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How does a band with nearly 25 years and eight albums on the clock manage to top everything they’ve done before? Buckcherry’s answer is to make a great upbeat record that has both anthemic stompers and more considered, polished moments.

Powerhouse frontman Josh Todd leads the Bucks through the blazing opening trio of 54321, So Hott and the title track. Here everyone is clearly out to have a good time, and the listener gets joyously caught up in the debauchery.

The band then head for a more bluesy strut with Gun, mirrored a little later on Wasting No More Time, while No More Lies offers Billy Rowe the chance to shine during a laid-back lead guitar workout.

Stuffed with killer material, Hellbound is the party-rock album of 2021.

Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica (opens in new tab), published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term "thrash metal" while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009.

Have Buckcherry just released the party album of 2021?

Out now: Buckcherry's Hellbound is the best album yet from the Californian rockers, and they're clearly out for a very good time indeed