| Welcome to the LOUDEST DOT COM ON THE PLANET! |  |
|
|
 |
|
| Welcome to the LOUDEST DOT COM ON THE PLANET! | |
|
|
|
|
STRIKER, LUTHARO, THE SCEPTER In Ottawa, CA By Andrew Depedro, Ottawa Corespondent Wednesday, October 2, 2024 @ 9:03 AM
The date may have been Friday the 13th that night, but for many live music enthusiasts in Ottawa, it was a night where they lucked big in a variety of shows: Punk agitators RISE AGAINST and Swedish prog-metal newcomers SOEN were conquering CityFest outside TD Place while Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisholm was trying her hand at DJ'ing at the Bronson Center during her third appearance at the venue in 25 years.
https://www.facebook.com/thesceptermetal/
https://lutharo.com/
Sending their bodies down where the party's all around at last and preceded by a seizure-inducing light show, headliners STRIKER are probably used to seeing the KNAC.COM logo in the audience throughout their nearly two-decade long vast touring career - especially whenever they're playing Houston for obvious reasons - but probably not as often whenever they're touring their native land. And while there shall be a day when our beloved News Monkey Larry Petro succeeds in getting a city park or hospital wing named after 'em, the Edmonton-based quintet showed the Ottawa crowd what their brand of heavy-hitting thrashy and catchy power metal was all about.
https://www.striker-metal.com/
Setlist:
| |||||
|
|
| Recent Reviews |
 |
|
And in getting the date wrong for the first show while just not that eager to part with $125 to catch the second, I opted to catch three of Canada's own northern stars in metal over at the Overflow Brewery for a quarter of the ticket price.
Opening the set were local speed shredders THE SCEPTER - no relation in particular to their similarly-named thrashier LA counterparts who have been disbanded since 1983, hence the name amendment - as they break out the towering jams starting with "Burden To All". With blistering riffs and a colorful light show run by someone in the stage crew with such an affinity for the color scheme of the album cover for The Ultimate Sin that most of the show's lighting appeared to be shot using the cover's two prime colors, the quintet delivers a blistering set of songs about - and preferably not both at once - drinking ("Drink On") and driving ("Road To Mayhem", "Riding Out") as well as mythical battles inspired by the Heavy Metal movie ("Taarakian Blood" and most likely their best-known track "Shadow In The Tower") and even a speed metal rendition of "Separate Ways" by JOURNEY complete with some of the fastest soloing ever attempted on the song that would put Neal Schon in awe. Frontman Jesse Harvey definitely looks and lives the larger-than-life persona, his 70's Rob Halford leather outfit pairing well with the overall stage vibe. Guitarists Morgan Walsh and Josh Collins bring the twin axe attack Downing/Tipton style while the rhythm section comprised of bassist Stew Everitt and drummer John Crawford provide a solid and thundering groove; I swear that they were playing even faster than Morgan and Josh were on their cover of "Separate Ways" at one point. Their performance may have played out just as fast as their stage time but THE SCEPTER still left a monumental impression on many a fan that night.
From Steeltown - that would be Hamilton, Ontario for those wondering and, yes, that's also where MONSTER TRUCK are from - back to my town once more following their previous visit back in the mid-spring, co-headliners LUTHARO dish out their fine brand of symphonically brutal power metal and make a few amendments to their setlist. With their sophomore effort Chasing Euphoria quickly gaining more recognition since its release back in March, the current quintet-vocalist Krista Shipper bottom, guitarist Victor Bucur, bassist Chris Pacey, drummer Cory Hofing and new touring addition in the form of second guitarist Jeff Wilson - have been touring relentlessly while even trying out new material on the road, including "Paradise Or Parasite" for their follow-up album and playing deep, uh, cuts such as "Bonded To The Blade" alongside the crowd favorites such as "Ruthless Bloodline", "Wings Of Agony", "Born To Ride" and Euphoria's powerfully euphoric title track. A stellar performance overall for which the band put in 200% of themselves into. Maybe that was why, as well as the KNAC.COM shirt I was wearing in the front row, Krista had appeared to almost open the band's set with "Hello, LA! We're from Canada!" before she immediately caught her mistake and corrected herself.
Opening with the rager "Circle Of Evil", frontman Dan Cleary cuts a lean figure as he conquers the stage in his most warrior-like persona as the rest of the band - guitarists Tim Brown and John Simon Fallon and rhythm section, Pete Klassen (bass) and Jon Webster (drums) - deliver a good 90 minutes of part speed metal bliss and part colorful goofy 80's opulent fun into their performance. And though guitarist Tim Brown was currently nursing a sprained back injury from a jet-skiing mishap a few days before as he sat perched on a stool throughout the concert, he still contributed his collection of lightning-fast arpeggios and solos alongside his other axe-wielding colleague John Simon. And while I'm sure you've read Larry's past accolades of the band in his own previous reviews, I too must reiterate the obvious after finally arriving late to the fluorescent-themed party: STRIKER provides quality live entertainment for all. They have their intriguing storylines such as "Phoenix Lights" (based on a real-life UFO sighting in Arizona in 1997 according to Dan in his intro). They have their uplifting and positive numbers such as "Ready For Anything", "Thunderdome", "Give It All" and "Start Again" reminding us all that sometimes one must fail in order to truly appreciate success. They have their overall reiteration-themed and absurd-titled tracks such as "Best Of The Best Of The Best" and "Sucks To Suck" - the latter title so catchy that bassist Pete Klassen even had a bright neon-colored tank top custom-made just to play in throughout this entire tour. And, finally - particularly as it was the song that the band would close with - they have earnest-sounding songs such as "Heart Of Lies" whose words simply get to the point and then some, catchy as their refraining good-time chorus will appear.
With seven full-length studio albums into their career including their 2018 Juno Award-winning effort Play To Win as well as their most recent offering Ultrapower, STRIKER are one of the few bands who can effortlessly fuse the laid-back good times of the 80's with the reality check of The Now. Better yet, think of the relentless riffing of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in which STRIKER are cast as the main act of the D-level horror flick Hobgoblins. They won't encourage you to listen to HAIRCUT 100, take lots of cocaine and vote for Ronald Reagan anytime soon, but they're here, there and everywhere - and that's what makes them the best of the best of the best in their field.