Because I couldn't have said it better, I'll let the bands press release take over: STRIDER is a band formed by five True Metal enthusiasts. We grew up listening to the likes of MANOWAR, DIO and ACCEPT and empowered by their music decided to create our very own brand of True Metal. We are old-fashioned enough not to believe in editing our music with computers, which is why our album sounds exactly the same as we do in a live environment. We don't want to use dishonest computer gimmicks on our albums, just to focus on great songwriting and crushing delivery instead. Our music is honest and, most importantly, true! Our first album "Dominion of Steel" was released in 2019 and we had quite nice success in the Baltic countries and Poland while touring in the spring of 2020. Our second album "Into Glory Stride" will be released on Nov 4th 2022, and we will continue to conquer the world with the power of True Metal. In the process of making the first album we noticed that the biggest challenge is to get great drum sounds on the album. Because we strive to the end to avoid everything artificial in our music, using sample sounds was out of the question.

With the press release hype and the awesome cover artwork of muscular bare-chested barbarians with swords and shields preparing for war, I totally expected to be blown away into a realm of heavy metal unconsciousness, but I wasn't, it's because of the vocals, they are, let's say.....lumpy, and I'm being kind, they're uneven, gravely, and dissonant, they just don't mesh musically. The title track "Into Glory Stride" is talking, narrating vocals over a slower paced, rhythmic tempo that meanders aimlessly. Picking up the pace on "Striders of the Universe" with spiced up riffs and meaty backing elements, but harsh, almost out of tune vocals overpower the essence of the song. "We Metal (D.I.O.)", has the classic riff of "We Rock" by DIO, but that's where the similarity ends, a lackluster effort all the way around on this song, RJD would not be happy. If I had to pick a favorite track, it's "Too True To Be Good", the heaviest with a hulking, nasty and angry riff, but again, dragged down by the vocals.

Yes, I do pick on the vocals on this album, and deservedly so, they are apathetic and raucous, and really hold the music back, hopefully they project more dynamic in a live environment. The band is most definitely influenced by MANOWAR on the majority of the tracks with their riffs and musical elements, but a huge work in progress. The overall feel is a bad karaoke night.