Striker – ULTRAPOWER (2024) (Record Breaking Records)
Release Date: February 2, 2024
LABEL: Record Breaking Records
DISTRIBUTION: CD Baby
For Fans of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Enforcer, Skullfist, Steelwing
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“If you liked the last three albums (as much as I did), Ultrapower will equally satisfy. I know this one will be in my top 10 albums of the year. And why hasn’t Striker been opening for the likes of Maiden, Priest, Metallica, etc. the last eight-ish years?? 8.5/10″ – Bravewords
“Striker are more-than-ready to show us all the power of heavy music with Ultrapower, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the ride with one of the best (of the best of the best) bands of the current Canadian landscape.” – The Headbanging Moose
“Undoubtedly, “Ultrapower” will scratch your ‘80s itch with an Arena Rock sound shifting from Spaghetti Western, to Kenny Loggins, all the way to DRAGONFORCE. With all this in mind, it is safe to say that the album was written to be played live at max volume and its songs will sound even better in a concert setting. Are you ready to crank the volume up while spinning the best of the best of the best etc. set of songs of the year? 9/10” – Metal Kaoz
““Ultrapower” is quite frankly a magnificent album. It has a feel good 80’s movie soundtrack aura about it with the spirit of artists such as John Farnham and Stan Bush standing tall alongside pure 80’s metal throwback. If you love 80’s rock and metal then this album is going to have you grinning from ear to ear. I think I’m gonna be grinning for days after several listens. Some fans of Striker’s more speed metal inclined sound may find this album a bit jarring but I can safely say it is the best album they have done and they have released some corkers. For the pure joy it has given me, this album is going to be hard to top in 2024 and we are still in the early part of the year.” – The Razors Edge Rocks
“I’m giving this one an 8 of 10 “Flaming Fists”. You can tell there’s a lot of work put into the album, they don’t half-ass anything. The production was good, it’s really hard to make amazing Arena-style rock without a decent budget, but they did a solid job… if you liked the late 80’s and early 90’s bands you’ll really dig this. Overall, I’m really happy and thankful for this band continuing to do what they do.” – Rock You Radio
“For those that are looking to have a good time, forget their troubles, and headbang for 40 minutes, give Striker’s Ultrapower a listen.” – Metal Express Radio
“Striker are never short on talent and ability. Timothy Brown and John Fallon can rip it up with their axes, laying down thrashy and traditional metal riffs as the songs demand, and they can wail come solo time too.” – Angry Metal Guy
“Striker has been lying in wait for the moment to release this album. They’re at the forefront of the New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal, which is a genre that looks to turn the clock back to the ’70s and ’80s style of metal. However, that traditional style gets a bit of a facelift with ULTRAPOWER. Striker injects the whole thing with the traditional heavy metal you’d come to expect after a litany of great albums, but they also add some new things to their tool belt, like synth-wave, saxophones, and more. It all adds up to an album that feels more mature, while also retaining the somewhat sophomoric feel of the genre. This is a band that’s reaching the peak of its powers musically, and you can feel it on the tracks. Each track feels radically different from one another. You’ve got Yngwie Malmsteen-inspired speed metal shredding on “Circle of Evil”, full-on ’80s electric drums on “Live To Fight Another Day”, and saxophone on “Give It All.” – That Hashtag Show
“The commencement of the new year saw Edmonton, Canada’s heavy metal ensemble Striker unveiling their seventh studio album, “Ultrapower” (2024), marking a significant milestone following their independent release, Play to Win (2018). Established in 2007, the band’s musical style seamlessly melds the robustness of ’80s icons like Accept, Priest, and Maiden with the infectious melodies of bands like Europe. Adding to their allure, lead vocalist Dan Cleary channels the spirit of vocalists like Bruce Dickinson to deliver commanding backing vocals, infectious tunes, resounding percussion, and contemporary production. The guitar solos are infectious. Notably, “Ultrapower” represents the debut of guitarist John Simon Fallon within the band’s lineup. Ultimately, what sets Striker apart is their approach: rather than simply emulating their revered predecessors, they infuse classic heavy metal with a contemporary sensibility. While there is merit in faithfully crafting songs that evoke the spirit of the early to mid-’80s, there is also value in establishing a distinctive identity and standing out from the crowd while honouring their musical influences.” – Metal Roos
Track Listing:
1. Circle of Evil – (3:44)
2. BEST of the BEST of the BEST – (3:19)
3. Give it All – (4:14)
4. Blood Magic – (4:35)
5. Sucks to Suck – (3:15)
6. Ready for Anything – (3:56)
7. City Calling – (3:45)
8. Turn the Lights Out – (2:49)
9. Thunderdome – (4:01)
10. Live to Fight Another Day – (4:00)
11. Brawl at the Pub – (3:47)
Album Length: 41:30
Album Credits:
• All songs performed by: STRIKER
• All songs written by: STRIKER
• Produced by: Josh Schroeder
• Mixed by: Josh Schroeder
• Mastered by: Josh Schroeder
• Album Artwork by: Al Perez / Ramone Sketch (@ramonesketch)
• Member of SOCAN
• Canadian Content (MAPL)
Album Band Line Up:
Dan Cleary – Vocals
Tim Brown – Guitar
John Simon Fallon – Guitar
Pete Klassen – Bass
Jono Webster – Drums
Live Band Line Up:
Dan Cleary – Vocals
Tim Brown – Guitar
John Simon Fallon – Guitar
Pete Klassen – Bass
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About The Album Artwork:
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!
