Stryper: Murder By Pride

Arin Hancock: on this of the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast. We're getting back to our Stryper series going through the albums one by one. And we're up to murder by pride here on the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast.

Kris plamondon: past.

Arin Hancock: Alright, welcome back to the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast where it's all about the rock that doesn't roll, Christian rock and metal. So come and join us as we celebrate the classics and the new bands. Alright, I'm your host, Arin Hancock, joined with my co-host Kris Primondon. How are you doing there, Kris?

Kris plamondon: I am doing good. How are you?

Arin Hancock: good good take care of before we jump into our main program. Like we said, ⁓ today we'll be talking all about Stryper's murder by pride. ⁓ before we get into that though, let's get into news, I guess. Have you heard the master plan by Michael Sweet?

Kris plamondon: The album or the single?

Arin Hancock: The album have you heard it or have you heard anything off there? I've actually heard the whole thing a few times over right right now ⁓ How much have you heard?

Kris plamondon: I will is the song I worship you part of that album. Yes, it is.

Arin Hancock: Yes, ⁓ that's a good one. That's one of the ones I like. I've heard the whole thing. What else is on there? Lorde is on there. That was another one that he released early as a single.

Kris plamondon: What? How come I didn't get them?

Arin Hancock: I don't know. It is available now on all the streaming services. If you're listening to Apple, you should be able to hear it by now. It's been out about a week now.

Kris plamondon: ⁓ okay. Are they like on an album or just different singles?

Arin Hancock: No, no, the whole album is out. Yeah. and it's even available to purchase through Amazon and through Michael Sweets website. I am going to have to look at getting that, but I'm also kind of waiting on my finances before I get that right now. ⁓ it's probably what I'm going to get. ⁓ first, so you, you that song. So all you've heard so far is worship you.

Kris plamondon: Okay. ⁓ Mm-hmm. Yes, I love that song. I've been sharing it everywhere.

Arin Hancock: That's good good. Yeah, it's good song. I think that's the last song on the album ⁓ And I'd have to look at the tracklist skins see what else is on there. It's good. It's not heavy But you know what there's times where I like to mellow out and I don't need to headbang 24 7 so There are times I do like this kind of slow down and chill out and Yeah, I think it's good. I think it's worth getting but yeah, he let I could let everybody know before it came out that this was not going to be a heavy record. And.

Kris plamondon: Okay, would imagine that like considering what his health is going through and you know

Arin Hancock: Well, I just read a post actually from just before we signed on that he is coming out. Oh, he was talking about the new record and the previous ones, the one called 10 and one sided war, both of his solo records were heavy because every time he put out a solo record, it was a little bit on the lighter side. People were complaining, Oh, Michael Sweet is not heavy. you know he must not be the heavy guy in the band you know which was not the case but because all his solo stuff was Stryper like material that people thought well maybe he's not the one behind Stryper maybe the Stryper sound comes from everybody else so then he comes out with one side of war which was a good heavy rock record comes out with 10 which is a good heavy rock record ⁓ Yeah, you know, and he says, says, see, I can do heavy and he's done lots of stuff. And he plans on doing actually a whole lot more stuff too. Apparently, you know, he wants to do a few more. Micro sweet solo records. wants to do a few more Stryper records. He wants to do a few more collaborations. He wants to do more sweet and Lynch records. He had a solo project, which was a super band, a bunch of artists from other bands, including him got together in. put a record on under the name iconic.

Kris plamondon: Would it be cool if him, and a couple of the friends that we know, Ken Rex? That would be awesome. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: Oh, wow. That could be a super group. But anyway, he did a super group earlier under the band name Iconic. And I've heard that a couple of times. Not bad. Pretty good stuff. I can't remember everybody who was in that. But apparently now he says something about he's working on another Iconic record, too. So he's got more side projects coming out. This guy, I you, just doesn't quit. You know, he doesn't stop.

Kris plamondon: That's amazing. So, okay, so just ask, if he's doing all this, what is his status ⁓ must improving.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, he hasn't said too much about that. now. He did say to the next Stryper record is done as far as recorded. So all the vocals, all the guitars are done. It's been sent off for mixing, mastering and all that. he's talking about doing a tour for that record, ⁓ you know, they'll do a few days, I think as it comes out, but he's talking about doing basically an extensive tour for

Kris plamondon: Yeah, makes sense.

Arin Hancock: the new Straper record, possibly even more tours than previously, which hopefully might mean they might come here then if they're gonna tour more than they have in the past, if they're gonna tour outside of the United States. there have been, you know what, lately there've been some announcements from other artists that don't normally come to Edmonton where we are that are coming here.

Kris plamondon: Maybe Alberta, yeah.

Arin Hancock: going to a couple of shows from artists that have rarely been here or have never been here. So I'm kind of hoping that if Stryper decides to do an extensive tour, maybe they'll come up here.

Kris plamondon: If they do, Michael, give us access. Come on, buddy. ⁓

Arin Hancock: I'll be there even if I got to pay for the VIP, you know Actually that just gave me a thought but anyways that's you're thinking

Kris plamondon: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, first of all, just to continue with that line of thought, if he's doing extensive touring, do you know, have you heard anything yet that they're coming to Canada period? No? Okay.

