Michael Sweet is a founding member of the heavy metal band Stryper. The band was formed in 1983 and released a six-song EP, The Yellow and Black Attack, in 1984 on Enigma Records. That was followed by a string of successful albums in the '80s: Soldiers Under Commend from 1985 and In God We Trust from 1988 are certified gold in the U.S. To Hell With the Devil from 1986 went platinum in the U.S. Against the Law in 1990 would be the band's latest album until Reborn in 2005. The band's latest studio album, Even the Devil Believes, came out in 2020. Their newest album, the 11-track The Final Battle, will be released in October.

As Michael puts its, Stryper was a band in the early '80s Hollywood scene that became Christians, not Christians who formed a heavy metal band. "I think that kind of sums it up right there," he says. "There's a big difference in the way we think, the way we write, the way we produce, the way we sound, the way we perform, who we perform with -- everything we do."

In 2022, Stryper played across the U.S., most recently at the Monsters on the Mountain festival in Gatlinburg, TN in August alongside veteran rock and metal bands such as Extreme, Night Ranger, Queensryche and Yngwie Malmsteen. They're back on the road on Sept. 25 in Witchita, KS, starting a string of U.S. dates before heading to Latin America (Costa Rica on Oct. 8 and Colombia on Oct. 10). Then it's back to the U.S. for the Kiss Kruise XI from Oct. 29 to Nov. 3, a few Southern California dates in early November, and the Hell and Heaven Metal Fest in Toluca, Mexico on Dec. 4.

Links:

Billboard's podcast page

Glenn Peoples @theglennpeoples

Jay Gilbert (Label Logic)

Stryper's website

Stryper concert list at Setlist.fm

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