''Soldiers Under Command'' is the second release, and first full-length studio album from

Christian metal Christian metal, also known as white metal, Jesus metal, or heavenly metal, is heavy metal music distinguished by its Christian-themed song lyrics and the dedication of the band-members to Christianity. Christian metal is typically performed by ...

band

Stryper Stryper is an American Christian metal and heavy metal music, heavy metal band from La Mirada, California. The group's lineup consists of Michael Sweet (lead vocals, guitar), Oz Fox (guitar), Perry Richardson (bass), and Robert Sweet (musician), ...

, released on August 23, 1985. It was the first Christian metal album to achieve

Gold record Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

status, selling more than half a million copies. The album was originally issued on white vinyl. The ''Live in Japan'' in-concert video, released in 1986, was filmed on July 8, 1985 during Stryper's tour in support of this album. A

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

of the title track was released. The inspirational verse for this album is 2 Timothy 2:3-4.

Track listing

All songs written by

Michael Sweet Michael Harrison Sweet (born July 4, 1963) is an American musician; he is the co-founder, songwriter, guitarist and lead singer of the heavy metal music, metal band Stryper. He has also had a successful solo career and served as singer and gui ...

, except where noted. # "Soldiers Under Command" (Michael Sweet, Robert Sweet) – 5:03 # "Makes Me Wanna Sing" – 2:51 # "Together Forever" – 4:03 # "First Love" – 5:43 # "The Rock That Makes Me Roll" – 4:56 # "Reach Out" (M. Sweet, R. Sweet) – 5:21 # "(Waiting for) A Love That's Real" – 4:36 # "Together as One" – 5:01 # "Surrender" – 4:28 # "

Battle Hymn of the Republic The "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is an American patriotic music, American patriotic song written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe during the American Civil War. Howe adapted her song from the soldiers' song "John Brown's Body" in N ...

" (

Julia Ward Howe Julia Ward Howe ( ; May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was an American author and poet, known for writing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as new lyrics to an existing song, and the original 1870 pacifist Mothers' Day Proclamation. She w ...

) – 2:36

Personnel

Stryper *

– lead vocals, backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, guitar solos (on tracks 4-7) *

Oz Fox Richard Alfonso Martinez (born June 18, 1961), better known by the stage name Oz Fox, is the lead guitarist of the Christian glam metal band Stryper. Martinez' high school friends called him ''Oz'' in honor of Ozzy Osbourne due to his ability to ...

– lead and rhythm guitars, guitar solos (on tracks 2-6, 9), backing vocals *

Tim Gaines Tim Gaines (born Timothy Hagelganz; December 15, 1962) is an American bass guitarist best-known as the long-time bassist for the Christian metal band Stryper until his departure in 2017. Biography Early life Gaines was born in Portland, Ore ...

– keyboards and bass (1-7, 9, 10), backing vocals (8) * Robert Sweet – drums Additional musicians *

John Van Tongeren John Warrington Van Tongeren is an American keyboardist and composer for films and television. Biography Van Tongeren's career in the entertainment business began as a keyboardist, with one of his earliest projects being the band Q, featuring ...

– keyboards, acoustic piano and bass (8) * Christopher Currell – Synclavier programming (10) * Doris Castenada – backing vocals (10) * Linda Mullen – backing vocals (10) * Tammy Thomas – backing vocals (10)

Production

Michael Wagener Michael Wagener (born 25 April 1949) is a German retired record producer, mixer and engineer from Hamburg, best known for his work with many popular American hard rock and heavy metal music, heavy metal bands in the late 1980s. He is particularly ...

– producer, engineer, mixing * Bryan Ayuso – album design *

John Scarpati John Scarpati (born June 29, 1960) is a professional photographer whose photography has appeared on hundreds of album and CD covers for bands and individual musicians. He is also the owner of Scarpati Studio, a photography studio that does photog ...

– photography * Anne Revenge – additional photography

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1985 debut albums Stryper albums Albums produced by Michael Wagener