STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet spoke to The Metal Voice about the band's planned follow-up to 2018's "God Damn Evil" LP. He said (hear audio below): "Next year, STRYPER's gonna make a new album. We go in the studio in January, February and it'll come out mid-year, probably, next year. And I think it'll be a good opportunity with STRYPER to take a little time off from touring. Although we'll be doing fly dates and one-offs, like Monsters Of Rock cruise and Mexico and a few things here and there."

Asked if he has already written any of the music for the upcoming STRYPER album, Sweet said: "I've got a few riffs. I'm gonna really dive into that over the next three to four weeks, getting a bunch of guitar riffs on my phone. And once I have nine, 10, 11, 12 guitar riffs, I'll, in November and December, lock myself in my little den with my cat and my fireplace, my computers, and I'll just start going through songs, one a day. [In] 12 or 13 days, we're gonna have the album."

As for the musical direction of STRYPER's next disc, Sweet said: "It's gonna be aligned with the last album, but taking it a step further. We're gonna do some things where people are gonna hear it and go, 'You've gotta be kidding me,' that's gonna surprise and shock people in a really good way. It's gonna be a metal album — it's not gonna be a pop album or pop-rock or glam metal and all these silly terms. It's gonna be a metal album. And we're gonna really pull some things out of the hat, man, and try to blow people's minds."

Formed 36 years ago, STRYPER is the first overtly Christian metal band to go mainstream. The group'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" and the aforementioned "God Damn Evil".

Sweet's tenth solo album, "Ten", will be released on October 11 via Rat Pak Records in North America and Frontiers Music Srl in Europe.