Arin Hancock: ⁓ I'm ⁓

Kris plamondon: 20. Yeah. Well, with that, we've got to be able to get some more viewers, watchers, you know, and then that could help pay for you to be able to buy all those records.

Arin Hancock: There you go. You know what, if anybody's listening or any of the labels like Roxx Records, Girder Records is listening to this and they want to send us advanced copies so we can do ⁓ album reviews, ⁓ know.

Kris plamondon: Okay. So they want to send us...

Arin Hancock: ⁓ no, no, no, I'm just trying to do a shout out and hoping that we can get the labels to send us stuff so we can do they've already been I think a Couple I haven't read them but there were been a couple reviews from the master plan By a few other people out out there hey if anybody to send us advanced stuff so we can a review a review

Kris plamondon: We're up for that.

Arin Hancock: anyways that's beside the point

Kris plamondon: Yeah, yeah, our people can talk to your people.

Arin Hancock: I am our people. The other thing too, Michael was even talking about possibly doing a tour with the Michael Sweet Band. You know, he hasn't done, I don't think he's done that for a while. He says it would be actually nice to do a tour, tour on the master plan, tour, you know, and play some of his solo material live. So I tell you this guy again, just doesn't quit.

Kris plamondon: I'm just kidding. That, that's awesome.

Arin Hancock: He works harder than the energizer bunny.

Kris plamondon: He's awesome that how old is he do we know what 60?

Arin Hancock: Yeah. I'd have to look that up. Offhand, I don't know. I'm sure it's in my birthday book, birthday list. I'd have to look that up.

Kris plamondon: How old?

Arin Hancock: Also, with new music coming out, the band Narnia is announcing that they've got a new album coming out real soon. I think by the end of next month, I was actually already looking forward, not out yet. They have released a video for song. The album is going to be called Ten ⁓ it was...

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Arin Hancock: The first single is Oceans Wide. Basically talking about God's love is oceans wide. This is how much God loves us. Oceans wide. And sounds great for any fans of Narnia. I think you're going to love it. ⁓ I think it's going be great.

Kris plamondon: Wow. Is that, ⁓ yeah, we don't know when it's gonna be released. So, right.

Arin Hancock: ⁓ they never really stay. I think that was maybe 17th. Alright, yeah. So yeah, so there we go. So, you know, that is another one that I'm planning on buying. There's just too much new music coming out too quickly. We may have to do an episode about the running down on some of all the new music coming out this year before the end of the year.

Kris plamondon: Yes. Wow. I think so. We might have to have an extra long episode, I think, to crunch everything in.

Arin Hancock: Where are we here? Alright, one more thing we got to get to. I think that's about it for news. New Michael Sweet, the plan, Master Plan, Nia Nia Nia. I think that's about it. I don't want to take up half the episode with new stuff before we get to our main episode. I think it is time for this. Alright, for the Plug It In segment, we're going to keep this rather short intro. There's not much I know about this guy. He's a new, from what I do gather, he is a new Christian. He's put on music before that was kind of, what was it? He's kind of, I don't know, talking about being Viking and Norse and stuff like that. He's since turned all that stuff aside, spoke out against that and has become a Christian and put out brand new album called Evangel Corp. 1. The artist's name is Peyton Parrish and we've got a song that actually he's been promoting on the socials. kinda grabbed my attention. We talk about artists that sound like other artists all the time. I don't wanna say he's copying anybody. I don't think he's trying to, but he is definitely heavily influenced by Disturbed. This guy has got a disturbed sound. And I'm talking about the band. I'm talking about the band Disturbed. I don't think he himself is disturbed.

Kris plamondon: ⁓ wow. If he could sing, ⁓ I forget what that guy's name is, if he could sing like him, ⁓ my gosh, that would be awesome!

Arin Hancock: Anyways, this is Payton Parish with Word of God. So there you go, Payton Parrish with the word of God off of his latest release, Evangel Cor 1. What do think that?

Kris plamondon: That was intense.

Arin Hancock: you

Kris plamondon: He can sing.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, I like that. I think it's pretty good. ⁓ Mind you, I kinda like that sound. Disturbed. ⁓ if anybody's asking for, hey, I listen to Disturbed, what should I do in the Christian scene? There you go, now you've got an alternative.

Kris plamondon: Mm-hmm. Close. Who do you know anything about this guy? Where is he? Like Florida?

Arin Hancock: He's in the States, that's yeah, he's in the States. That's about all I know. I don't know a lot You know, if you're an artist out there, actually this is a good time to kind of plug us, I guess. If you're an artist out there, doing your own thing, creating your own music that fits our genre of music, our style of music, and you want to get promoted, let us know. You know, we just might play you on here. And this is a good time to say, hey, let's, you know, subscribe, like the program so you don't miss an episode. If you have not already joined the Facebook group, what are you waiting for? Come on and join, find out what's going on. I'm going to try and Do more stuff on there when I got that's when I got time anyways and.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, we're not gonna spam you, we're not spamming you, we're not gonna send you a million emails a week, you know?

