''To Hell with the Devil'' is the third studio album by the

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 in 1986. It was the first

album to achieve

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

status, selling over one million copies. It remained the best-selling Christian metal album until P.O.D.'s ''

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'' in 2001. The album was listed at No. 88 in the 2001 book, '' CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music''. The album was the only heavy metal album on the list. Ian Christe, author of the heavy metal history book ''Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal'' (2003), mentions ''To Hell with the Devil'' in his book as one of the landmarks of the

glam metal Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal music, heavy metal that features pop music, pop-influenced Hook (music), hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat arena rock, rock anthems, and slow Sentimental ballad#Powe ...

movement.Christe, Ian (2003), Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal (First printing ed.), "10: Glambangers of Hollywood", p. 154. HarperCollins., Throughout 1987, both

music videos 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 ...

for "Free" and "Honestly" ranked No. 1 on '' Dial MTV'', the daily

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

list of most requested videos. The first single/video video for "Calling on You" also reached No. 2 on the show. "Honestly" was the biggest single from the record peaking at #23 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart. The original artwork depicted four long haired angels (closely resembling the band members) throwing the devil into a fiery pit. The cover was then changed on later pressings to a basic black cover with the Stryper logo and the album title in the center. According to Michael Sweet's autobiography, as the band started to record the album, Michael felt Tim Gaines wasn't the right bassist for the record. He was replaced by bassist Matt Hurich, who eventually ended up not working out. So session bassist Brad Cobb took Gaines' place while recording the album. However, before the tour began, Sweet asked Gaines to rejoin as he felt it wasn't right performing as "Stryper" without him. In 2010, ''

HM Magazine ''HM Magazine'' is a monthly, digital and print on demand publication focusing on hard music and alternative culture of interest to Christians. It is based in Houston, Texas. Originally published as ''Heaven's Metal'', it was renamed to ''HM'' in ...

'' listed ''To Hell with the Devil'' No. 3 on its Top 100 Christian Rock Albums of All Time list stating that "when this album broke, it went multi-platinum, forever raising the ceiling of what heavy Christian music could do." Heaven's Metal fanzine ranked it No. 6 on its Top 100 Christian metal albums of all-time list.

Track listing

Personnel

Stryper *

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 ...

– lead vocals, backing vocals, lead guitars, acoustic guitar, arrangements * Oz Fox – guitars, backing vocals * Robert Sweet – drums Additional musicians * John Van Tongeren – keyboards * Brad Cobb – bass guitar

Production

* Oz Fox – producer * Michael Sweet – producer * Robert Sweet – producer, cover concept * Stephan Galfas – producer, arrangements, engineer * Dan Nebanzal – engineer * Gary Myerberg – technical assistant * Eddy Schreyer – mastering at Capitol Mastering (Hollywood, California) * Brian Ayuso – art direction, design * Ray Brown – costume design * Annamaria DiSanto – photography * Anna Revenge – photography * Neil Zlozower – photography * Suzan Carson – photography assistant * Kyle Rae Sweet – make-up artist * Janice Sweet – management

Singles

*"Free"/"Calling on You" - released February 10, 1987 (Enigma Records 75001) *"Honestly"/"Sing-Along Song" - released August 10, 1987 (Enigma 75009)

Videos

* "Calling On You" * "Free" * "Honestly" * "All of Me" (on the documentary ''Stryper: In the Beginning')

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Stryper albums 1986 albums Enigma Records albums