“Even the Devil Believes” is True Heavenly Metal

By Connor Danz, Creative Editor

“Even the Devil Believes”, released on September 4th, 2020 is the 13th and latest studio album from legendary Christian heavy metal band STRYPER. This outing from the Yellow and Black Attack retains the same line up from their previous 2018 album “God Damn Evil” with brothers Micheal and Robert Sweet on Vocals/Guitar and Drums, Oz Fox on guitar, and Perry Richardson on bass. The 11 tracks on this album feature a variety of compelling sounds and themes.

Blood From Above is the first track of the album and immediately grabs the listener with a shredding guitar opening that continues throughout the song with incredibly powerful lyrics depicting the sacrifice of Christ. This song also works well as the first track of the album as it set precedent of the songs to come as this is easily the heaviest offering in Stryper’s career. 9/10

Make Love Great Again is the second track on the album and is a slower paced affair in comparison to Blood From Above. While the song has interesting drum and guitar work, the forgettable lyrics bring this down lower than the previous track. 5/10

Let Him In immediately tears into a killer guitar riff and does not let up throughout the whole song. The lyrics alludes to the sacrifice of Jesus and the idea of letting Jesus into your heart. Definitely a step up from the previous track. 6/10

Do Unto Others is the fourth track on the album and much like the previous track, it immediately opens with heavy drums and guitar. The theme of the track is the Matthew 7:12  verse “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets”, also known as “The Golden Rule”. Part way through the song, Oz Fox shreds into a killer guitar solo that is the icing on the cake of this track. 8/10

Even the Devil Believes is the title track and the halfway point of the album and what a title track. This track wastes no time and just shreds immediately into an amazing pairing of guitar drums with Micheal Sweet continuing to defy age with his high pitched voice. A track definitely worthy of the name of the album, with lyrics depicting the power of God and how even the devil believes in him 7/10

How to Fly is the sixth track and is a much more upbeat metal track compared to the five previous. The song is told from the perspective of God and how he looks upon his creation with love and wants to give them happiness. Oz Fox tears into another killer guitar solo in this song as well and the back up vocals are also noticeable as they give the song a whole new layer. 7/10

Divider clocks in as the seventh track and doesn’t change much compared to the previous tracks with the exception of the chorus and guitar solos. The guitar solo by Oz Fox shreds as per normal with the guitarist but the chorus takes on more of a chanting format that makes it unique amongst the album 6/10

This I Pray is the eight track and is radically different from the previous seven. The song takes the form of a quasi country song with some flares of electric guitars with an overarching acoustic guitar over the drums. Amazing vocals elevate this song with the others along with how unique it is amongst the rest of the album, despite that, it still has an epic but shorter guitar solo. 7/10

Invitation Only is the ninth track, and musically is not distinct from the previous tracks. This is not a bad thing as all the previous tracks are at least good and so is this one. This song focuses on Heaven and the dedication it takes to get there, another good song. 6/10

For God & Rock ‘n’ Roll is the second to last track on the album and really feels like classic Stryper. What classic Stryper is exactly what’s in the title, God and Rock n Roll! Another blandish track but still maintains the quality standard of the rest of the album. 6/10

Middle Finger Messiah is the album closing exclamation point to the end of the sentence known as “Even the Devil Believes”. A nice quick and heavy track to bring the thirteen studio album to a close with drums and guitar all up to the Stryper standard. 7/10

“Even The Devil Believes” is certainly not on the same level as the all time Stryper classics like “The Yellow and Black Attack”, “To Hell with the Devil”, or “In God We Trust”, but is certainly stands on its own as a killer metal album and a definitely recommend, of the Christian faith or otherwise.