Reviewed by Tony Cummings

If you're a shred fan you'll love this. Michael Sweet and Oz Fox are axemen who could truly trade licks every bit as good as those from Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen. If you're a rock singer connoisseur you'll love Michael Sweet, a cathartic vocalist who can shriek his songs with more intensity then a madras curry and whose scream is able to sandblast resistance from religiosity or spiritual indifference. If you're a long-term Stryper enthusiast you'll find that this, their 13th studio release, is right up there with their classics of 1984's 'The Yellow And Black Attack', 1985's 'Soldiers Under Command', 1986's 'To Hell With The Devil', 1988's 'In God We Trust' and 2022's 'The Final Battle'. If you caught one of their tumultuous US gigs at Christmas just gone, you will recall hearing songs like "Divided By Design" and "Unforgivable". Or if you're a pop 'n' rock lyric lover who recognises that the best songsmiths can pen poetic lines as affecting as Plath or Keats you'll connect with Michael Sweet's latest song batch ("Bitterness, a crutch/It clings like a cloak/The poison of hate/It has to be revoked" or his dazzling evocation of the Trinity "In perfect harmony they stand/Holiness, the great I AM/Eternal, infinite your ways/Is worthy of all praise"). One reviewer recently suggested that 'When We Were Kings' "harnesses the fusion between melodic heavy metal and commercial melodic hard rock." I don't really go in for the tendency to subcategorize rock metal into 100 different stylistic tributaries, but I thought the dear chap who wrote that did emphasise one of singer/guitarist/producer/songwriter Sweet's great strengths, his ability to write songs which work without always resorting to pummelling power chords and bruising riffery. The truth is Michael Sweet writes melodically appealing songs which would work done acoustically or in modern country. And for a metal maestro that's some achievement. Another plus for the album is the striking sleeve illustration. When I first saw the 'When We Were Kings' title announced I thought it would show Michael Sweet, Robert Sweet, Oz Fox and Perry Richardson, maybe dressed one more time in spandex as they nostalgically recalled when they were right up there at the top table of metal with Motley Crue, Guns N Roses and Van Halen. Instead, it shows their future rather than their past. On the sleeve the band are illustrated in heavenly robes with divine crowns floating above their heads. And the Lord himself is centre sleeve with his crown of thorns. As a piece of daring cover art it's right up there with 'To Hell With The Devil'.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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