I bet that if I told you 20 years ago that Stryper would still be around in 2015 and that they would be releasing on a regular basis remarkable albums, few would be they who would put their money on this. Even fewer –if not any, at all- would believe that there’d come a day when Stryper would cover a Black Sabbath tune on one of their records! Nevertheless, Stryper is still around and “Fallen” is yet another excellent record aimed towards to all the fans of the band and all the hard rock fans in general.
And despite the fact that the days when Stryper threw Bibles at their concerts are long gone, their inspiration remains intact and at the usual high levels. From my perspective, “Fallen” is the best Stryper album since the band’s reunion and one of the best of its entire career. The ever characteristic melodic hard rock wonderfully blends with a few power metal outbursts while the anthemic choruses uplift the immaculate verses of all those flawless tunes. The production us crystal clear and the trademark Stryper recipe meets a more modern approach (especially in the opening track “Yahweh”; a song which was co-written by Sevendust’s Clint Lowery). Having said all these, the best cut on the album (by far) is the superb “Love You Like I Do” which reminds us of those glory days of the 80s and is similar to the overall atmosphere of the classic “In God We Trust”.
The rendition of the Sabbath classic “After Forever” is OK while the closing track “King of Kings” is sufficient enough to underline which is the best white metal outfit…ever! All in all, “Fallen” is definitely one of the best albums of 2015.
Highlight: Michael Sweet’s voice remains perfect and is one of the best in the hard rock genre nowadays.
