As the first Christian metal band, Stryper got a lot of flack from the metal community. With all of the dark and evil lyrics that are present in metal, most metal fans could not get past the whole Christian thing, and dismissed Stryper before even listening to the music.Unfortunate.
The album begins with " Abyss (To Hell with the Devil)". A short instrumental prelude, it serves to set the atmosphere of the album by creating the sounds of well...hell. Fairly short and simple. Next up is the title track and one of the band's most enduring songs. "To Hell with the Devil" is easily my favorite song by the band, and really shows off the vox of singer Michael Sweet. A very good song, and the lead guitars literally slay Satan and his minions with six-string fervor. "Calling On You" is much sappier. Stryper certainly released a lot of ballads in their day, and this one is another fairly cheesy sounding 80s guitar ballad. Not a bad song, but fairly cheesy. "Free" is a song about choosing what you want to do with your life. The lyrics are pretty cliche, but the vocals are quite nice as always with Stryper. Guitarist "Oz Fox" delivers a more than adequate solo, and proves that he is a very capable player and certainly one of the best Christian guitarists around. I like the song, slightly corny, but enjoyable.
"Honestly" is a fairly well-known prom song of the 1980s. Honestly, I can't like this song. The falsetto vocals drive me nuts, and the keyboards sound like a Casio toy keyboard, terrible sounding even by 1980s standards. Skip this turd. "The Way" kicks back into full shred. A very heavy tune, the song sings the praises of finding the Lord atop screeching guitars. I can just imagine Christian teens in the 1980s playing this song to their parents to prove that the band were for real. The solo is very good, and overall I would say it's a very strong song."Sing-Along Song" comes next. Very slow and plodding, the song is quite muddy in terms of sound. Not a big fan of the production on this album, and this song is by far the worst sounding. The song doesn't really go anywhere, and is not a favorite of mine. "Holding On" is another cheesy 1980s power ballad. Not a bad song and kind of nostalgic, but if you don't like ballads, stay far away. Certainly worse songs were released, but better ones as well. I particularly enjoyed the drums on this track, and it really shows that drummer Robert Sweet is a very capable drummer.
"Rockin' The World" kicks in with pretty heavy guitars, but fairly cliche lyrics even for the 1980s. The song acts as the band's mission statement, rocking the world for Jesus. For those who think of Christian music as mellow and lacking in that heavy factor, just listen to this song. For those who prefer the dark side of metal, probably not for you. "All of Me" is another lame piano ballad, the song is really bad. Terrible keyboards, annoying falsetto vocals, and a lack of any guitar, it's like a bad 1980s wedding vhs tape, you just want to forget that it existed. "More Than a Man" redeems the albums, and brings back the rock. The drums are a little too loud, but guitars are very crunchy and heavy and Michael Sweet sounds better than even. A great song.
"To Hell With the Devil" would be my pick for best Christian metal album of all time. But being such a limited genre, competition is fairly limited. Not a classic, but the heavy songs make up for a few very lame and dated ballads. I like the band, and this is their best album.
Rating-6.5/10
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