Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

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Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by executioner » Tue Nov 05, 2013 8:57 am

If you have not gotten it or ordered it yet I urge you to go and get it; This CD is the best material they have ever done. I will give a more detailed review sometime today.
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by gman » Tue Nov 05, 2013 6:43 pm

I don't know. I'm feeling a dissenting opinion coming on. Just based on the Itunes samples, I'm not even sure I want to buy it. I hear some good songs there, but my beef with everything they've done after Can't Stop the Rock is that the drums just don't compare to those of the original years. MBP is better than the other albums, but overall they just don't have that huge Stryper sound, and in some songs, or least a few of the new samples, they sound awful. I know a lot of folks dumped on the snare sound specifically on Reborn, and I'm hearing a similar sound here. To me, what made them so successful was the combination of great songs and the huge sound. That is what also attracted me to the Barren Cross albums on Enigma. You might have some good songs here, but it's my opinion that if you don't have the huge sound, specifically on the drums, then you don't have Stryper.
I'll probably buy the album at some point because it's Stryper, and there are some great songs there. But I still think I'll be disappointed with the overall sound. I just listened to a bit of the M. Sweet solo drums, and in some ways they are better. They're not the huge Stryper sound, but you don't expect that from the solo stuff. I expect that here though.
I guess in a way it's like the folks who didn't like Wake Up Call because of the huge difference in sound. Petra's studio drum sound was a lot of Elefante magic though, as opposed to lots of production on real drums.
Last edited by gman on Tue Nov 05, 2013 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by brent » Tue Nov 05, 2013 7:20 pm

M Sweet Solo drums = drum machine.
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by gman » Tue Nov 05, 2013 8:23 pm

brent wrote:M Sweet Solo drums = drum machine.
You're saying all the stuff that Kenny A did on Truth is replaced with a drum machine? Could be, but it doesn't sound like it to me. The older stuff could be a drum machine. I haven't listened to it in a while so I can't say. If it is, it's at least done half decent, as opposed to some stuff that's been put out that was straight drum machine. No programming, no processing, no dynamics. Just turn on a looped beat and record some tracks to it.
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by executioner » Wed Nov 06, 2013 9:17 am

To answer the concerns for you Gman I also love the big sounding drums from the 80's and yes since Stryper has been back I feel the drums have lacked not only that feel but really do not have any stylistic benefit for the fans; this is really so true with today's rock. After listening to the album several times yesterday I am really impressed with what Stryper has pulled off with the sound and vibe of the album.
I think that this album is in 2 parts and was actually done this way on purpose; the first 5 songs have a real modern rock feel and could really fit in with what Stryper has done on Reborn & Murder, but from "Legacy" on to "Renewed"(7 songs) the old vibe is back. Every song on the album has a lengthy solo and several have what Mike/Oz have made famous with their solos back to back. I really even like the modern songs better than what has been done by them in the last few years, but they clearly are not the highlight of this offering; the three songs that really lack anything and feel like fillers to me are "Saved By Love" "Jesus is Just Alright" & "The One" and even Michael says on the DVD "The One" made the cut because they needed a ballad on the album, so unless it makes it big on radio we will probably never hear that song live. 2 songs are some of the first songs ever written by the band in fact "Marching to Battle" was being played by Mike/Robert in the late 70's in their first band according to Robert on the DVD, and the other song is not named but was originally on Yellow & Black and was cut for some odd reason; I think the song "Sympathy" is probably the one because its classic Stryper and has that true classic vibe.
This albums rates right up there with THWTHD & SUC and in most ways succeeds in surpassing them both, but would have to say the production quality is probably a notch below ATL which in terms of production quality is their finest album. This album is already selling really well and I think you can say Stryper in most ways is back on the radar screen and I am really excited about the future and seeing them live to see how they pull off some of these monster songs.

