My Favorite STRYPER Album Of All Time – “To Hell With The Devil”
Stryper – “To Hell With The Devil” was released on October 24, 1986. I already was an avid listener to Stryper and their brand of Christian Heavy Metal Music when this album came out. I had purchased their album “Soldiers Under Command”, (released on May 15, 1985), within months after it’s release, therefore I already took a liking to Stryper. I always have been and forever will be, diversified with my adoration for Metal music. I hate sounding like a broken record by saying… if I have said it once, I shall say it again… I listen to all Hard Rock and Metal Music genres. The songs on this album are exquisitely inspirational, they are enormously melodic and yes… commercial 1980’s Heavy Metal. It is the power that comes across to me, from these songs, that makes this Stryper album my all time favorite. Anytime any religion plays a role within the framework of a Heavy Metal band and their lyrics, it is better left up to the individual listener, to make the choice if this is what they want to embrace. In my Metal opinion, it is all about personal preference and interpretation, when it comes to any specific form of music. I will still play this album and benefit from the Heavy Metal and lyrical contents that are found within.
I remember buying this album at Strawberries Records & Tapes, in a very expensive town in very expensive Connecticut, back in 1986, of course. I snagged this album up within the first month of its release. I wound up with the limited front cover version of “To Hell With The Devil”, (see album cover image below as to what I mean). The image of the album cover, at the beginning of this post, shows the current front cover being used for “To Hell With The Devil”. I am not trying to sound cliche by stating, “To Hell With The Devil” is one darn cool, feel good Heavy Metal album. For me, this album really is a mood changer… an album that sends me directly into a good mood vacuum. One thing is for certain, I never felt I had to be a saint to in order to listen and get into the Heavy Metal thunder of Stryper.
This album I originally bought back in 1986, fell victim to being sold by me years later. Crazy as this sounds, I ventured into a local thrift store last Autumn of 2008, on one of my Metal prowls… and I found “To Hell With The Devil” with the limited front album cover as well. I stood inside this thrift store and felt as if I was imagining things… here was an album I most regretted ever letting go and it was the limited version staring right at me. This album beckoned me to bring it home and give it a turntable spin once again. I state quite often my Metal finds, they do happen more frequently than not, I will not complain. Believe me when I say, this copy I found at the thrift store is in mint condition – it came with the semi-hefty price tag of fifty cents. As I drove away from this thrift store, with this Stryper album placed on the passenger front seat… I looked down upon it, thinking some funny thoughts.
My mind was drifting away, astray with thoughts as to why was I fortunate in finding this particular Stryper album? My single favorite Stryper album of all time just so happened to be at this thrift store on this day. The more rare of the two album covers as well, has been returned to my collection of Metal Music on this particular day, for literally pennies. I started to think that maybe I was being rewarded by a higher power, for perhaps some good deeds that I bestowed in the past. Maybe it was just pure luck too. Whichever it may be, luck or divine intervention, the original album cover version of “To Hell With The Devil” will not be for sale by me again. I really am not concerned with its secondary market value anyhow, for me the true value is found within the songs of this album, the enjoyment I derive from the Christian Heavy Metal Band of Stryper.
The musicians of Stryper, as they appeared on “To Hell With The Devil”: Michael Sweet on lead vocals and guitar, Robert Sweet on drums, Tim Gaines on bass guitar and Oz Fox on drums.
Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog 
August 9, 2009 at 3:55 am
I couldn’t get into this album at all. Soldiers Under Command was my first metal show in 1985 but I was a fan from the time Yellow and Black Attack came out.
August 9, 2009 at 4:31 am
I’m just a sucker for the positive feel and Heavy Metal thump that this album breathes… if this was an easy listening album, even with the same lyrics, I would not be able to listen to it.
In Metal Stone
July 15, 2011 at 10:23 pm
Soilders is my fave, but I did enjoy this album, but this was the last album of Strypers’ I could get into. I seen them on this tour with Hurricane, came very close to catching a bible lol.
February 13, 2013 at 3:16 am
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