Louder Than The Music

Christian rockers Stryper have released their latest album 'The Covering'. Featuring twelve cover versions, as well as the all-new original song 'God', the album marks the return of original bassist Tim Gaines back into the Stryper fold, setting up the first Stryper release in years to feature the definitive line-up of Michael Sweet (vocals/guitar), Oz Fox (guitar), Tim Gaines (bass) and Robert Sweet (drums).

According to Michael Sweet, the impetus for putting out a mostly covers set was a simple one. "Every Stryper album is pretty serious and pretty bold in the lyrical faith sense of the word. We just wanted to roll our sleeves up, cut loose and have some fun." And when it came time to pick out a listing of tunes to cover, all the band had to do was look back upon their club days. "Growing up, before Stryper was even Stryper, we were a cover band. We played Gazzarri's on the [Hollywood] Strip for years - we would do originals but also do covers, as well. We always did [Judas] Priest covers and [Iron] Maiden covers, all those bands we grew up on and who influenced us."

The album includes 1970's era classic rock tracks sucha as Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song', Deep Purple's 'Highway Star', and Kiss' 'Shout It Out Loud'. The 1980's era heavy metal are also covered with Black Sabbath's 'Heaven and Hell', the Scorpions' 'Blackout', and Iron Maiden's 'The Trooper'. "A few things we set out to do on this album was to stay true to the original - we didn't want to disrespect the original versions," explains Michael. "I'm never going to sound like Bruce Dickinson or Ronnie James Dio, nor would I ever try to. And having me sing the song puts our own spin on it. We just all did our own thing and with our own touches and feel - Robert, Tim, Oz and myself - it has that Stryper feel to it as well."

The album also includes an all-new Stryper tune, 'God'. "Something that I was concerned about doing a covers album was the backlash," says Michael. "Being a Christian band, I was afraid we would get beat up pretty good. And sure enough, people in the press were saying early on, 'What are they doing? Are they Christian still?' All this nonsense. I just felt like, 'We really should put a song on there that solidifies our faith.' And that tells everyone questioning our faith, 'No, we haven't turned our back on God, we're still serious about it.'"

'The Covering' Track Listing:
1. Set Me Free (Sweet)
2. Blackout (Scorpions)
3. Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath)
4. Lights Out (UFO)
5. Carry On My Wayward Son (Kansas)
6. Highway Star (Deep Purple)
7. Shout It Out Loud (Kiss)
8. Over The Mountain (Ozzy Osbourne)
9. The Trooper (Iron Maiden)
10. Breaking The Law (Judas Priest)
11. On Fire (Van Halen)
12. Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin)
13. God (Stryper)