Arin Hancock: I already have time to keep up with the podcast itself trying to, you with just the usual stuff.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. some of those websites do that though. You know, they'll send you one, two, three, four, five web messages a week. Like.

Arin Hancock: That's because it's either automated or they hire someone whose sole job is to do that. Right. Um, this is a nonprofit podcast. But yeah, if you ever want to comment on episodes or whatever, you can comment through there. You can comment on wherever you're watching the, you know, on the YouTube channel, or if you're listening on one of the other platforms, there should be a way to leave comments.

Kris plamondon: Right. You're right.

Arin Hancock: If you want to Spotify, there's ways to leave them comments there.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, we love to hear from our audience.

Arin Hancock: Yes we would. let's get into this now. ⁓ Murder by Pride. Initial thoughts on this one Kris?

Kris plamondon: I was actually pleasantly surprised. It's actually not a bad album.

Arin Hancock: Oh, good. I remember you made a comment. We didn't talk about this too much ahead of time. There's a lot of times where we talk about stuff before we hit record and all the great material doesn't get recorded. So I didn't want to talk about this before I hit record. But I know we were talking about some of the other podcast episodes. I let you know, hey, listen to this record. I didn't think you had this one in your collection. And then you came on and first you said you didn't like it. So after a few more listens, it sounds like You started liking it.

Kris plamondon: that's how it happened. I I listened to it originally and then I put it away. I did things, got family, whatever. I went for a walk a couple of hours ago, came back, sat here and listened to it. And I'm like, it's not bad.

Arin Hancock: So so here's my thoughts on this. When it first came out, this is the record by Stryper. Came out July ⁓ 2009. And we'll get into ⁓ the credits on this one in a second here. I just want to give my thoughts. So when this first came out, the previous record that I had was Reborn. I did not like that. ⁓ found a new appreciation for Reborn. ⁓ With the last review we did and going through the deep dive and listened to it extensively going, know what? It's probably not as bad as I first thought it was. That's Reborn. When it first came out, I did not like it. So four or five years later, this comes out. In between these two records, there is the Roxx Regime demos, which I didn't even know about until recently. ⁓ don't know, Stryper was originally called Regime. So there's some out there that they released. It's only half hour long. And that comes in between these records, but I didn't have that. So I had reborn and I didn't like reborn to me. was, there was a lot of stuff from the Stryper sound missing and this comes out and I'm going, ⁓ this is great. This is back to a real rock record. It wasn't some new new modern rock, whatever you want to call whatever reborn was. Like I said, I did get appreciation for reborn probably with the last episode that we did on that one. But anyways. So this comes out, now I haven't listened to this one for the longest time, I had to dust this off and put it on the CD player when I first put it on I'm going, oh, I don't know if this is as good as I remembered.

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: About 10, you over past week I've been listening to it ⁓ quite a bit, probably, I know, about 10 times or whatever, and I'm going, no, I think that you're, no, this is still good. I know we were talking to some, some, some other Stryper fans and I said, this is probably my number three favorite Stryper record. I don't know if it's my number three. It all depends on the day, I think, which is my favorite, which is, you know, I'd say it's probably in my top five. I Michael was talking about this record too. Saying when it came out, before they recorded it, he said, ⁓ he was kind of asking fans what they wanted. ⁓ And they wanted more guitars. They wanted the Michael Sweet Scream he does in lot of songs. ⁓ And I they delivered. ⁓

Kris plamondon: ⁓ totally. I think this would be an album I would share with people if they didn't know who Michael Sweet was.

Arin Hancock: This has... You know. Right. And I don't know if this is, this is definitely not the patent Stryper sound, but this is 2009. This is not the 1980s anymore. I think.

Kris plamondon: You No. But there are riffs in a couple of songs that you started listening to and be like, ⁓ they took it from calling on you to like there's little riffs in it. I'm like, that's cool. You know?

Arin Hancock: Yes. I think we'll get into that too as we go through the record there are I think moments where they tried to recreate that classic sound they brought in you know they had some amazing guitar solos on this record they had like said Michael Sweet started doing the screams again and and some of the songs or some of the places I noticed where he wasn't really doing this the scream but he would take the note up high almost into that scream so he's singing the word but at such a high

Kris plamondon: ⁓ yeah.

Arin Hancock: Register, it's almost a scream. You know what saying?

Kris plamondon: Yeah, like our friends Tim and ⁓ who was the other guy that we just did the podcast with? There Tim Terrell and we talked about that where Michael just and on Murdered by Pride here there are songs that he just he sings low and then boom He just goes he just like wow

Arin Hancock: Damn. Actually, yeah, you know what that's something else we should have done in the news We've recorded an episode and probably come out. Well, we recorded one that I wanted to save for later, but we found a new podcast Called to hell with a podcast. They're all about Stryper and everything related to Stryper and We've recorded an episode with own which will come out later They were happy to be on our program. They've actually recorded one since there are a couple short ones since then and did a shout out to us. So thank you for doing a shout out to us. We're going to favor do a shout out. I've got a couple episodes in the can that are I'm going to release kind of shortly. So that one might come out in the next couple of months. So that's something to look forward to a collaboration with some new Stryper friends of ours. All right.