top 3 songs
1. Legacy
2. Water & Wine
3. Renewed

bottom 3 songs
1. The One
2. Jesus Is Just Alright
3. Saved By Love
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by gman » Wed Nov 06, 2013 10:14 am

executioner wrote:To answer the concerns for you Gman...the three songs that really lack anything and feel like fillers to me are "Saved By Love" "Jesus is Just Alright" & "The One" and even Michael says on the DVD "The One" made the cut because they needed a ballad on the album, so unless it makes it big on radio we will probably never hear that song live.
This albums rates right up there with THWTHD & SUC and in most ways succeeds in surpassing them both, but would have to say the production quality is probably a notch below ATL which in terms of production quality is their finest album.
You hit on two key things for me. One is filler. I've been listening to a lot of In God We Trust lately, and I can say of that album, and really every album through ATL, that for me personally there is no filler. Every song is epic in it's own way. The second thing is production. The productions for THWTD on were amazing to me. Three mics on the bass drum, changing heads every few songs; that was insanely amazing to me. I've read bits of Michael defending the production on the recent albums. Maybe they really like it and think it is good, but I don't really get it. It sounds to me like they were trying for the huge production and missed it a bit, or they settled for something less. You can't tell that with all the advancement in technology since their heyday, that the big sound can't be achieved on a much smaller budget.
I realize I listened to the samples through Itunes, but I know from experience with theirs and other stuff that the CD is not magically amazing compared to the digital version.
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by executioner » Wed Nov 06, 2013 12:44 pm

gman wrote:
executioner wrote:To answer the concerns for you Gman...the three songs that really lack anything and feel like fillers to me are "Saved By Love" "Jesus is Just Alright" & "The One" and even Michael says on the DVD "The One" made the cut because they needed a ballad on the album, so unless it makes it big on radio we will probably never hear that song live.
This albums rates right up there with THWTHD & SUC and in most ways succeeds in surpassing them both, but would have to say the production quality is probably a notch below ATL which in terms of production quality is their finest album.
You hit on two key things for me. One is filler. I've been listening to a lot of In God We Trust lately, and I can say of that album, and really every album through ATL, that for me personally there is no filler. Every song is epic in it's own way. The second thing is production. The productions for THWTD on were amazing to me. Three mics on the bass drum, changing heads every few songs; that was insanely amazing to me. I've read bits of Michael defending the production on the recent albums. Maybe they really like it and think it is good, but I don't really get it. It sounds to me like they were trying for the huge production and missed it a bit, or they settled for something less. You can't tell that with all the advancement in technology since their heyday, that the big sound can't be achieved on a much smaller budget.
I realize I listened to the samples through Itunes, but I know from experience with theirs and other stuff that the CD is not magically amazing compared to the digital version.
Maybe you misunderstood something I said; I said this current release is a notch below ATL in production quality, but in most cases succeeds SUC & THWTD, so I feel the production quality is above par of those 2 offerings. A few things I disagree with you on is there are 7 good to great songs on SUC and 6 on THWTD which would mean the other songs on there IMO are fillers; very rarely will you find an album that has no filler songs. EXAMPLE: Petra has 2 albums that are regarded as having it all with no fillers(MPTY & BB). The closest thing Stryper has to a no filler album or perfect album is SUC.
I and most Stryper fans and the band will agree with me that In God We Trust is their least liked album; everything except for "Keep The Fire Burning" & "The Writing on The Wall" are really bad and bland, with the ballads being just horrible. IGWT was very heavily overproduced, very glam metal and polished. It didn't even sell half of what THWTD sold and is by the band considered their lemon; Every time a band member talks about it they talk in a negative tone.
I agree with you and say I would love for Stryper and others bring back those big drum sounds, but for the most part it just is not going to happened and not because of funding; its just because its so 80's and in most circles sounds dated and is not marketable. Stryper is trying to still be in the market and at the same time appeal to their long time fans and in this case with NMHTP I think they have hit a homerun.
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by gman » Wed Nov 06, 2013 1:59 pm

