Review

The characteristics that make a great hardcore band, are all of the things most of the bands today lack. Winnipeg’s Comeback Kid aren’t lacking anything when it comes to passion, intensity and integrity – and it all show’s in their sophomore effort, Wake The Dead.

While Comeback Kid’s last disc, Turn It Around, was a straightforward hardcore disc, this time around things are a little different. Comeback Kid have traded in a majority of the floor punching for well-timed and placed fist pumping.

If ever a title track was there to define an album, this would be it. The gang vocals of, “You said, you said, you said this time was gonna be different,” really set the scene for what this disc holds – something different, and by different I mean really good. With this title track the new Comeback kid is exemplified. “Wake the Dead,” (the song not the entire album) strips away a lot of the hardcore characteristics that made Turn It Around so good and replaces it with some straight-ahead punk rock vibes making for a downright catchy tune.

This disc is another one of those start-to-finish discs. The opening track, “False Idols Fall,” starts off in true Comeback Kid fashion, fast and aggressive with heavy riffs and vocals that pack a powerful punch. Just like the way the disc opens, it closes in an intense fashion with, “Final Goodbye,” a song that encapsulates everything good about Wake The Dead – gang chants, hardcore breakdowns, hard hitting vocals and slashing guitar riffs.

The lyrics of “My Other Side,” like the rest of the album, are strikingly honest, “Promises have been made / I’ve been let down / What’s inside your heart?” The openness of their lyrics set the scene for this disc – catchy and intelligent. Comeback Kid pores their heart out on this album, yet have the uncanny ability to leave all the teary-eyed emo-ness where it belongs – with their other Victory Records label mates.

In a much too short twenty-five minute album Comeback Kid brings new life to the hardcore scene, and essentially “wakes the dead,” with their throwback to the old styles of the genre. With one listen of Wake The Dead it is sure to become a CD collection staple for years to come.

Review by Melissa Goldberg

5 out of 5