Due to irreversible damage to their tour van while on their “Shredding North America Tour” with Seven Kingdoms and Lutharo, Canadian heavy metal champions Striker are sad to announce they will be unable to continue to perform the remainder of their scheduled show dates.
“As you may have heard, on our night drive to Portland we drove over a large rock that rolled onto the road as we turned a corner on Highway 101. Everyone was unharmed but our van took irreparable damage and has been written off completely. Unfortunately, due to time and logistical constraints, we will not be able to continue the tour.
We’d like to thank Seven Kingdoms, Lutharo, and Continental Booking for their understanding and wish them luck on the rest of the tour!”
Shredding North America – Seven Kingdoms, Striker, Lutharo, Osyron
# = w/ Osyron
Nov 27 – The Black Cat – Saskatoon, SK #
Nov 28 – Sidestage – Winnipeg, MB #
Nov 30 – Reggie’s – Chicago, IL
Dec 1 – Sanctuary – Detroit, MI
Dec 3 – Meadows – Brooklyn, NY
Dec 4 – Metro – Baltimore, MD
Dec 5 – Hangar 1819 – Greensboro, NC
Dec 6 – The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Dec 7 – The Orpheum – Tampa, FL
Dec 8 – Conduit – Orlando, FL
Striker was on tour to support their latest album “Ultrapower” produced by Josh Schroeder (Lorna Shore, Tallah, King 810). The seventh full-length from Striker 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.”
Photo Credit: Dana Zuk
