STRIKER

track-list:
Circle of Evil
BEST of the BEST of the BEST
Give it All
Blood Magic
Sucks to Suck
Ready for Anything
City Calling
Turn the Lights Out
Thunderdome
Live to Fight Another Day
Brawl at the Pub

produced, mixed and mastered by Josh Schroeder

Striker are:
Dan Cleary – vocals
Tim Brown – guitar
John Simon Fallon – guitar
Pete Klassen – bass
Jono Webster – drums

Hellbound:
“Each track is overflowing with riffs and hooks that captivate the listener. Each track stands strong enough on its own, but together create a strong contender for another Juno nomination. This is not an album you should overlook.”
Diary of A Music Addict:
“If you like 80’s rock with big guitars, or metal that’s fun in general, check out Striker and crank it up. You won’t regret it, I promise.”
The Headbanging Moose:
“Blending the music by Iron Maiden with Motley Crüe, Stratovarius and Van Halen, which in the end resulted in sheer awesomeness, Striker offer us the thrilling On The Run, showcasing a brilliant vocal performance by Dan while William keeps extracting that metallic sound we all love form his bass, whereas The Front is another classic song by Striker, also feeling as it was taken from an 80’s Hair Metal album…Striker are a band that keeps winning no matter what with each and every release and the flame of Canadian metal will remain alive and vibrant while we have those skillful metalheads from Edmonton among us, always playing to win.”
Hellbound:
“When a band releases an eponymous album it’s a statement of intent, a sign of confidence, everything being as it should be. For make no mistake, Striker are a special band. As the old Metal Gods ascend to Valhalla, new gods will arise. This is Striker’s fifth album and it’s just timeless. Not retro, not looking back, but taking everything that’s uplifting and glorious about heavy metal into 2017 and beyond…this album has to be in every writer and fan’s top ten at the end of 2017.”
Metal Rules:
“A less balls out, more aggressive record than its predecessor, STRIKER delivers another impressive collection of high energy headbangers….Regardless of what your heavy metal predilections may be, STRIKER offers something for everyone. Super catchy tunes dripping with shred gymnastics and all around technical prowess, Striker deserves a place on any metal fan’s playlist….If you have not experienced Striker yet, this album is a worthy place to start and should appeal to a wide range of fans, particularly followers of the Priest, Anthrax and Maiden.”

for fans of:
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
Enforcer
Skullfist
Steelwing

