Stryper - Second Coming

If you've listened to Christian rock for a reasonable amount of time, you're probably familiar with the yellow and black attack known as Stryper. If nothing else, you know they're a christian glam metal band and they wrote To Hell With The Devil. I've seen Stryper live. Twice.

The band's newest album isn't really a new album... Which I haver an issue with.

The band's last album of all new material was 09's Murder By Pride, which I wasn't a fan of. 2011's The Covering was a great cover record that features an excellent new song. And Second Coming also features two new songs that are great! So why, why won't Stryper give us fans a new album full of great, throwback glam metal?

The new songs, Bleeding From Inside Out and Blackened, are fantastic. Bleeding From Inside Out has enough glam elements without sounding outdated. The main riff features some of the hard rock elements the band tried to throw out on Murder By Pride. Only the song is rich an 80's hair metal goodness. Blackened is a throw your hands in the hair, bang your head anthem! Both of these songs are fantastic and make me wish Stryper would release an album of all new material. They clearly have the fire and passion to write great new songs and a new album would be appreciated by the fans for sure.

The rest of Second Coming is re-recorded songs from the band's early material. Second Coming is a great album for potential new fans. If you ever wanted to hear a good range of Stryper songs and hear the band, Second Coming offers a nice range and variety from the band's early albums. The songs all stick to the original arrangements, which is nice. Loud N' Clear, Soldiers Under Command, To Hell With the Devil, and Calling On You are all obvious standouts.

Second Coming is a good record and I love hearing all these songs again. I just wish the band had given us more new material.