To Hell with....................original material, well for a little while anyway. Having been a fan from yesteryear it was interesting when my bat-phone, I mean my yellow and black phone, tingled from URHQ with an offer I simply couldn't refuse, reviewing the new offering from Stryper, released to coincide with their 25th anniversary tour and featuring the classic line up of Sweet, Fox, Sweet and Gaines back together again. Not a big fan generally of covers but it is my old heroes and the tunes that littered my youth.

As 'Set Me Free' (The Sweet) bursts from my speakers, my first thoughts are of the huge production courtesy of vocalist Michael Sweet, full of dual guitar licks and trademark Stryper harmonies and before I have chance to catch my breath again, a familiar riff kicks in - oh yeah, 'Blackout' (The Scorpions) keeps pretty much to the Teutonic original but giving it a modern updated bashing and even including the glass smashing on the outro.

"Sing me a song, you're a singer" - anybody who attempts to replicate Ronnie James Dio's vocals certainly has one hell of a silver mountain to climb; 'Heaven And Hell' (Black Sabbath) is a decent offering but is there any hidden meaning to this particular song choice?

'Lights Out', the UFO classic is next and, again, those harmonies and twin guitars come to the fore, and talking of harmony there's plenty for all you AOR Uber-fans to feast your ears upon in the form of the (Kansas) car stereo gem 'Carry On My Wayward Son'.

Sweet's quality singing on 'Highway Star' (Deep Purple) really does show the inadequacies of the modern day Purple vocalist and has some nice hammond organ moments thrown in too. As a lifelong Kiss aficionado, is this version of 'Shout It Out Loud' gonna be sacrilege to me? No it certainly is not, keeping to the 1976 original but updating its heaviness; maybe what Kiss should sound like today....oh well, can't have it all.

A passable version of 'Over The Mountain' (Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard Of Ozz) is worth a listen for the musicianship and the same could possibly be said of the versions of Iron Maiden's 'The Trooper' and Judas Priest's 'Breaking The Law'. Some notable David Lee Roth-like screams from Michael Sweet light up Van Halen's 1978 debut album closer 'On Fire'. With Plant not doing the Led Zeppelin thing maybe the other members should check out this version of 'Immigrant Song'; you never know Michael, stay close to that phone mate. The album closes with a brand new track and, oddly enough, this title hasn't popped up before; 'God' is classic Stryper back doing what they do best.

Give 'The Covering' a listen. I'm sure there's something here for you - great production, fantastic harmonies, stunning melodic fretwork and some of your faves reworked to boot...and don't forget it's the rock that makes me (us) roll............

www.stryper.com