Kris plamondon: Yes, thanks boys.

Arin Hancock: You got anything? ⁓ I guess we should get into the cover art. Your thoughts on the cover?

Kris plamondon: I want to know the story behind the cover. That's what I want to know. What does that guy, and it looks like he's having a heart attack. I guess that would symbolize what he's having a heart attack because it was pride. Like.

Arin Hancock: Probably I think yeah someone who's way down by sin who hasn't repented of the sin and Probably the sin is pride, know, I've always thought The the biggest sin the most people face is pride it's pride that says I don't need God I can do it on my own pride that says I know what God says Well, I'll do it this way instead pride says I don't believe in God Pride is I think at the heart of most of the sins. Anyways, there's other ones out there, but I think pride is probably the one that plagues man the most.

Kris plamondon: Now do we know that picture on the album? Is that an actual guy or is that an animation?

Arin Hancock: Well, it looks like a painting, but a lot of times, a lot of times, some of these guys, when they do a painting, they will get that model of what is actually going on that they've painted. And I'm thinking back to the story of Dio's Holy Diver. If you've ever seen that cover where it's got this, I think it's a priest ⁓ wrapped in chains drowning in this lake. And there's this, that Dio demon.

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: look looking above him type of thing like this. They actually got someone to go out and put on this jacket and chains and go into the ocean so they could take pictures of it and then do the painting from that. So and I bring out because I while that was done and I'm sure other ones there's other stories of cover art where yes it's a painting but the painting is based on a real photo or they get someone to model for the painting or something. while this looks like it's a painting, know, this is 2009, know, AI hasn't come out yet. Nothing is computer generated. I think actually the internet is still in its infancy. If I remember correctly, I might buy this. think I had to go to the Stryper website to buy this. ⁓ If I remember correctly, I don't know, but ⁓

Kris plamondon: That's right.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, know, it's not bad. I kinda like it. I think a lot of the Stryper covers I find okay. They're just there. Like, I like the original cover for To Hell with the Devil. The four angels throwing the devil in the abyss. I like a couple of the ones that out later. And I know we talked about this with the guys from To Hell with the Podcast. Some of the ones that have come out recently to me are starting to look too cartoony. They're looking like too comic book-ish.

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: And if the, don't know if they can make the painting, picture look a little more realistic than what it is. I don't know. This one I kind of like actually. I think it's kind of cool.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, like that. That picture's pretty nice too for this album. I really like the goddamn EVIL album. That whole picture was pretty nice too.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, the only thing I don't know about that cover was, to me it looked like it was a picture of Zeus coming down and stomping on everybody.

Kris plamondon: Yes, yes, yes, that's right. I'd like to ask Michael one day, why did you pick that?

Arin Hancock: Yeah. Alright, let's get into the credits. So the executive producer was Bill Edwards. He was produced, mixed and engineered by Danny Bernini and Michael Sweet. This has some extra musicians on here as well. We should make notes too, and I don't know if you know this. First of all, they were kind of between bass players. had Tracy Ferry play bass on this. I believe he played based on Reborn as well. So he only played on Reborn and Murder by Pride. The next one is going to be the covering. but anyways Perry Richardson will come in in a moment uh but he's not on this record and Tim Gaines is not on this record I know Tim Gaines was out of the band he comes back for a short stint somewhere around here So yeah, we've got Tracy Ferry on bass. The rest of the band is still the same. It's still Michael Sweet on vocals and guitars. Still Oz Fox on guitars. And Robert Sweet. Well, Robert Sweet was part of the band, but did not do drums on this record. And the story goes... I guess he got the CDs of the demos late and didn't have time to learn the songs ⁓ goes that Michael said it would take Robert a couple extra weeks ⁓ to the drum parts and record them. ⁓ They brought in Kenny Aronoff on drums and he laid them down in three days and they were kind of pressed for time. So he laid them down. Now, Robert Sweet was still in the band. He was on the tour with them. so yeah, they just brought in ⁓ Kenny to record the record, but Robert is still part of the band.

Kris plamondon: Was that the same drummer that he's used before or no?

Arin Hancock: I don't know if it's possible Kenny had played with Michael Sweet or something like this. I'm not sure where he came from. And then also a few extra musicians. We've got Paul McNamara on piano and keyboards. Danny Bernini did some percussion on this record. And Tom Schultz does guitar on Peace of Mind. And we'll get into that when we talk about that song.

Kris plamondon: Okay.

Arin Hancock: Alright, well let's start off with the first track, Eclipse for the Sun.

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Arin Hancock: Alright, your thoughts on Eclipse For the Sun?

Kris plamondon: I think that first song, that's like my favorite one of them, the top favorite song of the album. I think that rocks.

