When we reported in July that Oz Fox does not play on STRYPER's eighteenth album, the obvious assumption was his health — the two brain tumours found in 2018, the seizures, the 2024 surgery that kept him off the band's acoustic tour. Michael Sweet has now said that assumption was wrong.
"Believe it or not, it wasn't related to his health issues in terms of his brain surgery. He's been doing great with that. He's been out touring with us and doing great," Sweet told George Dionne of KNAC.COM. "This was something completely different. This was based on the fact that he stopped taking blood pressure medication 'cause he's supposed to take that every day."
Nobody in the band knew. "We didn't really know that he'd stopped taking it. And Rob went into rehearsals with him and discovered, like, 'Wait a minute. Something's not right here.' He had trouble playing and with his pitch and his hearing. His high blood pressure really affected that, and it was really high — going up, spiky, like go-to-the-hospital high."
They found out how high in the studio. "We had a way to check it there, and it was through the roof. So we were able to get him some medication and get him to lie down and rest and able to get him to feel a little better. But still, when it came time for him to play, he wasn't able to play. He literally couldn't go from chord to chord. He couldn't play. And it was a bad situation."
Sweet's solution was immediate and, by his own account, mostly about getting his bandmate off the hook. "I knew the songs, so I just said, I suggested, I said, 'Dude, don't worry about it. I'll gladly play the parts,' and he was very relieved to hear that. And then when we got to the solos, the same thing happened. So I wound up, at that point, having to play all the guitars."
He is candid that it was not a comfortable fit. "I wasn't prepared for it, being honest. I was moving into vocal mode at that time, and I had very little time — not as much time as I would've liked — to prepare for all the guitars, having to do that, and think like two guitar players. That's a whole other thing." He added: "I did my best. I don't know if I pulled it off. Fans will determine that. But I think so far people seem to really like the guitars."
Fox will play the new material live, within limits — Sweet expects two or three songs in the set, with Fox handling rhythm. "Throne Of Thorns" arrives September 25 via Frontiers Music Srl.