The Petra Zone

Stryper is an amazing band. Where most Christian acts from their era are mostly washed up (I sadly include Petra in that category), Stryper continues to release new albums and actively tour. And they're producing some of the best music of their career!

Their next album, When We Were Kings, is set to be released on September 13, 2024. The few songs I've heard are great. Here's the title track:

https://youtu.be/XBYmJ0Kwb24?si=U9-dQ6F3HMBigZI7

New album is pretty good. Not quite as strong as their last several releases, and there aren't really any standout songs, but it's guaranteed to please any fans of Stryper's music. And from what I've seen of their touring videos on YouTube, they have the integrity to play and sing everything 100% live with no backing tracks or other fakery, which is commendable in this day and age of autotuned studio tracks and live lip syncing.

Shocked that I am getting a chance to see them live on this tour again. It has been nearly 40 years...

There was another Stryper album released this year that flew under my radar until recently: To Hell With The Amps. It's an acoustic cover album that is more traditional than Petra's (unfairly) maligned Double Take, where the songs are just straightforward acoustic covers. Many of the them work quite well with just acoustic instruments, and the band does a fantastic bluesy rendition of "Amazing Grace". The only dud is "Honestly" which tries to mix things up with a new arrangement that lacks the graceful flow of the original, but maybe it will grow on me.

I like the fact that Michael Sweet's vocals throughout are upfront and "raw" with minimal processing.

It's not a bad album overall.