Arin Hancock: Okay. Yeah, no, it's good. It's a good way to start off the record. You know, just a quick snap of the snare and boom, we're in to the song It's a hard driving rhythm. Not the kind of rhythm we normally hear from Stryper. But, know, nothing wrong with that. It's fast, it's upbeat, it drives, it's, you know, I think those steady eighth note rhythms and yeah.

Kris plamondon: It definitely sets the tempo for the album.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, and I think there's a few songs that have the same kind of rhythm, just the steady driving, uh, was it will be eighth note rhythms, but you know, they're not all the same. First of all, couple of listens. I'm like, geez, all the songs have the same rhythm, but no, they do diversify the rhythms throughout the sounds. And for those who, you know, aren't looking in the lyric sheet or whatever, he's not talking about the sun as in the sun and the moon. He's talking about.

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: The son S-O-N. So, words are all about less of me, more of Jesus, more of the Son That's actually one thing I didn't notice through this. ⁓ kind of like ⁓ the law where the ⁓ themes are there, but they're not ⁓ and not in your face. Not once does he mention God or Jesus on the record. that's not to say that the religious themes and tones are not there. Some of these songs, they're definitely there. They're just not quite as obvious. If you weren't the Stryper fan and didn't know what they were singing about, you could probably listen to it and not know what they were singing about.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I got that approach too, that they seem more laid back on quote preaching the gospel, right?

Arin Hancock: Yeah. Yeah, the message is there, but it's not bold. It's not quite so obvious like past records were like to hell with the devil or, or in God we trust or, or, you know, even hugging back to, to the first one there, soldiers ⁓ a black where it says Jesus is the way, you know, there's none of that. But, you know, I don't, don't fault it. You know, it's definitely not toned down like against law was where Yeah, okay, we'll sing about on nice things and we'll leave it at that or whatever. but I don't have a problem with, with the message on here because the message does come through on some of these songs. All right. Yeah,

Kris plamondon: Oh, totally. and for the guys who are still stuck with Stryper there's still a message in the songs. mean, he and the way he sings it, you could hear what he's talking about. You know, it's it's pretty well mixed. It's. You know.

Arin Hancock: Yes, good. we're coming at one of my favorites, which is kind of Four Leaf Clover.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, that's a song.

Arin Hancock: This is when it starts off with a great riff. ⁓

Kris plamondon: I like that riff. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, and I think this is one where that riff is kind of trying to go back to that classic Stryper sound. This one, you know, that riff could easily have been on or something like that, I think. Also too, I think this solo or Four Leaf Clover, yeah, Four Leaf Clover brings in that scream again. We didn't get to it on the clip there, but there is moments where he does do that Michael Sweet scream. And yeah, there's not much to say about that. Again, great song. Like I said, this whole record actually is. It's good at Stryper out, you know, it's hard to go wrong with a Stryper record I think anyways, but ⁓

Kris plamondon: Yeah, for sure.

Arin Hancock: Now, before we get to this next one, want to a brief history in case you did not know. Michael Sweet, a few years before this record comes out I'm not sure exactly what years, but Michael Sweet did spend time with the band, Boston. And stuff. so it just before this record comes out, like a couple years before, lean up to this record. Uh, that might've actually led or been what led to the four or five year break between albums, between, uh, reborn in this one, the fact that he, you know, went on tour. Anyways, I bring that up because I mentioned earlier that Tom Schultz plays on this record. Tom Schultz, well, basically wrote this song. Next song, helps play guitar on this one. Because it's his song. This is their cover of Boston, Peace of Mind. So yeah, you didn't know, Peace of Mind is a cover from Boston.

Kris plamondon: Wow, that rocks. That really does.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, and if you're not familiar with the Boston version, Stryper does change it slightly. The Boston version has a clean guitar intro and the electric guitars kick in. So they've kind of dropped the clean or acoustic guitars and just went straight into it. ⁓ But yeah, it's a song. I like that song. One of my favorite Boston songs. great way ⁓ with peace of mind. Your thoughts on that?

Kris plamondon: Awesome song, awesome song.

Arin Hancock: So yeah, and Peace of Mind 2 brings back the harmonic guitars, the screams, but that was all part of the original song too. alright, now into the first ballad live.

Kris plamondon: ⁓ okay.

Arin Hancock: So your thoughts on that one? This is probably one of your favorites I would say.

Kris plamondon: No, no, I was little disappointed with that ballad compared to Honestly and Lady. I felt like it was too ⁓ drawn you know, like it just didn't have that Stryper ballad thing that I guess I'm used to. ⁓

Arin Hancock: Huh? Okay. I know, I suppose if you write so many songs and so many ballads, you're gonna come up with a few duds now and then.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, that's right. this to me. That's right. To me, it just sounded like they put this together. Oh, we need a ballad to fit here. So Michael sat in front of the piano and just do it like it just to me didn't feel like it flowed, you know.

Arin Hancock: can't bat one Right. I'm with you. I'm not a big ballad guy anyways. This is one I could easily skip. And for the longest time, I was never really sure what the point of the song was. I've heard a people talking about it. I think I heard the, ⁓ the podcast talking about this record and talking about this song. And I think I heard a others. Anyways, a couple points on what it might be about is, you know, we all go through this period of

Kris plamondon: Mm-hmm.

