Stryker was founded in Arizona by the brothers Dale and Stephen Streiker (Dale and Stephen Hopkins). After releasing a single and a 4 song demo, the brothers were joined by drummer Joey Knight (Joey Puente). They moved to Austin in late 1982, and by the spring of 1983 the band recorded a 9 song cassette only release entitled "Blitzkrieg". By the mid-eighties Stryker changed the name to Stryken and the line-up was completed with bassist Ezekiel Vade (Jeremy Nunes). The band also went through a complete makeover in its image which saw each member of the group don body armor that is symbolic of the Armor of God as described in Ephesians 6:11. Stryken soon formed its own label, Chrystal Records, which it used to release a 12” single that included the tracks "Rock On" and "Surprise" in addition to its 1987 full length debut album "First Strike" (which came out only on cassette and red transparent vinyl).