Anytime a hardcore band goes a few years without touring or releasing anything, I generally assume that the band quietly broke up. Anytime one of those bands suddenly rumbles back to life, it’s a great little surprise. That’s what’s just happened with Firewalker, a Boston band that plays a feverish, elemental version of hardcore punk. Before yesterday, Firewalker hadn’t released anything since the short, brutal 2019 EP The Roll Call. Today, though, they’re back with two new songs and a cover.

The two new songs on Firewalker’s Demo 2022 are “Hell Bent” and “Cold Day,” and they’re both short, simple rippers that get a ton of momentum from Sophie Hendry’s demonic growl. The cover is “Boxed In,” the hard-chug classic from the great NYHC goons Subzero. That song is a little outside Firewalker’s wheelhouse, but blaze right into it and find a midtempo groove-stomp that I haven’t heard from them before. Stream the new demo below.

Demo 2022 is out now, and you can get it at Bandcamp.