Arin Hancock: times in our life where we walk away from God, we, feel God doesn't love us anymore. And that's not the case. So that might be the kind of situation here. There was a time too, where relationships in real life fall apart, break apart. And maybe it's about that. Maybe, you know, as much as we'd to think Christians are ⁓ perfect, Christians are not perfect. Even Christian marriages sometimes fail and the other one walks away. So, you know, it might be something like, like that. I don't know. the

Kris plamondon: Right. No, no and for those people out there, know, God does love you so in case

Arin Hancock: you Right. Well, and this one, this one even says that he says, you know, he starts off saying, you don't love me anymore. And then he goes, but then I realized I was only dreaming and that's not the case. You know, so

Kris plamondon: ⁓ he, and that shows us how great Michael Sweet is as a songwriter. I mean.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, so, well you got that going for it. But I think I'm with you on this one. Not one of my favorites off of this album. But, alright, let's move on to...

Kris plamondon: No. They do a they he does a better ballad coming up so

Arin Hancock: Oh, you like the next ballad on here. Okay, anyways, yeah, we'll get to that when it comes up. But you know, the tracklist is not bad. I kind of like the way the tracks have gone. We had three great rockers. You know, I could have easily put Four Leaf Clover first, but I'm okay with Eclipse for the Son being first and then into Four Leaf Clover. We got three great rockers and then you slow it down with a ballad. Sounds good to me. And then it's time to speed it back up and we got the plan.

Kris plamondon: Mm-hmm.

Arin Hancock: I think this one opens up with a good heavy riff. It's simple riff, but still good and heavy, I think.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, ⁓ I like that rip too.

Arin Hancock: And yeah, overall, ⁓ my thoughts on song, I would say it's just okay. I like the only riff, but that's really, I think the best part of it. ⁓ There is some screaming, the Michael Sweet scream in the song. So we're getting back to that, which is good, which is fans wanted and which is good to hear. The other thing I didn't want say too, going back to Alive for a second, was as much as the ballad was okay, I think the vocals on live were great. There were moments where he just soars right up in that stratosphere on the vocals and I think that was just incredible. But yeah, overall live was It has moments, but overall it was just kind of okay. Yeah, this one, ⁓ plan, I think ⁓ good fast song, but You know, didn't quite connect with me. It's just okay for me too, I Your thoughts?

Kris plamondon: you Yeah, see, it's not a bad song. I mean, I'd only listened to that song for the first 40, maybe 50 seconds, just for the guitar riff. Like, that's pretty cool, you know?

Arin Hancock: Alright, ⁓ now we get to the title track. Murder by Pride. Murder by Pride.

Kris plamondon: One of my pride. One of my pride.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, this is a song. One of my favorites off this record. I think this is the one you were talking about that harking back to like calling on you or harking back to the old Stryper style. And I think that's one nice thing about this record is it's blending old and new and last few albums they've been trying to do that. I know they've tried to do that with When We Were Kings. They're talking about we're going to do that again with the next record. Yeah, this is a song. One of my favorites off this record. I think this is the one you were talking about that harking back to like calling on you or harking back to the old Stryper style. And I think that's one nice thing about this record is it's blending old and new and last few albums they've been trying to do that. I know they've tried to do that with When We Were Kings. They're talking about we're going to do that again with the next record.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: Michael says, is going to be their best. Of course, they say that all the time in time to come out with a new record. their best one yet. ⁓ And it sounds cliched. Michael says, is going to be their best. Of course, they say that all the time in time to come out with a new record. their best one yet. ⁓ And it sounds cliched.

Kris plamondon: Yes. Yes.

Arin Hancock: I think a band or an artist should, whatever you're doing should be your best at that time. Otherwise, why would you do it? Otherwise, you're just phoning it in what's the point? ⁓ I think a band or an artist should, whatever you're doing should be your best at that time. Otherwise, why would you do it? Otherwise, you're just phoning it in what's the point? ⁓

Kris plamondon: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's right.

Arin Hancock: Again, they've got a lot of fans that like that old classic sound. They've got new fans that like the new sound. And so they've been trying to blend the two. They're planning on doing that with the new record. We'll have to wait and see how that comes out. And I think they kind of did it here. They've got songs that are kind of a new style of sound. But then they bring out a few songs that still kind of bring back what they used to do. But yeah, I think this is a great song. I like it.

Kris plamondon: Mm-hmm.

Arin Hancock: Yes, not much more to say that. Where did my pride? Yeah, that one brought back the harmonized guitars. Had the scream on that one. All right, so we're in the next song and before I play the clip, let's talk about it a little bit. So I want to talk about what I like about the next song. Mercy Over Blame Your thoughts on that one.

Kris plamondon: Awesome song. Wow. It rocks too.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, got a great riff to it. I captured a clip with solo and I think the chorus either just before, just after the solo. Can't remember where I started the clip now. ⁓ but this had the typical solo you expect from Stryper. some great solo in it. had what else did I have in my notes here? It had the harmonized guitars. It had the Michael Sweet solo. But that opening riff that that he kicks the song off with man that what a great riff that was. But yeah, so let's play the clip here featuring the solo.

