the pentagram being ripped from Satan. They thought it was too controversial, and because of them threatening to not carry it, we decided to change it to a black cover. It actually wound up making it even more controversial because now the album is really rare.”
“To Hell With The Devil” tour dates will be announced at a later time.
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