• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Striker is a Canadian Traditional/Speed Metal band whose last album, Armed to the Teeth, made it to my Top 10 in 2012, so it obviously struck many of the right chords. City of Gold is the band's follow up and it continues in much the same vein with the band sounding, if anything, even more like late 80s Helstar. The riffing is definitely thrashier and tracks like "Underground" and "Second Attack" show the band has no intention of letting up on the speed. There are a few more mid-tempo tracks than last time and while they do flirt with some more "commercial" songwriting ("Bad Decisions" sounds an awful lot like Whitesnake to me) it isn't widespread. The vocals, which on Armed to the Teeth were just about perfect, are a bit more stretched on City of Gold and the vocalist sounds like he's working a lot harder and the awesome backing vocals are not as apparent. The solos are a little less flashy this time around, as well.

Maybe Armed to the Teeth hit me harder because it was my first time hearing Striker and my expectations were pretty damn high for the next album, but City of Gold feels like a slight letdown. Don't get me wrong, it is good fun and well played but it just isn't on the same level as the last album. Striker set the bar pretty high for themselves with Armed to the Teeth so it is forgivable the City of Gold can't quite match it but that should in no way stop Traditional Metal fans from checking it out especially if double-kick drumming quickens your heart rate the way it does mine.