About the album as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
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.
Track by Track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
1. Circle of Evil – Circle of Evil is a Malmsteen-esque metal banger about secret societies and the evil dealings behind closed doors.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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!
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
Clockwise – L-R – Dan Cleary – Vocals, John Simon Fallon – Guitar, Pete Klassen – Bass, Tim Brown – Guitar
Photo Credit: Dana Zuk
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.
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.
“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.” adds the band.
“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).
CDs and digital downloads are available on Striker-Metal.com, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and CD Baby.
ULTRAPOWER Album Band Line Up:
Dan Cleary – Vocals
Tim Brown – Guitar
John Simon Fallon – Guitar
Pete Klassen – Bass
Jono Webster – Drums
Live Band Line Up:
Dan Cleary – Vocals
Tim Brown – Guitar
John Simon Fallon – Guitar
Pete Klassen – Bass
What the press has said:
“Play to Win, which might be their most balanced effort yet. It’s their most catchy, too: the likelihood you’ll be singing along with every song before they finish is very, very high.” – Metal Sucks
“expertly combined killer arena rock choruses with well-done, cleaner verses.” – Metal Injection
“Six albums in six years. That is something almost unheard of, even in the modern era of production that considerably lessens the time needed to record and mix albums. Striker always seems to provide a new album right around when I start to wonder, “Hey, I wonder what Striker is up to?”. PLAY TO WIN is the band’s 6th LP and to my ears, one of their best. Rest assured, the band has not altered their sound. This is still classic metal, mixed with modern elements that continues to leave all pretenders in a cloud of choking dust.” – Metal Rules
“You can hear influences ranging from Dokken to Metallica on Play to Win, and it’s all done with masterful songwriting, performances and production. This is a slick, aggressively-mixed record that drips with excitement and replayability… Striker have produced their best record since City of Gold, and all fans of straight-up hard rock and metal need to own this album.” – Heavy Music HQ
“Striker have knocked this one out of the park and into the stratosphere. You’d be hard-pressed to find a catchier slice of fine cheddar this year, and I’d highly recommend it.” – New Noise Mag
“STRIKER have done it again. They hath given unto thee one monster of a metal album that simply begs to be put on REPEAT.” – Amps And Green Screens
““Catchy choruses, well-crafted riffs and squealing solos are woven throughout… Play to Win is another solid effort from Striker.” – The Metal Crypt
“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.” – Hellbound
“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.” – Diary of A Music Addict
“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. ” – The Headbanging Moose
“Striker gush with so much enthusiasm here, with explosive riffs swirling between the vibrant harmonies and choruses, that it’s hard not to notice…Tracks like “Former Glory” and “Born to Lose” are anthemic, catchy as hell and feature soaring vocals from Dan Cleary and terrific guitar work by Tim Brown…On Striker, the band take a host of influences and hone them into a sound they can call their own.” – Exclaim!
“From the first storm-summoning power chord on the opener Former Glory, Striker (CAN) proves their new album’s initial claim of not dwelling on the past, a high and appropriate cry of “Yeah, I’m back again!”… If you haven’t witnessed this inspiring resurrection of classic metal, the band plays Friday, April 14 at Starlite with Ravenous and Tylor Dory Trio, no doubt sharpened from the faithful overseas audiences.” – Edmonton Journal
“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.” – Hellbound
“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.” – Metal Rules
2019 Canadian Loud Charts: Striker – Play To Win
Highlight #11 – National Loud Top 20 of 2018 – (Earshot)
Highlight: #2 – December 2018 – National Top 20 Loud Chart (Earshot)
Highlight #167 on Top 200 – November 2018 – The National Chart (Earshot)
Highlight: #12 – October 2018 – National Top 20 Loud Chart (Earshot)
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