CRIMINAL HERO DELIVERS DETROIT-POWERED ROCK ON DEBUT ALBUM WALK THROUGH THE FIRE
INDEPENDENT
Some records capture a moment. Others take years of living before they finally make sense.
For Criminal Hero founder Rick Harkness, Walk Through the Fire falls firmly into the latter category. Released on Friday, August 28, the debut album brings together songs written across different chapters of his life and turns them into a record about choices, consequences, survival and figuring out who you are on the other side.
Born in Toronto, shaped by years spent in Detroit and now based in Vancouver, Harkness has carried those different musical environments with him. Criminal Hero pulls from the raw energy of punk, the muscle of classic rock and the immediacy of modern production, built around big guitars, driving rhythms and hooks meant to stick.
But Walk Through the Fire isn’t an exercise in nostalgia.
At its centre is the idea behind the Criminal Hero name itself: that the difference between hero and villain often depends on who’s telling the story. Harkness approaches the songs without pretending every decision was the right one, instead looking back at mistakes, relationships, loss, and reinvention from the perspective of someone who has lived long enough to understand them differently.
That thread runs throughout the album, balancing swagger, and vulnerability without losing the energy that drives Criminal Hero’s sound.
Leading the release is focus track and radio single “Do You Wanna Go,” a direct, high-energy introduction to the project that captures Harkness at his most immediate. Powered by an insistent rhythm and a chorus designed to be turned up loud, the song distills much of what defines Criminal Hero into a few explosive minutes.
Across Walk Through the Fire, Harkness isn’t interested in presenting a polished version of the past. The scars, wrong turns and contradictions are part of the story. Criminal Hero is what came out the other side.
ARTIST QUOTE
“Walk Through the Fire is about confronting the mistakes I’ve made, accepting what I couldn’t control, and learning to forgive myself for both. It’s a reflection on what I’ve been through and a celebration of making it out the other side.” ~Rick Harkness, Criminal Hero
Criminal Hero
Walk Through The Fire
(Independent)
Release Date: August 28, 2026
Artist Links
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