Customer Reviews

Against the Law

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

I have to laugh when music reviewers critique a bands "new look" instead of their music. And I have to laugh when the hardcore fans of any band say a band, "sold-out", simply because they refuse to make the same album over and over. The people who trash this album because of the title and the new "look" are NOT listening to the album.

This is a true Styper album through and through. Killer guitar crunch, guitar harmonies, vocal harmonies, and Christian lyrics are all here. Stryper was never preachy in their lyrics and I appreciated that. The Christian lyrics are certainly throughout this entire album. I'm not sure what other reviewers are talking about when they said, "this is Styper's secular album", which is totally ridiculous. I'm not a Christian but have always been an admirer of sheer talent and these boys have boat loads of talent. Christian lyrics or not - this album contains some fantastic songs and growth as writers and musicians. It appears some fans want the band to remake the same album over and over. If you want that, pick-up an AC/DC album.

The song writing has evolved but still has the aggressiveness they were known for. And as a guitarist, Oz Foxx simply shreds and the band wails in typical rock n' roll form (Not That Kind of Guy is reminscent of Hot for Teacher). Oz even got a huge compliment from the master Steve Vai for his guitar work on this album. People, quit listening with your eyes and listen with your ears! This album isn't perfect but it's better than anything that was released in the early grunge 90's nightmare. Long live Stryper...

When I first saw this in the stores, I had to check a couple times to see if it was the same Stryper. Gone are the yellow & black clothes and they went for a more normal image. I personally liked it. A lot of their fans didn't. They said they were selling out for changing. Yeah, heaven forbid a band change right? Probably the same type of fans that quit listening to Metallica because they cut their hair. Their loss. Anyways, along with the change in their look, their music here underwent a slight maturing stage. This is more gritty and hard edged. Not every song is about embracing god, holding hands, and singing "Kumbaya". Sure there are the religious themes here and there, but they are not as previlent as on earlier records. "Against The Law" & "Two Time Woman" are two nice rocking tracks. "Two Bodies (One Mind One Soul)" was the single and it didn't do very well. I liked it, though. My favorite song here is the remake of "Shining Star". Very well done. Overall, the rest is pretty good. "Lady" was the sappy ballad. Give this CD a chance if you like Stryper or did. It's pretty good.

A pesar que es un disco mas agresivo que los demás y que muestra la otra cara de Stryper es un buen disco. Al principio te puedes sacar de onda por lo impuesto que estás al escuchar al típico Stryper, pero poco a poco el disco te va gustando. Vale la pena

...Stryper bowed out shortly after the release of this album, their record label (Enigma) having gone bankrupt. .. Ouch. It's too bad because this is their most developed release, their most mature effort, and their most controversial album.

The band itself can explain the controversy far better than I can, but I encourage you to read the book LOUD 'N' CLEAR by Dale Erickson and Jesse Sturdevant. It sheds a lot of light on the subject. Lyrics were behind the problem as the bands distributors (BENSEN) no longer felt that the band was pushing the Christian viewpoint(s). This is clearly untrue from much of the lyrical content on the album-even within the title track itself. Clearly, this album caught Stryper at a tough time when they were struggling with their identity as a 'Christian Metal Band'. No other band has probably been as pigeon-holed as this one. But for all the controversy, the music remains quite good here. There are a few lapses into the tired 80's metal cliches, but the album also contains some great tunes like "Two Bodies", "All For One", "Lady", and "Ordinary Man". I can do without "Two-Time Woman" and "Rock The People", but I have no MAJOR complaints outside of those. And I have NO complaints with the sound. AGAINST THE LAW is by far the bands best sounding album. Major producer Tom Werman handled the board duties expertly and we end up with the fattest mix of any Stryper release-it's nice to hear the bass and drums even more up-front. Robert's kit sounds GREAT. The guitars are THICK. The band even LOOKS tougher in the insert photos! By the way, the band did not have a say in the cover concept-they hated it. And here for some reason the colors look washed-out. Perhaps the picture is of a [inexpensive] re-release of the disc?

It has taken me a few years to really appreciate this CD. In many ways it is a departure from their previous releases, musically, lyrically and visually as the band changed their image. Of the band's five studio releases this one in many ways is the rawest and in some ways the most aggressive.

Overall it is a strong ,if somewhat unbalanced CD. Some tracks like "Two Time Woman" and "Not That Kind Of Guy" are just average songs that many faceless 80's hard rock/ metal bands could have written. However there are songs like, "Two Bodies (One Mind One Soul)", "Lady", "All For One" and "Caught In The Middle" that are among some of the strongest songs the band ever wrote.

The "Stryper sound" so evident on all of the previous CD's is absent from a few of the tracks. At times the band seemed to be attempting to emulate the sound of other metal bands that were around at the time. I am uncertain if that was the band's decision or that of the producer or the band's new management. That along with the downplayed Christian lyrics make for a different Stryper release. Overall the message is still there just not as in your face as on the previous releases.

"Against the Law" is a good solid effort, however it is not my favorite release by the band, that would be a toss up between "To Hell With The Devil" and "In God we Trust". I do not believe that this is a good starting place for anyone unfamiliar with the band ("Seven" is probably the best choice), however it is a great addition to one's Stryper collection, or even to the collection of fans of good solid 80's metal. I also highly recommend Michael Sweet's solo CD's, with "Truth" being my favorite.

The first few songs on "Against the Law" are generally average material - they tend to sound very like the songs on "Pornograffiti" by Extreme but somehow without working as well - Against the Law and Not That Kind of Guy don't do much and Rock the People is very cheesy and cliched.

However the album suddenly wakes up with the mix of frenzied power-chord smashes and weird keyboards on the intro to Shining Star, and thunders into action. Shining Star, Ordinary Man, Lady, and Caught in the Middle are awesome, and the Christian band that taught the world how to rock out acquired a seriously heavy edge right at the end; All For One is an anthem and Rock the Hell Out of You is thrash-metal a la Megadeth; Stryper by this stage were sinking but they went down with all guns (or should we say guitars?) blazing.

At first I was very disappointed when I heard this album. It seemed that the only good songs (Lady, Shining Star, All for One) I had already heard. There was no clear message. This wouldn't have to be Stryper which made the lyrics. I would say that musically and lyrically this is near Def Leppard - I mean "Rock of Ages", "Pour Some Sugar on Me" etc. How could this be happen after four great albums? I really was diappointed. However, I decided to listen to this album again and again. And somewhere after 5 listenings the all seems to work. So what if there's not the word "Jesus" in every song? There's some great songs that will "rock the hell out of you". The title track, Two Time Woman, rock the People, Two Bodies (One Mind One Soul), Caught in the Middle are excellent songs. I'm sure that many Stryper fans will like it if they give it a chance. It's not a classic album but still an excellent album.
Stars: All for One, Lady