Against the Law

Stryper | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 16, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hollywood Records
• ASIN: B000000OB7
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,860 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

1991 - Micheal Sweet and company return to a more secular but still religious record. 11 tracks which include a cover of Earth Wind and Fire's ''Shining Star''.

YEAR: 1990

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME ALBUM, September 17, 2005

By 

Stephen Scott (Tulsa, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Against the Law (Audio CD)

St. Francis of Assisi once said, "Go out and preach the gospel ... if you must, use words."
Stryper took that to heart in their most brutally honest album to date.
Against the Law is a strict departure from previous albums. First and foremost, they got rid of the yellow and black spandex, and got the perms out of their hair.
Even better, their music and lyrics got so much better.
While many Christians will call the previous sentence blasphemous, they forget honesty works better than shallowness--which was the case in their previous album.
This is an honest album. This is a musical album. This is an angry album.
It starts off with the title track, "Against the Law" which shouts back at the judgmental attitude so many Evangelicals have put upon them:
I tried it your way/Was that good enough?/You got to point your finger/You think you know it all/I want you to remember/I don't live for you 'cause I'm against your law
Sure, it's a modern summary of Galatians, but it's true.
Frankly, though, that is why this album is better. True, all spiritual overtones are gone--but it is good, clean rock'n'roll.
The songs reveal their own struggles against bad relationships (Two-Time Woman), sexual temptation (Not That Kind of Guy), and marriage (Two Bodies One Mind One Soul). The best one was Lady, their best ballad that proved they could write a simple love song (it would have been a Top-Ten Single if Enigma would have promoted it before its bankruptcy).
So, if you want good rock music without being preached at, get it. If you want something spiritually edifying, buy a Petra album.
And for all those Christians who believed they sold out and started sinning, find me the Scripture that proves it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is the 1st Stryper cd i bought and i liked it a lot: ****1/2, October 21, 2005

By 

Mr_No_Name (richmond, va usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Against the Law (Audio CD)

Well, What drew me to checking out this Stryper cd first instead of any of the ones before or after it is the fact that i heard it was the hardest cd that Stryper ever put out. And i also was drawn to it because i heard it was more aggressive than the others. Well, From listening to this cd, I concluded three things: 1.) This cd is nowhere near as bad as its reputation suggests. 2.) Stryper does rock and i can only imagine what their other cds sound like. 3.) I will definitely be buying more Stryper cds in the near future! Back to my review of this cd:
It's true, Stryper's christianity is lacking on this cd [Except for maybe the final track, ''Rock the hell out of you''], But, all's still well. It's still good clean fun old school heavy metal. There is plenty of good guitar work to find on this album and Michael Sweet does a good job on the vocals. Even though i'm now a christian, The fact that this is basically a secular attempt by a christian heavy metal band doesn't really bother me that much [Well, I'll be honest, I do wish they had just a few songs on here that dealt with god in some kind of way]. The best songs on here are The ''Shining star'' cover [The best song on here and they amazingly flipped this 70s song into a heavy metal song], ''Lady'' [A great, memorable ballad], ''Rock the hell out of you'', ''Caught in the middle'', and ''Two time woman''. I'd definitely reccomend this cd to any rock fan [Christian or not]. Though these guys are a christian band, I'm not upset at the fact they took a little change of pace on this album. They were being honest about it. They chose to let out the fact that they wanted to do something a little different. Before you believe the negative things said about this album, Give it a try first. It doesn't cost much and i'd say it's definitely worth owning. Definitely underrated!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as bad as some people make it out to be., June 4, 2004

By 

rnorton828 "rnorton828" (Riverbend, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Against the Law (Audio CD)

Stryper's fifth record, "Against the Law," marked several changes for the band. The band changed its appearance, ditching the yellow & black striped spandex and their whole glam rock look. They also changed their sound, exchanging the well-polished rock/metal sound from THWTD & IGWT for a raw, rough around the edges hard rock sound, and making their vocal harmonies less angelic-sounding. The change which drew the most critcism was in the songwriting approach, which many observers both Christian & non-Christian perceived as an abandonment of the group's Christian beliefs. The Christian themes are still there, but they are just not as obvious as on previous Stryper records, as evidenced on songs like "All for One," "Caught in the Middle," "Rock the Hell Out of You," & even the hard rock/funk remake of Earth, Wind & Fire's "Shining Star" ("Be a giant or grain of sand/Words of wisdom, 'Yes, I can.'"--It's a song about faith!). ATL also includes several songs about relationships, like "Two Bodies...," "Ordinary Man" & the acoustic ballad "Lady." While "Against the Law" may not be as good as "To Hell with the Devil" or "Soldiers Under Command," it is still a good album, and a very important part of the Stryper discography.