STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet has confirmed that longtime guitarist Oz Fox does not appear on the band's eighteenth studio album, "Throne Of Thorns," due September 25 via Frontiers Music Srl. Sweet played every guitar part on the record himself.
Speaking to The Metal Voice, Sweet framed the decision as a medical necessity rather than a creative one. "Oz had problems with his blood pressure and regulating that, and it really affected his pitch and his hearing," he said, adding bluntly that Fox "wasn't able to play" during the recording sessions. Rather than delay the album, Sweet tracked the full guitar arrangement alone — a first in a band that has been built on twin-guitar interplay since 1983.
He was candid about the challenge that presented. Sweet said he leaned on layering, harmony parts and deliberately varied phrasing and tones to preserve the illusion of two distinct players trading lines, the sonic signature that runs through everything from "To Hell With The Devil" to the band's recent run of albums. "I'm playing all the guitars on this album," he confirmed, describing the effort to make the record still sound like STRYPER rather than a Michael Sweet solo project wearing the band's name.
Sweet indicated that STRYPER intends to issue an official statement on the situation, and that Fox is expected to address it in his own words before the album arrives in September.
Fox's health has been precarious for the better part of a decade. In August 2018 he suffered a seizure on stage in Immokalee, Florida, and was subsequently diagnosed with two brain tumors. He has since undergone multiple surgeries, including gamma-knife procedures, and has missed a series of touring commitments — among them STRYPER's spring 2024 acoustic run. Blood-pressure regulation problems of the kind Sweet describes are a recognized complication for patients on long-term neurological treatment.
Sweet has been fighting his own battle in parallel: he disclosed a thyroid cancer diagnosis earlier in 2026 and delivered a positive update in June, saying the disease had not spread.
"Throne Of Thorns" was announced on July 1 with the release of its title track. It follows 2024's "When We Were Kings" and arrives with the band's status in flux — a record that will land as both a milestone and, unavoidably, an open question about who takes the stage behind it.