Stryper - Reborn
Well, the almost original lineup of Stryper is back with a new one ... and finally we get around to reviewing it
The godfathers of Xtian crossover hard rock in the 80s are back, so what do we think about it?
Stryper - Reborn: C/C+
The album starts off fairly promisingly with a driving track called "Open Your Eyes" ... in many ways, an updated version of the old school Black and Yellow attack, just straightforward power rock, really cool song
It heads into the recent single "Reborn", well it's not really classic Stry ... this sounds more like solo Mike, heavy and very 2000s-ish ... I really like it alot, but it does notably suffer from those things that might turn off people to stuff like alt-met
The album takes a severe turn after "Open Your Eyes", venturing more into pop hard rock territory rather than the power rock style that was featured pre-To Hell With ... "When Did I See You Cry" is a pretty average power ballad, it has an interesting mid-section, but otherwise is pretty ho-hum
"Make You Mine" is pop rocks ala Mike ... if anything is pretty clear so far, it is the impact of solo Mike sound on this album ... this one sounds very modern, not really even metal or heavy, just some mainstream alt rock that could be heard on any station on the FM dial ... if nothing else, these guys can write hooky, catchy stuff, even if it is not particularly outstanding
"Passion" ... another track with solo Mike's fingerprints all over it, acoustic power ballad ... the soft verses are actually pretty good, but they get bombed on by a really loud, do nothing for me chorus ... actually seems to detract from the cool verses, you would think they could hook on a catchy chorus and this one would be outstanding, because it has some pretty cool vocal harmonies work
"Live Again" is very heavy and crashy, more modern style heavy than power rock ... it sounds to me like alot of bash and crash with no outlet to it ... what is noticeable so far is that there really isn't much of the traditional guitar soloing that really made older Stry stuff pretty compelling
"Wait for You" has a sound ala post-"IGWT" ... where Stry was heading in a big time pop rocks direction (or I can be redundant and say here's some more stuff that sounds solo Mike) ... this kind of song is what I liked about Mike's Truth album, it seemed like he was unbound by some of the limitations of the Stry sound, but it still was excellent listenable Xtian rock ... I guess here I wanted more power rock ... don't get me wrong, probably the strongest track on the album behind OYE and Reb
"Rain" is pop, there is no other way to describe it ... solo Mike influence, durable pop rock verse, with the big rising chorus ... good, but not really Stry, making me wonder what direction does new Stry mean to take?
"If I Die" sounds like mainstream FM rock ... good but nothing really earthshatteringly terrific or anything, either ... catchy song, has potential to get radioplay ... and yes, it seems very very clear who had the stamp on most of these songs
"10,000 Years" ... it's so solo Mike that well ... hey it's solo Mike again, good track ... what more can I say
"IGWT" ... a modern redo of the title track of In God We Trust, it's almost an IRONIC spot to close out the album because I think they would have served their audience better by trying to rock more ... updated lyrics and a much tighter, less meandery solo than the original ... the new lineup can surely rock this classic tune ... go figure
In the final analysis, I'm not sure what I was expecting out of this album ... well, maybe perhaps more power rock ... I wasn't expecting something that sounded so solo Mike ... oh well, good for them that they have a huge back catalog to pull stuff off of
Our evaluation ... very much in the middle, if you like solo Mike, you may like this slightly better ... it really is a puzzling effort