Firewalker – “The Roll Call”
Firewalker was a favorite local band of mine a few years ago, along with Gas Station Girls.
I never saw either band live, but I did see videos of both bands playing semi-underground gigs at places like Hardcore Stadium and The Democracy Center. And I liked both of the bands- a lot.
And both bands were very young and not big about social media, and I thought both bands captured the true sound and feeling of early punk, that I rarely hear in the many bands I write about.
But it seems that Gas Station Girls are gone, but who can know for sure, while Firewalker are still lit.
The diminutive, female singer still roars like a flame thrower shooting out its’ flames in a gargling, death metal growl. The bands still roars out, too, with their mix of metal, punk and grind. Or more accurately, like a tiger in a cage taunted with a stick that’s ready to pounce.
This is music that you can enjoy with its’ threat of perilous danger where, if it was a person you accounted in real life- you’d be looking for the quickest escape route.
Threatening, non-compromising, powerful, passionate and pure excitement, emotion and aggression is how I’d describe this band.
And not that it should matter, but be aware that four out of five of these musicians are female.
Let’s Fuck The Patriarchy and give this band a listen:
“The Roll Call” rolls out with a fuzzin’, buzzin’ guitar in a song caught somewhere between metal, grunge and punk. Female death vocals spew out venom like a cobra preparing to strike. A moderate, hardcore attack alternates with a more hard rockin’ metal beat. That is until, it slows and simmers with a headbanging groove with high, bending guitar licks. There are maybe eight genres referenced in this song, but no need to get out the calculator. This song is aggressive, propulsive and has guts and passion to perfection. I checked with all the dials and meters and my original calculation was correct- This song rules.
Not a cover of the great, Lou Reed Song “I’m So Free”, this song rambles out with a heavy, pounding beat and growling, intense vocals. “I’m so free,” the chorus goes, but the beat is anchored and fully locked in a hard, unmerciful groove. This song is more metal than most metal bands, more abrasive and aggressive than most hardcore bands and ultimately, more punk than most punk bands that I review. And they are not a punk band! But they
do exceed in capturing the essence and pleasing an old punk rocker, like myself, extremely well.
“The Mystery” starts with some ominous, guitar chords along with sounds like a demon gargling with kerosene on vocals. At first, it’s all played in a headbanging metal groove but soon, the pit is ignited as the beat accelerates as if scorched by the flames of hell. This song sounds to me like a collaboration between Rob Zombie, Slayer and The Ramones. So it’s no mystery to me while I feel this song is so great.
With a modest, guitar intro met with a vocal exhalation, “Spirits Roam” appear with a modified Bo Didley/Latin beat suggesting Black Sabbath performing as a mariachi band at the portals of hell. “Evoke the spirit.” This song is fiery, exciting and eerie and is my favorite song on this release. There’s also a sludgey, intense breakdown at the end that leads this great EP out. I started out stating that Firewalker was a favorite band of mine at one time. It turns out- they still are.
And I’m more than happy that they still exist and are still producing material at such a high level.
But what I’m most happy about, is that bands such as this, continue to carry “The Punk Torch” in the music Olympics! Though, now that I think of it, that may be The Special Olympics they’re competing in?
Bands such as this take the spirit, the ideals, the emotion of the early punk scene and embrace it, and evolve it and make it into their own.
This band with this release embodies all the bands that, Andy and I, grew up on in the late seventies and eighties.
It’s all here, folks! All the original punk, hardcore and metal before it splintered into a thousand versions and designs.
This is a great band.
This is a great release.
That’s all I have to tell you.
(Slimedog)
