While
The Yellow and Black Attack! earned
Stryper a fair amount of publicity, it was
Soldiers Under Command that put the band on the map commercially. The album went gold, and
Stryper became a major hit on MTV without abandoning its Christian message. Glossy yet intense pop-metal like "The Rock That Makes Me Roll" and "Surrender" definitely promotes Christianity, but does so without condemning non-Christians or pointing the finger at other religions. Ironically, one of lead singer
Michael Sweet's influences is
Rob Halford of
Judas Priest -- although
Stryper and the
Priest have little in common lyrically. Like
The Yellow and Black Attack!,
Soldiers Under Command is decent when it comes to up-tempo songs, but weak when it comes to ballads. "First Love" and "Together as One" demonstrate that all too often,
Stryper's ballads were much too sugary for their own good. ~ Alex Henderson