Last Saturday was the CD release show for Edmonton's #1 true metal force, STRIKER for their debut album Eyes in the Night, and it was a fucking blast! Support came from two Calgary bands: HROM, and KOBRA AND THE LOTUS. I managed to get to the venue in time to see all three bands after some serious pregame drinking, so here goes.
HROM is a young, energetic power/speed metal band from Calgary, Canada sporting some solid tunes straight from the Walls of Jericho, Scanner, Not Fragile and Chroming Rose vein. True german-styled steel just as the mid-80's intended! Hrom's debut album Blesk was released in 2009 through STEEL LEGACY records and the band played through most of the songs on this album, including "Through the Universe," "Ultimate Fighter," "Burn Slowly," "Rainstorm" (Twice! haha) and a couple new tunes not yet recorded. Hrom was a lot of fun and while they weren't super energetic onstage due to space restrictions from Striker's gear they still put on pretty entertaining show with very tight guitar solos and excellent live vocals, and tons of sing-alongs. I knew some of their songs from myspace, and their recordings (done entirelly by the singer, Jan) do NOT do justice to the songs, they must be heard live! Jan's falsetto wails are excellent! I was able to meet up with some of the members for a few beers after their set and they are awesome gents all around.
http://www.myspace.com/hromcanSecond up for supper were Calgary's KOBRA AND THE LOTUS. They were... themselves, I suppose. I'm not a fan. The chipmunk vocals and tired, generic songwriting bored me very quickly. The band was extremely tight, but not even their barbie doll on vocals could keep me interested. Not my thing!
http://www.myspace.com/kobraandthelotus Finally, the mighty STRIKER took to the stage with all guns blazing. All full-length set with tunes from Road Warrior and their debut album, Eye in the Night with Dan's incredible wails, searing dual-leads from Chris and Ian, and the thunderous rhythm section of Magnus and Dave. Wasting no time, they leapt into tunes like "Full Speed or No Speed" and "Eyes in the Night" featuring all manner of glorious power screams and guitar solos, all immaculately performed. Stiker is Canada's REAL DEAL! For in uninitiated, Striker plays 80's speed metal with some USPM touches and a few really tasteful sleazy cock-rock moments. Think bands such s HIBRIA, RACER X, VICIOUS RUMORS, IRON MAIDEN and so on for some ideas. You can tell that these dudes live, and die by metal music and they are doing their best to live their dream. You can tell by the idiot grins on their faces during their synchronized guitar points, whirlwind headbangings and gang vocals. Other tunes they played included "We Don't Play by the Rules," "The Voice of Rock," "Never Ending Nights," "The White Knight," and "Terrorizer" from the new disk and they threw in "Lord of the Sword," "Fire,", "Dark Heart of the City" from their EP using "The Keg that Crushed New York" as an encore with a nifty rendition of "Aces High" by Maiden as well. Sadly, the title of their EP "Road Warrior" was left out, unless I just happened to miss it in my drunken stupor. Striker are full of vigour and wild musical energy and they are all over the place onstage with a charmisma only matched by the masters. They left out a few of their more risky stage moves for this gig (High-fives during harmony solos in "Never Ending Nights" and Ian leaning backwards during his "Terrorizer" solo while Dan holds him up) which was a little disappointing, but they played unbelievably tight which more than makes up for it. If you call yourself a fan of TRUE METAL you'd better get your hands on "Eyes in the Nights" and their EP!
http://www.myspace.com/listentostriker Long story short:
Hrom were great.
Kobra and the Lotus were abyssmal.
Striker were incredible.
I was a mess!
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Jeff Black
Keyboardist and Vocalist
http://www.myspace.com/samandriel (Female-fronted Prog/power metal)http://www.myspace.com/eldgammel (Power/Prog/folk metal - RIP)
