Firewalker – “Demo”
A week ago I didn’t know who Firewalker was. Maybe you didn’t either. Well, here’s your chance to know.
I was talking to Viviam Lorena at a show, promoter extraordinaire and leader of those hellacious, hardcore, hellcat group- Vivi’d. I was boasting to her about how half the bands that are playing our Xmas party are female fronted.
She then suggested I check out Firewalker. An (almost) all-girl hardcore band, which I did and I was very impressed.
But what really impressed was a live clip I found from a fairly recent show at Hardcore Stadium. And if you want to stop reading this and go to the end of the review to see it- I’m fine with that.
‘Cause if that doesn’t convince you of their awesomeness, I don’t know what to do with you. Maybe put you in an old shoe box and place you in the back of my closet underneath my collection of seventies leisure suits.
This five song album is great but their live show seems to be even better. Explosive, wild, fun and excitement galore- it’s like letting loose a pack of rabid zebras inside a hair saloon. It’s like setting your hair on fire and running backwards in a mall shouting, “This is my artistic statement and I appear to be overdrawn.”
Let me reassure you, these are things you don’t want to attempt. We have- and now the dire consequences that have befallen upon us as individuals is hard to erase. The memories are hard to escape.
Instead, allow me to invite you to sample their auditory ware:
“Sick of you walking the fence/ It’s just common sense/ I just ask for respect/ But for you I got none left.” “Nothing Left” starts off all doom-y with slashing metal chords and female death vocals. But in a short bit, all hell breaks loose and an explosion of sounds and fury erupt as a hardcore rhythm detonates and destroys every fiber of your being. A return to the metal part is but a short reprise as the song returns to put the knife in again, slicing your eardrums delightfully.
“Sicker Than You” is a full frontal assault of pure hardcore, venom and noise. When it slows down to an intense grind, a comment of woman’s role in society occurs- “We’re half the population and we’re sicker than you/ Sick of the shit you put us through/ Twice as angry, twice as fed up, too/ Mentally tough, twice as tight like glue.” I think this song is sick, meaning- it’s great.
“Don’t Cross Me” is like a punk song played at hardcore speed with death metal vocals along with great lyrics. “I hate it when you’re not around/ I hate it when you’re here/ I hate it when you just won’t- disappear.” There’s a breakdown/slowdown part towards the end. “I wish I never met you, I think about it everyday/ How much better off I’d be/ If you just stayed the fuck away…Nowhere I go that’s far enough away.” All I know is I’m glad to be here to hear such a great song.
Firewalker describe themselves simply as punk/hardcore with an influence of eighties hardcore. And you can hear the metal sounding guitars, the death vocals and the hardcore beats- but what steps out to my ears is, very clearly, the gem of punk deeply embedded in their songs.
What they portray to me is the sound of a pure, punk band full of punk’s anger, emotion, integrity and spirit.
And if you watch the following live clip, which was probably all of a ten minute set they played a few months ago, any words I have to add are meaningless- pointless- fruitless (no fruit to be had).
The passion, the power, the fun, the expression. The wildness, the freedom, the truth- is right in front of your eyes and rolling inside your eardrums.
Check out their video here:
And I don’t care if you don’t listen to me, just listen to Firewalker.
(Slimedog)
