Building upon the success of his 2016 release One Sided War, Stryper frontman Michael Sweet returns with his tenth solo studio release aptly titled, “Ten.” The new album is scheduled for release in North America on October 11th via Rat Pak Records and will also be available in Europe via Frontiers Music SRL. Ten features an all-star guest lineup that includes appearances by Jeff Loomis of Arch Enemy, Todd La Torre of Queensrÿche, Andy James, Tracii Guns of LA Guns, Rich Ward of Fozzy, Joel Hoekstra of Whitesnake, Gus G of Firewind, Howie Simon, Ethan Brosh, Marzi Montazeri, Will Hunt of Evanescence , John O’Boyle, Mike Kerr and Ian Raposa of Firstbourne and more.
On the subject of guest musicians Michael comments: “There is a different player appearing on every song. It started out where I was just going to have a couple of guest appearances on it, then I decided that it would be really interesting to bring in different players for every song. I started putting names out there and reaching out to people, and they started agreeing to do it. And then I had guys reaching out to me.”
Ten is currently available for pre-order via the Rat Pak Records www.ratpakrecords.com/michaelsweet in various bundle configurations including translucent green and black splatter vinyl, cassette and hand autographed CD packages. The album also has 2 bonus tracks that appear on all configurations. Produced by Michael Sweet, Ten was recorded and mixed by Danny Bernini at the Spirithouse Recording Studio in North Hampton and was mastered by Alex Saltz.
Regarding the musical direction of the album Michael states: “I’m very excited about this release, there are old-school, straight-ahead metal ideas in the vein of Judas Priest, Dio and Iron Maiden, all the stuff I love listening to!”
As for the “Ten” album title, Sweet recently stated, “It’s called ‘Ten’ cause it’s my tenth album, and because there is a title track on there about the Ten Commandments — a really powerful song. There’s real heavy stuff. It starts kind of smacking you in the face and it ends kicking you in the gut.”
The track listing for Ten is:
1) Better Part of Me (featuring Jeff Loomis of Arch Enemy)
2) Lay It Down (featuring Marzi Montazeri)
3) Forget, Forgive (featuring Howie Simon)
4) Now Or Never (featuring Gus G of Firewind)
5) Ten featuring (Rich Ward of Fozzy)
6) Shine (featuring Ethan Brosh)
7) Let It Be Love
8) Never Alone (featuring Joel Hoekstra of Whitesnake)
9) When Love Is Hated (featuring Joel Hoekstra of Whitesnake)
10) Ricochet (featuring Tracii Guns of LA Guns)
Bonus Tracks:
11) With You Till The End (featuring Mike Kerr and Ian Raposa from Firstbourne)
12) Son Of Man (featuring Todd La Torre of Queensryche and Andy James)
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