Kris plamondon: Bye!

Arin Hancock: What a great solo that is.

Kris plamondon: Wow, you know what? solo as a clip so you say Christian music is boring? ⁓ Play that. ⁓

Arin Hancock: There you go, yes. I think just about anything from Stryper. know, they've got the moments where they're a little bit weak. I don't know if there's a bad Stryper song. There's some songs that are better than others, but... Alright, and then we're going to... Believe. So this is the next ballad. This is the one that you liked you said.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, it's alright. It's better. It's more substance. That's the easy way. You know, he does, he takes two breaths, Arin, and he sings that chorus. He sings that chorus in two breaths. ⁓

Arin Hancock: Well, and here's something that I didn't think of until I heard someone else mention it when they were talking about this record. This sound sounds like it was inspired by Creed.

Kris plamondon: Yes, yes, yes. I was thinking about that when I listened to it earlier, but boy, that sure sounds like Creed.

Arin Hancock: you're right, the opening guitars ⁓ that effect going in that think that Creed uses ⁓ ⁓ of an echo, a of a chorus on there. I'm not sure ⁓ that effect is. ⁓ ⁓ sounds a lot like ⁓ Creed would do. And even other parts in the song when it gets a little bit heavier, it's the same kind of rhythm that they use. ⁓ ⁓ know, not bad. So my thoughts on this is it's not bad. I don't think it's great.

Kris plamondon: And maybe they...

Arin Hancock: but that's because it's a ballad. ⁓ It has to be a great ballad for me. And I don't, I've said this before, I don't hate all ballads. There have been some ballads, now and then, that I do like. I don't think I hate this one, but it doesn't really do anything for me either. So, but this one, one you liked.

Kris plamondon: know what we need to get Arin? We need to get like a red alert thingy when there's a ballad. Red alert, red alert, Arin doesn't like this ballad. ⁓

Arin Hancock: Well, and here's the thing with Stryper is you're gonna get the ballads. I recognize that. But with Stryper, you kind of get everything, especially on the last few records. rock songs and then you get the really heavy songs and then make sure there's a couple ballads on the record well. And talking about the run-of-the-mill rock songs this one here is a little bit different tempo. We're now at Running to You.

Kris plamondon: deal.

Arin Hancock: Your thoughts on that one?

Kris plamondon: a better Michael Sweet ballad. To me, he's got a momentum, he's going, he's... You know, where the second last one we played, to me it just didn't have that flow. This one seems better. There's more emotion into it.

Arin Hancock: I definitely like this better than the ballads, but I don't think this is a ballad. This is one of those mid-tempo songs where it's not a rocker. It's not a ballad. It's in between. It's the mid-tempo. And it's not bad. I don't know. I think this one might have worked better as a power ballad. If they'd slowed it down and then kicked up the choruses, this could have been better. And I think a song like this, done this way,

Kris plamondon: Mm-hmm. Yes.

Arin Hancock: might be better as a Michael Sweet solo song. I don't know if this one kind of flows with this record. The words are great. I love the words. But yeah, I don't know if it really flows musically with the rest of this record.

Kris plamondon: ⁓ yeah, totally. I was trying to find the lyrics for these songs. Where do you go to find them?

Arin Hancock: Well, I've got the lyrics sheet. I've got the original record. ⁓ You should be able to Google them though. should be able to type in Stryper, song name, lyrics. So try that next time.

Kris plamondon: Natural,

Arin Hancock: Alright, so we're at Love is Why. Your thoughts on this one?

Kris plamondon: Again, Michael Sweet and his singing. can, he can, wow, on a slick cover of Dime, he can take a breath for, you know, three sentences. It's not, it's hard to do.

Arin Hancock: Oh yeah, no, we're definitely not denying the talent of Michael Sweet. But yeah, no, this is... I don't know, the song itself though to me is okay. I think it could have been written a little stronger. This is, I think, a song where they could have brought that evangelizing into it. You know, do a line saying, is why I live, God is why I do this. know, maybe alternate love is why and God is why or... This is a song I think they could have brought God into it without changing it too much. But you know, I'm just looking at the track list and here is a great thing about buying records instead of just buying singles instead of just listening to tracks or putting on a playlist. Okay, so we went from Murder by Pride, Mercy Over Blame, which are two great heavy songs Then they slowed it down with I Believe. And then they gradually bring it up because they went from I Believe to running to you which is kind of mid-tempo then they're kicking up a little bit more of a notch with love is why you know and then and then they kick it up even a little bit more with everything that's the next sound on here everything

Kris plamondon: Yeah. Where you at? Okay. Wow.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, so I think this is one of those songs that blends the old and the new again, it's got that simple heavy riff in it It's got some of the melodic guitars in it for the solo for the leads and man what a powerful voice You know, we can't say enough about Michael Sweet and what a great voice he's got I think this is a great song and this is one that I don't think I would change Your thoughts?

