Striker: Striker (Record Breaking)

Man, these guys didn’t waste any time. Just one year after knocking us on our collective asses with their 2016 album Stand in the Fire, Canadian traditional metal band Striker is back with a new self-titled offering. Now, self-titled albums from bands that have been around a while tend to make me nervous, since it usually means they’re trying to reinvent their sound (or make up for a prior reinvention that nobody liked). Striker got absolutely everything right with Stand in the Fire though, so my fingers were crossed that the band just couldn’t come up with a good album title.

I shouldn’t have worried. The Striker sound – relentless shredding guitars with heavy doses of melody – is still very much intact on Striker. This reminds me a lot of the recent Enforcer albums, with its traditional metal rhythms, infectious melodies and shout-along choruses. The way the speed and the choruses work together is almost like Exciter meets Hardcore Superstar, which works out better than you might think.

At just 30 minutes, Striker is a short (but sweet) collection of nine metal anthems about standing tall…in the night…for rock…and metal. So what if songs like “Shadows in the Night,” “Rock the Night” and “Freedom’s Call” are on the cheesy side? Nobody who loves old school heavy metal will be able to resist shouting along and banging your head. Album opener “Former Glory” and metal fight song “Pass Me By” are also major highlights.

For as quick as it came out, this is a grade-A collection of speedy, melodic traditional metal songs. Striker is on fire lately, and has become one of the most exciting bands in the traditional metal revival scene. If you like your metal on the melodic side, especially bands like Widow, Exciter, Enforcer, Riot and Spellcaster, you’re going to love Striker.

<br />