Every day is a new day! And Striker has a new music video, “Live To Fight Another Day”, to announce their upcoming US and Canada tour dates with Floridian power metallers Seven Kingdoms, Hamilton, ON’s melodic metallers Lutharo, and Calgary, AB’s thunderous progressive symphonic metallers Osyron, whom will support select dates.
Striker will kick off preliminary dates with a performance at ProgPower USA in Atlanta, GA on September 4, followed by Canadian shows with Lutharo in September, and then push things into full gear in November to start the “Shredding North America Tour” in Corpus Christi, TX on November 9 and wrap up the month-long tour in Orlando, FL on December 8 (dates listed below).
“Live To Fight Another Day” is off the shred master’s new album, ULTRAPOWER, produced with Josh Schroeder (Lorna Shore, Tallah, King 810) released this past February.
The band explains the track: “Originally this was just a regular Striker song. Tim had the idea that we should just try turning it into a synth-wave 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.”
ULTRAPOWER is the seventh full-length from Striker and follows their Juno Award-winning self-released record Play To Win (2018) unleashed on their label Record Breaking Records.
With the band writing material since 2018, ULTRAPOWER is a collection of Striker tinkering and exploring new avenues. From the album’s opening track “Circle of Evil”, a Malmsteen-esque metal banger about secret societies and the evil dealings behind closed doors to their previously released single “Best Of The Best Of The Best” serving up some big riffs and hockey arena vocals to “Blood Magic”, which might be one of Striker’s most progressive songs, taking cues from bands like King Diamond, with its unconventional structure and punctuated guitar solos. From the band delving into their obsession for late 80s AOR and pop rock with “City Calling”, an ode to 1987, and bands like Toto and Kenny Loggins with their hook-powered albums. To fans experiencing the band’s first attempt at a synth-wave track with “Live to Fight Another Day”, this new offering sees Striker making a shredding love letter to the hard-rocking era of guilty pleasures.
The band comments on the album: “Starting with the album cover, we wanted the 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! The album itself is an 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.”
Order here.
Tracklisting:
“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”
“Sucks To Suck” video:
“Give It All” video:
“Circle Of Evil” video:
“Best Of The Best Of The Best” video:
Tour Dates:
September
4 – Center Stage – ProgPower USA – Atlanta, GA
September (with Lutharo)
11 – La Source de la Martinière – Quebec City, QC
12 – Piranha Bar – Montreal, QC
13 – Overflow Brewing Company – Ottawa, ON
14 – Lee’s Palace – Toronto, ON
November (with Seven Kingdoms, Lutharo, Osyron)
9 – Boozers Rock Bar – Corpus Christi, TX
10 – Come And Take It Live – Austin, TX
11 – Haltom Theater – Haltom, TX
12 – 89th Street – Oklahoma City, OK
13 – Launchpad – Albuquerque, NM
14 – Vultures – Colorado Springs, CO
16 – Last Exit Live – Mesa, AZ
17 – Sinwave – Las Vegas, NV
18 – Brick by Brick – San Diego, CA
19 – Knucklehead – Los Angeles, CA
20 – DNA Lounge – San Francisco, CA
21 – Hawthorne Theater – Portland, OR
22 – El Corazon – Seattle, WA
24 – Jackknife – Kelowna, BC
25 – Dicken’s – Calgary, AB #
26 – The Starlite Room – Edmonton, AB #
27 – The Black Cat – Saskatoon, SK #
28 – Sidestage – Winnipeg, MB #
29 – TBA – St. Paul, MN
30 – Reggie’s – Chicago, IL
December (with Seven Kingdoms, Lutharo, Osyron)
1 – Sanctuary – Detroit, MI
3 – Meadows – Brooklyn, NY
4 – Metro – Baltimore, MD
5 – Hangar 1819 – Greensboro, NC
6 – The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
7 – The Orpheum – Tampa, FL
8 – Conduit – Orlando, FL
# with Osyron
(Photo – Dana Zuk)