Michael Sweet may just be the busiest guy on the planet. For 2013, the Stryper front man has plans for no less than three albums, two tours and an auto-biography. The revival officially begins on March 26th when the band releases the appropriately titled “Second Coming”; a sixteen-song collection of classic Stryper re-records as well as two brand new tracks.

In an era when such “re-makes” are generally frowned upon, Stryper has managed to take their already vintage sound and moved it to a much heavier level. Fans of the band’s first three albums will be blown away with the freshness from “new” versions of songs like “Loud N’ Clear”, “Soldiers Under Command” and “Calling On You”. ‘Second Coming’ also features two brand new Stryper tracks that balance out an already amazing effort and puts the spotlight squarely on Sweet’s own phenomenal guitar prowess.

In addition to the new album, Sweet’s own solo album and auto-biography are planned for release this year. And, if that isn’t enough, Stryper will enter the studio in April to record an album of all new material that will coincide with a summer tour.

Stryper is: Michael Sweet (Guitars/Vocals),  Oz Fox (Guitars), Timothy Gaines (Bass) and Robert Sweet (Drums).

I spoke with Sweet and got the scoop on all of these projects. In addition, he also lets us in on yet another “scary” surprise that he has planned for the end of the year.

What was the genesis for Second Coming?

Initially, we intended to make this record for our publishing company. Usually, people tend to roll their eyes at the thought of doing re-records because you’re already used to the original and sometimes think, “What’s the point?” Typically, it’s hard to recapture the same “magic” that you had on the originals. But what’s cool about these songs and this record is that not only we were able to capture all of the magic from the original songs, but in some ways surpass and add some new magic to them as well. When people hear this album as whole, they’re going to be blown out of the water.

Check out the rest of my Guitar World interview with Michael Sweet by clicking here.