MICHAEL SWEET — Ten (review)

MICHAEL SWEET — Ten album cover Album · 2019 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Kev Rowland
Back in the Eighties my sister was very much into a Christian music movement known as White Metal, and for some reason I became quite fascinated with one of the bands she made me aware of, Stryper. They were very much a hair band, albeit with a Christian message, and many of the songs on the first two albums were laden with hooks. It was after these that they attracted mainstream press and I felt their third album ‘To Hell With The Devil’ was not nearly as good and stopped following what they were doing. Here we are in 2020 and not only are Stryper still active but lead singer and rhythm guitarist Michael Sweet has released his latest solo album, which I am guessing from the title is the tenth.

The album features many guests, including singer Todd La Torre (Queensrÿche), drummer Will Hunt (Evanescence), bassist John O'Boyle, and guitarists Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake, Night Ranger), Jeff Loomis (Arch Enemy, Nevermore), Marzi Montazeri (Exhorder, Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals), Gus G. (Firewind, Ozzy Osbourne) and Andy James. Each song is subtitled “featuring” so it is easy to see who appears on what song, but no-one really demonstrates their skills or chops, as this album is exactly why I stopped following hat Stryper was doing in the first place. There is passion and emotion, but it is all somewhat smothered and one song rolls into the next. It is commercial rock with the highlight far more on the formed and way too little on the latter. His voice is as smooth and powerful as ever, but it feels just too bland, formulaic and repetitive for me. There is far better melodic rock out there to be heard, but if you have ever enjoyed Stryper and want to revisit the sound then here it is again in all its “glory”.
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