I suppose it's a matter of taste and preference. I much prefer to listen to Unseen Power or Wake Up Call. Not that BB isn't a great album. It's just that if I'm in the mood to listen to Petra, that's not the album I'm reaching for. I liked the polish of IGWT and THWTD. I would say they all had a nice polish on their own way. I liked the songs on IGWT. I would that not one song or the sound from any of the original albums had to grow on me. I might like some songs more than others, but I can't name one stinker. As for the newer stuff, I can find several songs that I don't care for, or that had to grow on me, and I expect more because it's Stryper, and because I thought everything they did back in the day was epic. I will agree that they should be going for a more modern sound, but I think it can still have polish to it. The drums in particular don't sound as good to me as other bands in hte mainstream. The guitars and bass sound great. They've put a lot of work in there and it shows. I just think the overall sound of the recent albums sounds like they could have gone a little farther with the mixing and mastering and such. I'll get the new one and see what I think.
I thought the overall sound of Reborn was decent, and I was geeked because it was the first new Stryper in a long time. Maybe I got too fixated on the fact that the snaredrum sounded like dooky, and long time fans on their forum rightly called them on it.
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by brent » Wed Nov 06, 2013 8:42 pm

Personally, I don't like it. Sorry guys. I tried. There are maybe two memorable songs on there. The rest is just blah IMO.
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by knotodiswrld » Thu Nov 07, 2013 7:41 pm

I listened to the samples today on Amazon. It just didn't do anything for me. I'm not saying it was, "Bad", and it could well have been the quality of the samples. But I didn't buy it.
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by executioner » Thu Nov 07, 2013 7:49 pm

knotodiswrld wrote:I listened to the samples today on Amazon. It just didn't do anything for me. I'm not saying it was, "Bad", and it could well have been the quality of the samples. But I didn't buy it.

I will have to say the samples did nothing for me also, Michael Sweet sold me on the album with some facebook posting talking about the album. The full version of the songs are very tight; Robert makes a huge difference in the sound.
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by rexreed » Tue Nov 12, 2013 7:59 pm

This one is pretty good, I'm really starting to like about half the album.
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by gman » Fri Dec 27, 2013 12:38 pm

Well, Santa brought me this CD. I don't think I can give it the awesome label, like I did for all the old stuff the very first time through, but I'm not disappointed either. There are a few songs I could probably do without, but there's also of a lot of Stryper sound and feel throughout. They should have gotten a group of fans together to listen to the whole thing in rough form, and given them the chance to give their feedback on what to change, or what songs to give the boot.
Marching into Battle is really well done. I was initially thrown or disappointed by the choice of Jesus is Just alright, because the lyrics are confusing, and He should be more than that, but it's also really well done. Some of the best playing on the album.
I didn't think I would like The One, but it is a nice song. Unfortunately, with it's huge nod to Blue Bleeds Through, from Michael's Truth album, it doesn't belong on this disc.
I don't like Robert's snare on a few songs, but overall the kit sounds really good. I wish he would have done more though on some songs. If I were producing Revelation I would have told Robert to go back and give me some Robert Sweet at the end. I found the ending to be a bit of a stinker compared to the rest of the song. I also would not have opened the album with that song. I get that they wanted the huge intro, but something about the overall mix and production of the song bugs me. I would have done some type of intro like they did on THWTD, and then right into the title cut. That one has the Stryper feel to it.
I give the album a pretty good score overall. Reborn and MBP have the Stryper feel on a bunch of songs, but this one has more of the Stryper sound and production to it. I do get why some folks are calling them the Michael Sweet band. There are some songs that would fit better on his next album.
Some random thoughts. I'm enjoying listening to it, it just doesn't get the awesome label. Maybe awesome for the new Stryper. As one fan put it, appreciate the new Stryper for what it is, and recognize that the great Stryper of our youth is gone.
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by brent » Fri Dec 27, 2013 1:20 pm

I think people put too much emphasis on the lyrics of Jesus is Alright.

First of all, back in the day, "just alright man" was full approval, just as "groovy" and "far out" were. The band is not saying he is just (only) alright. Second, Jesus IS our friend. He has called us friends.
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Re: Stryper "No More Hell To Pay" AWESOME!!!

Post by executioner » Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:28 pm

brent wrote:I think people put too much emphasis on the lyrics of Jesus is Alright.

First of all, back in the day, "just alright man" was full approval, just as "groovy" and "far out" were. The band is not saying he is just (only) alright. Second, Jesus IS our friend. He has called us friends.
Michael explains in the DVD that comes with the deluxe edition about what this song is talking about and he explains it very well.
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