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Edmonton metal band Striker is back with a solid less-is-more album

Latest self-titled release trades quantity for quality
web1_Striker-2015---Press-Photo---Credit-Dana-Zuk
credit Dana Zuk

When a heavy-metal musician says his band has “scaled back” on the last album, he ain’t talkin’ volume.

Fans of the Edmonton group Striker will hear the same deafening decibels when the metal-heads perform on Saturday, April 15, at The Vat in Red Deer in a lineup with Ravenous, Wraith Risen and Bodies Burn Black.

The group’s guitarist Timothy Brown means that Striker’s fifth and latest self-titled album is made up of the very best of the band’s new output. Instead of larding up the album with so-so tunes to bring the song count up, he explains the musicians opted to record their eight strongest songs, and be done with it.

“It’s a no bull-s—t album,” he elaborates. “It’s shorter, with less stuff, but every song is as good as it can be.”

Striker hasn’t opted for a minimalist sound — Brown says the group actually ramped up the production on many of the songs, adding four or five-part harmonies and other stuff. Since it’s an indie group “we can do whatever we want,” he adds, with a laugh.

The original approach is working as the Alberta band’s been getting a great reception as it performs throughout Europe on a CD release tour following a bunch of U.S. dates. Fans in Germany and Spain seem particularly wild about the band, says Brown. (The first Wikipedia page that pops up about the Alberta band is written in German.)

Striker is also made up of singer Dan Cleary, bassist William Wallace and drummer Adam Brown. The four grew up together in West Edmonton. Timothy Brown’s attraction to metal music was no mystery; he says, “I liked shredding.”

He and the other musicians were influenced by “big, old” classic groups, such as Judas Priest, Metallica, Megadeth and Iron Maiden. Brown says “A lot of our (musical) inspiration comes from everyday things. We’re not one of those dragons and fairies groups — or particularly political.”

One of the few political songs on the new album is Shadows in the Light, with lyrics written by Cleary and Brown co-writing the music. Brown explains, “It’s about police brutality, or the over-policing that happens in the States.”

The band — which won the Edmonton Music Prize for its 2014 album, City of Gold, and an Western Canadian Music Award and Edmonton Music Award for its followup CD from 2016, Stand In The Fire — looks forward to returning to Alberta to play for Red Deer fans.

More information about the show, please contact the venue.

lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com