Michael Sweet Reveals Why Oz Fox is Missing from 'Throne Of Thorns'

Stryper frontman Michael Sweet has clarified the reasons why long-time guitarist Oz Fox is absent from the band's upcoming eighteenth studio album, "Throne Of Thorns". While Fox has faced significant health hurdles in recent years, Sweet confirmed that his absence from the studio was not related to his 2024 brain surgery. Instead, the issue stemmed from a lapse in medical routine that impacted Fox's ability to perform.

Speaking to George Dionne of KNAC.COM, Sweet explained that Fox stopped taking daily blood pressure medication, leading to dangerously spiked levels during recording. "He had trouble playing and with his pitch and his hearing. His high blood pressure really affected that," Sweet noted. When Fox arrived at the studio, his blood pressure was "through the roof," leaving him unable to move from chord to chord. In a moment of necessity, Sweet stepped in to cover all guitar parts, including the solos.

I was moving into vocal mode at that time... I had very little time to prepare for all the guitars.

Sweet admitted that taking on the workload of two guitarists while transitioning into vocal mode was a difficult task, requiring him to think like two different players simultaneously. Despite the hurdle, Sweet feels the final result stands up to scrutiny. While Fox will still perform on the album, his live role will be primarily as a rhythm guitarist on a select few tracks to accommodate the studio arrangements. The new record is set for release on September 25 via Frontiers Music Srl.