Single review: STRYPER Rise To The Call

Frontiers Records [Release date: 24.06.22]

Mining the motherlode of Classic Metal (with an extra melodic twist) seems to come easy to Stryper nowadays.

You might say that on this single release, ‘Rise To The Call’, a trailer for their forthcoming album due out later this year, they sound remarkably lean and confident. But there’s nothing remarkable about it. Michael Sweet’s band has been turning out cleverly crafted melodic rock and hook heavy metal for years now.

‘Rise To The Call’ comes barrelling out the speakers like a juggernaut, powerful, melodic and single minded. The band might be looking back on the long road travelled and sizing up the the shorter road ahead, but this feels fresh.

In the best sense of the word, Sweet is a journeyman. He knows that simple, well written metal, surefooted, with not too many moving parts, punctuated by his nasal howl gets the job done.  ****

Review by Brian McGowan


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 7 April 2025

SEVEN BLOOD To The Unknown (indie)
FROM FALL TO SPRING Incomplete (Arising Empire)
POP EVIL Side Effects (MNRK Heavy)
ERJA LYYTINEN Abyss (Tuohi Records)
SKY VALLEY MISTRESS Too Many Ghosts (New Heavy Sounds)
RED GIANT Free Me (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 7 April 2025

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Singer Songwriter)


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