Striker is kicking off 2024 with their seventh studio album ‘ULTRAPOWER’, which follows their Juno Award-winning self-released full-length ‘Play to Win’ (2018) released on their label Record Breaking Records.
The new album also features the band’s latest lineup addition of long-time friend and guitarist John Simon Fallon (The Order of Chaos).
For the band’s seventh full-length, they teamed up with producer Josh Schroeder (Lorna Shore, Tallah, King 810), entering the studio in March 2023.
With the band writing material since 2018, ‘ULTRAPOWER’ is a collection of five years of Striker tinkering and exploring new avenues.
Striker:
“‘ULTRAPOWER’ is the amalgamation of 5 years of writing and exploring music. With influences from AOR to Speed Metal, Hardcore to Hair Metal, Steely Dan to Deathcore, you name it, it made its way into the album. In the end with the help of Josh Schroeder’s guiding hand, we melted it all together to present something uniquely Striker. Lyrically we’ve stuck to the Striker tradition of writing montage songs for movies that don’t exist, songs about our spiraling serfdom, and lyrics about the evils that lurk in the shadows.”
‘Circle of Evil’:
“‘Circle of Evil’ is a Malmsteen-esque metal banger about secret societies and the evil dealings behind closed doors.”
‘BEST of the BEST of the BEST’:
“It’s right in the name. This one is about being the best of the best. Serving up some big riffs and hockey arena vocals that make you want to plow through the cars stopped in front of you making you late for work.”
‘Give It All’:
“‘Give It All’ is a song written for the soundtrack of an 80s action movie that doesn’t exist. It’s for the kid risking it all to win the big game, or the down-and-out cop that’s gotta push it to the limit to survive.”
‘Blood Magic’:
“‘Blood Magic’ is maybe one of Striker’s most ‘progressive’ songs, taking cues from bands like King Diamond the song structure is unconventional and punctuated with guitar solos. How many guitar solos are too many? Guess you’ll find out.”
‘Sucks to Suck’:
“We wrote ‘Sucks to Suck’ as a joke song about vasectomies in 2020 I think. We wrote it and forgot about it until one day I woke up with it stuck in my head. After 2 years without listening to it, it just appeared back in my brain. I took that as a sign, that we had to go back and see what we could do with it. Obviously, it’s not about vasectomies anymore but it’s still got the hooks! Now it’s about how people don’t realize how shitty they are and ultimately you’re one of those people yourself!”
‘Ready for Anything’:
“‘Ready for Anything’ is a song about taking life by the horns and kicking it’s ass. It’s a pounding Striker classic about keeping your head up and smashing through life even when things suck. Big riffs, big melodies, big vocals. Lets gooooo.”
‘City Calling’:
“‘City Calling’ is a song that came out of our obsession with late 80s AOR and pop rock. Bands like Toto or even Kenny Loggins put out these hook-powered albums and we’ve always wanted to take a piece of that style and mold it into our own creation. This isn’t a metal song. It’s an ode to 1987.”
‘Turn the Lights Out’:
“‘Turn the Lights Out’ is Striker checking back in with ourselves from 2010. ‘Hey dudes, are we still shredding?’ This one is about having hope for the future, making it through another day, and getting back at it in the morning.”
‘THUNDERDOME’:
“The label called and said ‘You guys need a song about Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome!’ and we said, ‘We already wrote a song called Road Warrior are you sure?’ to which they said ‘Bring me pictures of Spiderman!’ and slammed their fists on the desk. So we don’t know why it’s about that other than it’s sick! This one also has some of Dan’s strangest most ACDC/Accept style vocals ever.”
‘Live to Fight Another Day’:
“Originally this was just a regular Striker song. Tim had the idea that we should just try turning it into a synthwave track. It fits like a glove. We’ve always been into Synthwave but never had the guts to do it ourselves. Until now! This is our first attempt at it and we are stoked about how it turned out. This one is another track about keeping it together and taking on life one day at a time.”
‘Brawl at the Pub’:
“To close out the album, we’ve got the spiritual successor to the fan favorite ‘The Keg that Crushed New York’. This song is quite literally about a brawl at the pub. It’s weird, it’s fun, it shreds. Don’t take it too seriously, we’re just here for a good time.”
“We wanted the album artwork to represent how we feel as a band right now. We are an engine that is fired up and ready to roll. We’re made of metal and our circuits gleam!”
Blending classic heavy metal, hard rock, and 80’s hair metal, Striker has been making shredtacular anthems since 2007.
The band has toured multiple times across Europe and North America, chosen to open for Metallica in their hometown of Edmonton, AB, Canada along with many festival appearances that include 70,000 Tons of Metal, Wacken Open Air (Germany), Bang Your Head Festival (Germany) and more to add to the almost 1000 shows performed in their decade-plus career.
The band has been honoured with multiple Best Album awards in their home country of Canada from the JUNO Awards(The Canadian equivalent to the American Grammy), Western Canadian Music Awards and the Edmonton Music Awards.
‘ULTRAPOWER’ follows Strikers six studio albums ‘Eyes in the Night’ (2010, Iron Kodex), ‘Armed to The Teeth’ (2012, Napalm), ‘City of Gold’ (2014, Napalm), ‘Stand in the Fire’ (2016, Record Breaking), ‘Striker’ (2017, Record Breaking) and ‘Play to Win’ (2018, Record Breaking).