Kris plamondon: Well, if Michael Sweet was offering singing lessons, I would take it!

Arin Hancock: Well, I don't know, you know, even though he might offer guitar lessons and I would love to be able to play some the stuff that he plays That doesn't mean I can play it

Kris plamondon: Yes. You take the guitar or do the vocals.

Arin Hancock: I try but I don't know we're near as good as he is on guitar. of riffs on here I might be able to do. Some these riffs are simple. Some of these riffs prove that you don't have to be complicated to be heavy. You just need that good heavy chug. And they've toned a lot of this stuff down for this record as far as what they used to do. But I think it works on this record. I think it's a record overall.

Kris plamondon: Yes, very.

Arin Hancock: Um, and the last song I'm going to wait, I think we're going to finish and we're going to close out with a clip from the last song. Uh, this is again, I think one thing is that they've done in the past. I think there's been a couple of records where they didn't do it, but for the most part, the records seem to start off strong and finish with a bang. And while this next song, the last song on the record is not a double kick, double temple. Banner it's still a great heavy riff or you know and great heavy song ⁓ The last song here is My love always show yeah and One thing about that is this was a cover of their own song Back on the yellow and black attack. They have a song called my love always show and it was a really slowdown

Kris plamondon: I love always show

Arin Hancock: dragged out ballad. It was a very very very slow ballad.

Kris plamondon: They needed a long break on that tongue, I guess.

Arin Hancock: I don't know. But if you listen to the Roxx Regime demos, that song is on here and it sounds more like it does on here. So it started off as a fast song. They slowed it down for the yellow and black and then they decided to it back and bring it back into its original form, full production. And I think the song kind of kicks it. I think it's a great song on the record and a great way to close out the record. Before we get to the clip, let's ⁓ what were your two favorite tracks off this record?

Kris plamondon: would have been the first one we heard, eclipse, Yeah, the first song.

Arin Hancock: for the sun. Eclipse for the sun.

Kris plamondon: Yep. Four Leaf Clover

Arin Hancock: Okay.

Kris plamondon: and the plan. That would have been my top four.

Arin Hancock: Okay. Alright, not bad. ⁓ you said you did not like... what was the... ⁓ Alive? Any other ones you didn't like on here?

Kris plamondon: I'm out. alive. It was okay. I mean, I put it in my least active song I'll listen to

Arin Hancock: okay. have a second song ⁓ that's favorite?

Kris plamondon: everything.

Arin Hancock: Okay. ⁓ you don't like that one?

Kris plamondon: I didn't say I didn't like it, I just said it, just, you know, it's there.

Arin Hancock: Okay. ⁓ yeah, so my top two favorites definitely mercy over blame. I think, ⁓ that's gotta be my favorite. And then for a second one, I don't know. ⁓ it's easy to say peace of mind, but that's not their song. ⁓ what else is on here? Murder by pride, I think would definitely, you know, the title track, I think is great. Strong. There's a lot of great strong songs on here. Like Four Leaf clover could have

Kris plamondon: ⁓ yeah.

Arin Hancock: It's hard to put like just two I think so you know this is a great record I think and you know no surprise here my least favorite the two ballads ⁓ let's go with a live actually you know what ⁓ I believe isn't bad it could be better but I would think actually I'm gonna say run it run into you as my second least favorite ⁓ it's a Not a bad song, I think it would work better as a Michael Sweet solo song. ⁓ Overall, 1 out of 10. What would you rate this record?

Kris plamondon: Sure. seven.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, I'm with you there. I think a seven, was gonna say six and a half, seven. ⁓ The strong songs are really strong, kind of make up for the ones that are a little bit weaker. It's hard to find, I think, a perfect record and there are a few of them out there. But and this is not a perfect record, but it's pretty good. I'd give it a seven, I'd say.

Kris plamondon: Well, I mean, to them, they thought it was good, right? And the record executives thought it was good. So.

Arin Hancock: Well, I hope so. Like I I hope the band doesn't purposely phone it in. Although I've bought a few records from bands and going, what were they thinking when they put this one out? Not talking about this record, ⁓ just to make that clear.

Kris plamondon: No. Well, ⁓ That's right. have to make it clear. We have to take the album in that time when it was made.

Arin Hancock: Yes, yeah. No, I think this is good. Well, but this is when I think that holds up, you know, if I were to see Stryper live and they played a few off this or a few my favorites off this one, I'd be happy. You know, I think it'd be great.

Kris plamondon: Yeah,

Arin Hancock: Yeah, Anthony, what did you guys say?

Kris plamondon: Nope, subscribe, let us know how we did, if you'd like to show.

Arin Hancock: Sounds good, yeah. Leave comments. There's a link to an email. If you want to do, I guess it's kind of the old fashioned way now. If you want to email us about comments or whatever, we're happy to take comments even that way. Like I said, so thanks for listening and God bless everybody. Keep on rocking. are... Where's it going? Oh, we're going to finish off with a clip from my love, I'll Always Show, because it's a great riff and it's a great way to... in the program.

Kris plamondon: And we'll