STRYPER's Christmas Album Should Be Completed By Early July

Christian rockers STRYPER enter the studio in late April to begin recording their first-ever full-length Christmas album. The 10-song effort will include five original Christmas tracks and five traditional Christmas cuts, including remakes of "Reason For The Season" and "Winter Wonderland", both of which originally appeared on a 1985 single and were also made available on the 1986 re-release of STRYPER's debut EP, "The Yellow And Black Attack".

Earlier today (Tuesday, May 13),STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet took to his social media to write: "Update on Christmas album: Today the guys are going home.

"We accomplished a lot in 13 days! Everything is sounding absolutely amazing. [Longtime STRYPER collaborator] Danny [Bernini at SpiritHouse Recording Studios in Northampton, Massachusetts] and I will go through all the songs today and make some adjustments to levels and prep mixes for me to sing too. I'll then go home and take a day or two off and then I'll start singing and tracking vocals. I'll have that wrapped up before we leave for Sweden. And then when we get back from Sweden, mixes will be finalized and it will be mastered and get turned in by the end of June or the very beginning of July.

"This album has its own unique signature to it and it's becoming a favorite of mine. There's just something about it that's really special and unique. An album weve wanted to do for so many years and here we are.

"We tried some different things on this album in terms of the sound but yet we didn't venture too far away from who we are and what we do. It's 100% STRYPER yet it has some new flavors here and there and it's really amazing how it turned out. It will be released this year.

"We'll also be starting on a brand new album in January of next year. It will be our 18th studio album (unless my math is wrong). We're almost at my goal of 21 albums. Then I have to catch up with the solo albums. With the release of the inspirational album, I'll be at 12. My goal with that is also 21."

STRYPER's latest studio album, "When We Were Kings", came out in September 2024.

The band recently completed the U.S. leg of its 40th-anniversary tour, which was described as "a celebration of both classic hits and new-era fan favorites, including outfit changes and an exciting new show production."

In December 2023, Michael underwent partial thyroidectomy, the surgery to remove part of his thyroid gland. It is the most common surgery for thyroid cancer.

Formed 41 years ago, STRYPER's name comes from Isaiah 53:5, which states: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

STRYPER's albums include "To Hell With The Devil", "Second Coming", "No More Hell To Pay", "Fallen", "God Damn Evil", "Even The Devil Believes" and "The Final Battle".

In a recent interview with The Front Row Report With Reggie Edwards, Michael Sweet spoke about how his songwriting process has evolved over the four decades of STRYPER's existence. He said: "I personally think that that's my greatest gift in terms of the abilities God's given me. I'm a guitar player, I'm a singer, but I feel like I shine more at songwriting, and I get more excited about it.

"When I sit down to write, it's always a few weeks before we start recording," he continued. "I don't have any songs, and I sit down in my studio and I write a song a day. Once I have one song finished, I go down the next day, I write another song until there's 11 songs or 12 songs. And then we go in a studio, I teach the songs to the guys and we record them. And it's been that way really from the beginning, starting with [the 1984 EP] 'The Yellow And Black Attack', but the difference between now and then is we spent more time working out songs [back then]. Now it's a lot faster process, and it's not because it's rushed [or] because we have to; it's just because that's the way it is. That's the way it works.

"But I love writing," Sweet added. "Everyone has this perception that we've always written songs as a band. That's just not true. It's never been that way. I've always been open and honest about that. And sometimes people think I'm a dictator and I hold a gun to the guys' heads and I don't let 'em write and whatnot, and it's just not true. I give music to my brother all the time and say, 'Hey, why don't you write the lyrics?' Because Robert's [Sweet, STRYPER drummer] a good lyricist. I say, 'Why don't you write the lyrics for the song?' And three months later, when it's time for me to sing the song, the lyrics aren't done. So I wind up doing it myself. And it's perceived often as I don't let the guys do anything, and it couldn't be further from the truth. And I'm letting you know that, I'm going off on that a bit of tangent, because I see this online every day. I just saw something at breakfast an hour ago, someone saying that very same thing."

Michael also addressed his reputation as one of the most outspoken musicians in metal when it comes to his beliefs and thoughts. He said: "The thing is, I'm a very open book. So when I do interviews, I speak my heart. The other guys don't. And what I mean by that is when my brother does interviews, he's much more reserved and cautious about what he says. Now, behind the scenes, he'll say what's on his heart, and I hear it all. I hear it all, 'cause I travel with him. Same with Oz [Fox, STRYPER guitarist]. Same with Perry [Richardson, STRYPER bassist]. I hear everything that you hear me saying in interviews and then some. But see, people's perception is they don't say anything bad, I say everything bad. I'm the dictator, I'm the tyrant, I'm this, I'm that. And then when I talk about it, like I'm doing now, I'm a crybaby. I'm going off and I'm getting upset about it. And I guess the point I'm trying to make — as much as I love these guys, the public perception of this band isn't at all true. It's always been that way. When I left the band, people hated me. I still have people come up to me to this day and say, 'I hated you. I was so mad at you because you left the band, you left the other three guys. You betrayed them. You abandoned them.' And I'm, like, wow. I left this band to save my marriage. I had to. I had to. And I wanted my marriage to survive. I wanted to be a father to my children. And the perception is I was an asshole."