Take It to the Cross

This is a track from God Damn Evil, an album that finds Stryper doubling down on the hard rock/heavy metal sound that has earned the band a worldwide following since the 1980s. "'Take It To The Cross' is our answer to many fans asking us to do something a little heavier and even bordering on thrash," frontman Michael Sweet said. "The verses are heavy with a vocal and lyric delivery that's bold and relevant yet the chorus kicks in with a fast, thrashy vibe."

The song features a contribution by Shadows Fall rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Matt Bachand. "We brought in Matt Bachand to handle the vocal growl on the choruses and the end vamp," explained Sweet. "This song is 100 percent high octane."

Michael Sweet elaborated on Matt Bachand's contribution to Bay Ragni of Totally Driven Radio: "When I wrote the song, I was thinking how perfect it would be to have someone come in and do a death growl on that, give it that vibe and I started listening to people. I wound up remembering Shadows Fall and remembering that they had that on occasion and I listened to their stuff and I realized it was Matt who was doing it, the death growl, for Shadows Fall and I loved it. I thought 'This is perfect.' He only lives 15 minutes from the studio, he's a local guy. He came down and banged it out. He nailed it. It's perfect."