It’s not that Criminal Hero is a backward-glancing purveyor of nostalgia, but his music does remind us of rock ‘n’ roll’s rich and rugged past. Less in a historical way, more in a reminder that the genre has a long and rewarding history already, that it found out what makes it tick a long time ago, and that the music made on those understandings was half bad! If some music is about celebrating what has gone before and some is about defining the future…Criminal Hero is the bridge between the two worlds.
Those of us old enough to remember will recognize “Walk Through the Fire”, his latest single and fourth release from his forthcoming debut album, for what it is. Straight up, foot-on-the-monitor rock and roll, the sort of music that embodies the genre’s outsider nature, the same spirit that ran through everything from 60’s garage bands, 70’s punk, 80’s sleaze rock revivalists, 90’s grungers, and 21st-century back-to-basics rockers.
And the term back to basics is in no way a slur; it just shows that Criminal Hero knows what makes kick ass rock and roll work and strips away any unnecessary baggage. The riffs are raw and razor-like, powerful and precision cut, the beats and bass pound and pulse away, the perfect engine room, and the lyrics are anthemic….the whole thing is a blend of gratuitous groove and bombastic boogie. What else do you need from a rock and roll song?
Criminal Hero knows that sometimes you don’t have to do anything particularly revolutionary; sometimes all you need to do is put your own twist on the familiar, do it like you mean it, and do it better than the competition. “Walk Through the Fire” is, if you permit me to borrow, I believe, from baseball jargon, three for three on that front.
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