voila_la_scorie
This album should be in the top 25 of any list of eighties heavy metal. No, you can leave out any of the more extreme kids like thrash, black, and death metal. But just straight forward heavy metal crossing early Great White, Dokken, and the most kick ass songs off Warrant's "Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinkin' Rich" at their most melodic moments, and going seriously into speed metal at moments of unbridled energy. This album has all the awesome riffing, the blazing lead guitar work, and the soaring vocals of the best heavy metal albums of the eighties. There's even a bit of early American power metal and a few almost Iron Maiden moments here and there.
And the band can throw down some really awesome riffs that catch you completely off guard! A song can seem like your standard heavy charger when suddenly they whack you with a sledgehammer riff. Catch one of the best examples in the final track, "Can't Stop the Rush" but watch for them because they crop up everywhere. "Land of the Lost" and "All the Way" also deliver some great ones.
On this album, Striker prove that they have some of the best heavy metal tricks in the book (to borrow a phrase). But there's one perfectly good reason why this album doesn't appear on any lists of eighties metal and that is because this album was recorded and released in 2012. Yes, Striker are one of those classic metal bands that are around these days, and this album here, "Armed to the Teeth" (sounds like an album by Savage or Omen) proves that a band in the 2010's can create an album that sounds like all the best things about eighties heavy metal. Vocalist Dan Cleary has got the soaring eighties metal vocal down perfectly. For someone like me who's musical tastes were largely founded upon the heavy metal and hard rock music released between 1983 and 1989, this album revitalizes my youthful love for metal and furthermore, it makes me want to smash beer bottles on hardwood tables all the while grinning widely!
Will I be checking out more from this band? Oh, yeah! Come the New Year when the holiday bills have been paid off, I'm aiming to bring home another Striker album. I sure hope it's as killer as this one!