There are plenty of references to fire, demons, and fury throughout Hell Bent. Sophie Hendry is full of all of them. “How he tries to steal my joy / I must be the Devil’s favorite fucking toy!,” she growls through gnashed teeth in the album’s opening headcharge, “Devil’s Favorite Toy”. The next song is a self-immolating anthem called “Carry My Own Torch”, and after that, its title track incinerates with a guest spot from Trapped Under Ice and Angel Du$t frontman Justice Tripp before throwing the whole damn kerosene tank onto the blaze with “Lit Up With Fire”.

Needless to say, when a band that literally has the word “fire” in their name enters the pit with an intent to scorch every inch of the earth surrounding it, you shouldn’t be all that surprised when they fully deliver. If you know, you know when it comes to Firewalker, however, a band who’ve been at it for a decade now, yet compared to many of their peers in the modern hardcore scene, have remained almost elusively entrenched within Boston’s DIY hardcore scene corners, festering away in existential spoils as the world burns. Naturally, they’re drawn to the carnage, and on their sophomore effort and first album in 7 years, they can’t be contained or ignored.

Hendry, alongside guitarists Cecelia Halle and Sarah King, bassist Rory Tito, and drummer Sasha Stroud, have mastered the art of pyrotechnic hardcore here in putting their instruments through the kiln, resulting in a refined yet heavier metallic armor that allows them to run full force into the flames. Their sound remains gnarled with grit and soot in between its crevices, but riffs cut through with sword-like precision, at times over-arching at sky-height in bestial, towering solo form on “Limbo”. Their ignition source remains the spirit of an aggressive refusal to not be stepped to that can only be born out of Boston hardcore, and the burning will only stop when everything of hate that is standing in their way becomes ash.

Highlights: “Devil’s Favorite Toy”, “Hell Bent”, “Limbo”

Firewalker’s Hell Bent is available now on Triple B Records.

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