Frontiers Records has announced the signing of iconic Christian rockers STRYPER to a multi-album deal. The first CD to be made available the agreement will be a collection of re-recorded versions of the band's classic songs, due in North America on March 26. Entitled "Second Coming" and produced by frontman Michael Sweet, the CD will contain a total of 16 cuts — two from "The Yellow And Black Attack", six from "Soldiers Under Command", six from "To Hell With The Devil", as well as two new tracks, "Bleeding From Inside Out" and "Blackened".

Commented Sweet: "We're really excited about this record. The re-recorded songs are sounding awesome... better than the originals in many ways! One word to describe the record? Heavier. We've hooked up with some great people — we've got new management, a great album, a great label. We just feel like everything is coming together, and hopefully some big things are to follow."

"Second Coming" track listing:

01. Loud N' Clear
02. Loving You
03. Soldiers Under Command
04. Makes Me Wanna Sing
05. First Love
06. The Rock That Makes Me Roll
07. Reach Out
08. Surrender
09. To Hell With The Devil
10. Calling On You
11. Free
12. The Way
13. Sing Along Song
14. More Than A Man
15. Bleeding From Inside Out (new track)
16. Blackened (new track)

Added Sweet: "Why did we re-record old songs? That's a multiple-answer question.

"First, because we wanted to cut out the middle men and have a little more control over our own songs.

"Second, we wanted to 'fix' some things that have annoyed the 'hell' out of us for the past 30 years such as: no bass in the mix of 'The Yellow And Black Attack' or 'Soldiers Under Command', and no Tim [Gaines, bass] on the mix of 'To Hell With The Devil'. The fact that I sound a little more like a man instead of a helium-induced kid at Disneyland. :-) The sheer joy of still loving these songs and still being able to perform these songs (well, we'll let the experts be the judge of that). And last but not certainly least? We did it just because we wanted to :-)

"So there you go, the mystery is over and the reasons have been revealed.

"Seriously, we're really excited about this record. It's one of the few re-records that I believe will stand against any of the originals if not surpass them.

"If you liked 'The Covering', you'll love 'Second Coming'!"

"Bleeding From Inside Out" audio clip:



"Blackened" audio clip:



STRYPER's "Live In Indonesia At Java Rockin' Land" DVD was released in October 2012 via MVD Visual. The set was recorded in front of an enthusiastic crowd in 2010.

In a recent interview with Guitar World, Michael Sweet stated about the band's plans for the next studio album, "We're going into this new record with the mentality and thinking of making it like a 'To Hell With The Devil 2'. That's not to say it will actually sound like that album, but we really want it to be as great as 'To Hell With The Devil', which was our biggest album. We want people to put on this record and go; 'Whoa! Wow! This is as good as or better than 'To Hell With The Devil'!' We want the new album to be a powerhouse and we're going to do whatever it takes to make that happen."

STRYPER's covers album, "The Covering", was unlike any previous STRYPER recording in that it was a collection of cover songs from bands that inspired them and helped to shape their sound and musical identity, including hits from JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN, LED ZEPPELIN, KANSAS and many others. "The Covering" also included "God", a new original recording from STRYPER.

Photo credit: Tina Enos