In a new interview with music writer Joel Gausten, Stryper singer/guitarist Michael Sweet discusses a variety of topics including how the band has been able to rise above criticism. An excerpt from the chat appears below:

Joel: Not too long ago on your Facebook page, you posted a list of your most-favorite to least-favorite Stryper albums. That struck me as interesting, because the album in your past that I think is most identified as a risk-taker, Against The Law, was last on the list. The latest album, in a lot of ways, is also a risk-taking record, but it was on the top of your list. Because they are both albums that kind of stray away from what fans might call a ‘traditional’ Stryper record, what makes God Damn Evil a successful risk while Against The Law, in hindsight, might not have been successful in that way?

Michael: "Well, with God Damn Evil, we didn’t walk away from everything – the message and the look, if you will. We still have the yellow-and-black thing – not as much as in ’86, ’87 and ’88, but we’re still doing it. We’re identified by that, and then there’s our signature guitar tone and our sound. Even though ‘Take It To The Cross’ is the one that’s the most out in left field on the album, ‘Sorry’ and all the other songs that people will hear will have those harmonies and the more traditional sound – although it is very different. We are taking risks and chances, but it’s more of that traditional sound. Against the Law wasn’t – at all. In many ways, it didn’t even sound like Stryper. We lost the guitar tone; we totally changed it – like it or not. Number two, we lost our yellow and black on Against The Law. Even though I’m not a big fan of the yellow and black – I don’t like the color yellow; I don’t have any yellow clothing in my wardrobe – it’s who Stryper is. It’s such a signature piece, and we threw that away. We grew beard stubble and scowled and tried to look like we were tough, bad and mad. We just became this completely different band. That’s not the case with God Damn Evil at all. As a matter of fact, we feel like we’re back on track to what we were in ’85, ’86 and ’88 much more with God Damn Evil, No More Hell To Pay (2013) and Fallen (2015) than we were with Against The Law. And then you add to it where our hearts were at the time. It was a really bad time in the history of Stryper. 

We were complete morons, complete hypocrites. We were going out and telling people about Jesus and God from the stage, and then we’d be hitting the bar and getting drunk with them after the show night after night. It was just a joke – a complete joke – during that period. People go through situations and they learn and grow from it, and we did. We experienced that, and I’m the man I am today because of it. I know Oz and Rob also learned from it. But at that time, we were really just a bunch of hypocrites kind of living a lie for a couple of years. Because of that, there aren’t good memories. Thank God we’re in the place that we’re in right now.

I think Against The Law is a really good album – it sounds good, Tom Werman produced it and there are some good songs on it – but it just doesn’t do anything for me at all in any regard. I never listen to that album ever, but I will throw in (1985’s) Soldiers Under Command and enjoy it."

Joel: Stryper took a pretty long break after the Against The Law experience, but the band has been back together now longer than you were together the first time around. What is it about this second time around that seems to work so well to the point where we’re talking about a new album in 2018?

Michael: "It took a long time to get to that place where we felt like, ‘Okay, let’s do this again.’ We were apart from ’92 to ’03. That was probably mostly because of me; I just didn’t feel led to do it. I didn’t want to do it; I was happy in a different world and a different life, raising my kids and doing solo stuff and other things. I didn’t really want to go back. I guess, up to a degree, I was worried about falling back into that trap of the Against The Law period. All of our marriages suffered during that time; it’s just something I never want to repeat and go back to. Because of that, it took a long time to even consider getting back together. Once we did a ‘Celebration Tour’ in ’03, it kind of opened the door, because there were a lot of good things that took place on that tour. It opened the door wide for us to consider doing more.

I did a solo album called Reborn, and I was shopping that to labels – not a lot of people know that Reborn was a solo album. I was shopping it, and I had a record deal in place. I was going to release that as a solo album. I played it for Oz and Rob, and they really loved it. We wound up deciding to make it a Stryper album and release it as a Stryper album. We just feel like from ’05 when that came out to now, there’s been this surge and this relentless flow of creativity and excitement – all sorts of things coming from the well. We’re super happy and excited about that. We’re just kind of taking it all in as we can, while we can, until we can’t do it anymore."

The complete interview is available at this location.

Stryper's new album, God Damn Evil, will be released on April 20th. The band's follow-up to 2015's Fallen album was recorded at SpiritHouse Recording Studios in Northampton, Massachusetts. Artwork and tracklisting below.

Michael Sweet recently stated: "The new Stryper album is our best to date. If this was 1987 (when rock and metal ruled the charts) we might have a Grammy waiting with our name on it. But since this is 2018, we're just happy knowing that our fans will love it. We are blessed. Can't wait to get this one into your ears!"

God Damn Evil tracklislting:

"Take It To The Cross"
"Sorry"
"Lost"
"God Damn Evil"
"You Don’t Even Know Me"
"The Valley"
"Sea Of Thieves"
"Beautiful"
"Can’t Live Without Your Love"
"Own Up"
"The Devil Doesn’t Live Here"