''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 band from Orange County, California. The group's lineup consists of Michael Sweet (lead vocals, guitar), Oz Fox (guitar), Perry Richardson (bass guitar), and Robert Sweet (drums). Formed in 1983 as Roxx ...

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

Gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile meta ...

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 of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

of the title track was released. The inspirational verse for this album is

2 Timothy 2 2 Timothy 2 is the second chapter of the Second Epistle to Timothy in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The letter has been traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle, the last one written in Rome before his death (c. 64 or 67), address ...

:3-4.

Track listing

All songs written by

Michael Sweet Michael Harrison Sweet (born July 4, 1963) is a singer and guitarist from Whittier, California; he is the co-founder, songwriter, guitarist and lead singer of the Christian metal band Stryper. He's also had a successful solo career, and briefly ...

, 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", also known as "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" or "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" outside of the United States, is a popular American patriotic song written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe. Howe wrote her l ...

" (

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" and the original 1870 pacifist Mother's Day Proclamation. She was also an advocate for abolitionism ...

) – 2:36

Personnel

Stryper *

– lead vocals, backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, lead guitar solo (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 t ...

– lead and rhythm guitars, lead guitar solo (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 (1-7, 9, 10), 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 (8), acoustic piano (8), 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 former music producer, mixer, and engineer from Hamburg, best known for his work with many top glam metal and heavy metal bands in the late 1980s. He is particularly renowned for his multi-amping an ...

– 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