SWEET & LYNCH, the musical union of guitarist/vocalist Michael Sweet of STRYPER and legendary guitarist George Lynch (DOKKEN, LYNCH MOB),will release its third album, “Heart & Sacrifice”, on May 19 via Frontiers Music Srl. The combination of Sweet‘s powerful, high-octane vocals and Lynch‘s immediately recognizable guitar heroics once again prove to be an unbeatable combination sure to please the hard rock faithful.
The official music video for the third single from the album, “Leaving It All Behind”, can be seen below.
Alessandro Del Vecchio, who co-produced this release with Sweet, plays bass on the album, while Jelly Cardarelli (LALU) plays drums.
Sweet says: “I’m very pleased with the outcome of the new SWEET & LYNCH album, ‘Heart & Sacrifice’. It’s diverse, complex and flows beautifully. Every song has something to say in its own unique way. George has always been one of my favorite players and it’s an honor to work with him again. It’s also an absolute pleasure working with Alessandro. We’re able to bring all our own contributions and contribute to create an amazing set of songs and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Get ready for ‘Heart & Sacrifice’!”
SWEET & LYNCH, which has yet to play a single concert, first emerged with its debut album, “Only To Rise”, in 2015. The album cracked the Billboard 200 and came in at No. 6 on the Top Hard Rock Albums, No. 17 on Independent Albums, No. 18 on Top Rock Albums, and No. 4 on Christian Albums charts. SWEET & LYNCH‘s sophomore album, “Unified”, followed in 2017, landing at No. 53 on Top Current Albums, No. 13 on Top Current Rock Albums, and No. 8 on Record Label Independent Current Albums. While plans for a third album were always on the table, the project went on a slight hiatus while the guys concentrated on their other musical endeavors. 2022 proved to be the year where the creative juices for SWEET & LYNCH began to flow again and work on what would ultimately become “Heart & Sacrifice” began.
“Heart & Sacrifice” track listing:
01. Heart & Sacrifice
02. Where I Have To Go
03. Miracle
04. Leaving It All Behind
05. You’ll Never Be Alone
06. After All Is Said And Done
07. Give Up The Night
08. Will It Ever Change
09. It’s Time To Believe
10. Every Day
11. It Rains Again
12. World Full Of Lies
“Heart & Sacrifice” recording lineup:
Michael Sweet – lead vocals, guitars
George Lynch – lead guitars
Alessandro Del Vecchio – bass
Jelly Cardarelli – drums
Produced by: Michael Sweet and Alessandro Del Vecchio
Executive producer/A&R: Serafino Perugino
In a recent interview with the “Scars And Guitars” podcast, Sweet stated about “Heart & Sacrifice”: “[It’s got a] killer cover. When everyone sees the artwork, I think they’re gonna love it. It’s dark, but it says a lot; really cool. And the album itself went through some periods of change. In other words, George submitted a bunch of songs, and a couple of ’em weren’t quite right, and we had to get some more songs submitted. We went and recorded the album, and then we wound up re-recording some other songs to add to it to make the album better. And the stage that it’s in now is fantastic. It’s really, I think, the strongest SWEET & LYNCH album.”
Regarding the overall sound of the new SWEET & LYNCH LP, Michael said: “It’s a little darker musically — not much; just a little bit. And a little heavier — like some of the songs are tuned way down; the guitar has a nice heavy feel to it. And I just love the feel of it. It’s a little bit more, for lack of an explanation, a little bit more ’90s than it is ’80s. A little more ’70s and ’90s than it is ’80s. But then you also hear the ’80s flair. George is killing it on guitar. I kept trying to pull that out of him. Like he’d send a song where the solo was simplified, and I’d say, ‘Dude, people wanna hear you tear it up. Just burn. Give ’em George — George Lynch.’ And he’d submit a new solo, and it’s, like, ‘There it is. Just bring in the fire and the heat.'”
He added: “So I think this album is gonna really please people; they’re gonna be pleasantly surprised and hopefully blown away.”
Five years ago, Michael expressed his frustration about SWEET & LYNCH‘s lack of activity, telling the “Focus On Metal” podcast: “I’ve gotten to the point with SWEET & LYNCH where I’m almost sensing and feeling like maybe it’s run its course. We did two albums. I talked about doing a third and a fourth and a fifth, but there is kind of no point to it if we don’t tour. We really should be touring and playing those songs live. It’s kind of pointless, after a while, if you’re not doing that.”
Sweet said in the aforementioned 2018 interview that another reason SWEET & LYNCH hadn’t played any gigs is the fact that the LYNCH MOB leader and former DOKKEN guitarist “has his hands in so many different things. When the first album came out and the second album came out, I promoted the snot out of ’em and was really pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing,” he said. “George didn’t do a lot of promoting and a lot of pushing with those albums. It gets to be exhausting for me when I feel like I’m the only guy really pushing it. And that’s not to take anything away from George — it’s just a fact. It’s a simple fact that I’m stating in saying that that becomes an issue.
“I’m one of those guys where I want everybody in the band pushing and promoting equally as much, as they should be,” he continued. “Or why are you doing it? So I’m at that stage right now where I’m just kind of feeling like the fire is kind of dwindling. I don’t want it to — I wanna pour some gasoline on the fire and ignite it again. Maybe that’ll happen, but it’s quite possible that it won’t.”
Sweet helms the Grammy-nominated Christian hard rock outfit STRYPER, which he co-founded more than 35 years ago, as the band’s vocalist, guitarist, and main songwriter. To date, the band has more than 10 million career album sales worldwide. The venerable band ascended to prominence in the 1980s with Billboard Top 40-charting singles like “Calling On You”, “Honestly” and “Always There For You” and has in more recent years enjoyed an unparalleled career renaissance, delivering arguably the best albums of their storied career, including 2022’s “The Final Battle”.
Michael has released multiple solo albums, including a self-titled release in 1994, which yielded five No. 1 singles, “Truth” in 2000, the critically acclaimed 2015 project “I’m Not Your Suicide” (which peaked at No. 10 on Billboard‘s Hard Rock albums),and 2019’s “Ten”, which reached No. 4 on Billboard‘s Top Christian Albums chart. He recently partnered with Joel Hoekstra (WHITESNAKE),Nathan James (INGLORIOUS),Marco Mendoza (THIN LIZZY, WHITESNAKE) and Tommy Aldridge (WHITESNAKE, OZZY OSBOURNE) in the supergroup ICONIC, which was greeted with much adoration by rock fans around the globe.
Lynch emerged from the ’80s hard rock scene with the L.A. based group DOKKEN and went on to become a world-renowned guitarist. Aside from DOKKEN, he also enjoyed great success with LYNCH MOB, the group he founded after leaving DOKKEN.
Lynch has gone on to become a prolific (that is an understatement, to say the least) music creator, continuing with LYNCH MOB, releasing solo albums, and a wealth of collaborative efforts over the decades. Those include, but are not limited to, KXM with Doug Pinnick (KING’S X) and Ray Luzier (KORN),THE END MACHINE with Jeff Pilson (FOREIGNER, ex-DOKKEN),Mick Brown (ex-DOKKEN),and Robert Mason (WARRANT),SWEET & LYNCH with Michael Sweet (STRYPER),ULTRAPHONIX with Corey Glover (LIVING COLOUR),DIRTY SHIRLEY with Dino Jelusick (ANIMAL DRIVE, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA),and THE BANISHMENT with Joe Haze.