STRIKER — City Of Gold (review)

STRIKER — City Of Gold album cover Album · 2014 · Speed Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Time Signature
Underground...

Genre: power-thrash

The third full-length effort by Canadian metal act Striker, City of Gold was released in August on Napalm Records.

On this album the Canadians strike a perfect balance between traditional metal and thrash metal, resulting in a solid power-thrash attack. The opening track 'Underground' is an uptempo thrasher, while the title track combines thrashy aggression with a catchy chorus that, for some reason, makes me think of Stormwitch. The listener is treated to both uptempo thrash metal aggression and old school Judas Priest-like riffage combined with Maidenesque guitar melodies. 'Bad Desicions' even takes the music in 80s hard rock territory akin to Whitesnake at their best, standing in a nice contrast to the following thrasher 'Crossroads'. So yes, this is a perfectly balanced power-thrash release. The guitar solos are absolute facemelters, and the soaring vocals are all out old school metal, and the musicianship is overall impeccable. What really appeals to me about this album is its eclectism which simply captures most of the elements that made the 80s metal and hard rock landscape so attractive and brings it up to date in terms of performance and production.

Being a fan of thrash metal and traditional heavy metal, I have a weak spot for both US power metal and power-thrash in general (while European power metal cheese generally does not sit well with me), I may be a bit biased here, but I think that City of Gold is a very well put together album which captures all that's great about power thrash. This album should appeal to fans of both traditional metal and thrash metal, and City of Gold is thus recommended to fans of Charred Walls of the Damned, Dark Empire, Paradox, Iced Earth, and Artillery as well as early Running Wild and early Anthrax.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed