Criminal Hero – Walk Through The Fire

After releasing a handful of standalone singles this year, Criminal Hero is back with more songs that will appeal to music enthusiasts looking for cleverly assembled, flawlessly performed, and perfectly produced music. “Walk Through The Fire” is his debut full-length album, featuring ten exceptional songs that will immediately wrap around your ears. With singles like “You Better Believe,” “Bring It On,” “She’s To Blame,” and an album title track, this Canadian artist has already established his sound and proved that rock music still has so many things to say, but with the remainder of the batch, he goes even further into combining various rock subgenres. Surely, you’ll notice how a highly energetic alternative rock reigns supreme here, but it’s certainly not the only style you’ll stumble upon. Criminal Hero has fully stacked every composition with only the finest elements borrowed from punk rock, garage rock, hard rock, classic rock, rock ‘n’ roll, and indie, but prepare your ears for even more along the way. The best part about it is how the artist expertly, cleverly, thoughtfully, and tastefully combined it all. While all these styles are more or less dominant in the mix depending on the song’s mood and ambiance, it’s also good to mention that the entire material sounds so perfectly combined that the entire collection works as a cohesive whole. And because of that, “Walk Through The Fire” also shines with the sound of the sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties, capturing all the significant eras when all those rock subgenres ruled the airwaves. But, as is usually the case, the artist also kept in mind that this material needs a contemporary sound, so you’ll certainly notice qualities that meet all the trends in modern music production. To put it simply, “Walk Through The Fire” will become your go-to album whenever you need energetic, dynamic, unfiltered, soulful rock music. It’s unquestionably a top contender for a rock album of the year.

Criminal Hero strikes hard with the introductory piece. “You Better Believe” is one of those songs that leaves you breathless as soon as you press play. The tasteful combination of generously distorted guitar and more than enough melody for this type of sound creates an atmosphere that immediately appeals to your ears. Criminal Hero’s commanding vocal performance offers rawness, aggression, and emotion to this piece, while the rhythm section propels everything to new heights. And you know how so many bands usually slow down the pace with the second composition? Well, that’s not the case here, because Criminal Hero delivers another anthemic garage-infused punk rock song that shines with qualities of the finest eighties and nineties punk rock songs. You can each strum over the strings, ringing with such precision and finesse, while the warm-sounding basslines bring clarity, depth, groove, and melody. The expertly performed beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics play a significant role here, as they keep everything together while bringing more groove and pace. “She’s To Blame” is another garage rock anthem that evokes the best years of NYC and Detroit scenes. With such a catchy, memorable, engaging chorus where Criminal Hero’s raspy voice brings that addictive, hypnotic, irresistible melody and harmony, it’s simply impossible to ignore how good a singer-songwriter he truly is. “Do You Wanna Go” is another mid-seventies-inspired rock ‘n’ roll composition where tasty riffs levitate all around, accentuated by continuous splashes over the cymbals. Once again, the chorus forces you to sing along loudly in the pub while chugging beer with your friends. “Isn’t It A Crime” is one of those standout songs where each riff, bassline, beat, and vocal performance is so impactful that you’ll surely spin it multiple times. Each sonic maneuver showcases Criminal Hero’s songwriting, composing, arranging, and producing abilities to the max.

The artist brings more dynamics and groove by slowing down a little bit with another standout composition. “I Can Feel You” resonates with tremendous power, heaviness, and unfiltered aggression, yet beneath the surface it has that particular early nineties alternative rock melody and harmony, decorated by the grunge dirtiness and fuzziness. And it’s nearly mind-blowing how Criminal Hero switches between different eras. After the song that vividly pays homage to the nineties alternative rock scene, he delivers another banger that screams seventies rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a fast, energetic, dirty rock anthem where detailed guitar riffs and melody meet the warmth of the low-end notes and immensely detailed, groovy beats. The vocal performance is so memorable, powerful, and certainly packs a lot of punch. With a song like “Shouldn’t Matter,” Criminal Hero slows down the pace once again, but it’s one of those grunge- and alternative-inspired punk rock songs where each riff strikes hard and leaves tremendous impact on the listeners. The vocals perfectly follow these vocal sonic maneuvers, expertly gliding over low, mid, and high notes. Also, it’s surprising how all those generously distorted guitars articulate here. Despite all the noise, you’ll notice each detail: strumming on the strings, harmonies, melodies, solos, etc. “Walk Through The Fire” is unquestionably one of those songs that deserve to be called a title track. Everything from memorable verses to the anthemic choruses is so thoughtfully assembled and combined into a colossal slab of harmonious noise that immediately pentrates your ears and refuses to let go. “Lucky For Me” is such a beautiful garage rock song that follows the rules of Criminal Mind’s previous works, but it sounds even more melodic thanks to the catchy, memorable, engaging choruses where every chord progression, bassline, beat, and vocal line deliver a top notch performance. This epic sonic journey comes to an end with “Bring It On.” Once again, unlike many contemporaries who slow down the pace with the closing song, Criminal Hero does quite the opposite and delivers another rock ‘n’ roll banger that will immediately force you to spin this fine piece of sonic artistry all over again.

“Walk Through The Fire” is all killer no filler debut album by Criminal Hero, an artist who knows how to craft anthemic, impactful, captivating, soulful rock songs. This material is so hearty, dynamic, powerful, and emotive, to the point it brings everything that makes rock ‘n’ roll music so great. If you ever doubted the power of rock music, “Walk Through The Fire” will immediately reassure you why you fell in love with the genre in the first place. Criminal Hero is one of those artists who brough back the glory days of rock music but also showcases many impressive, fresh, unique, innovative moves that will certainly appeal to even the pickiest music enthusiasts. A 10/10 experience worth repeating over and over again. Do not miss it!