Seeing a band live that you have never heard anything from previously sure can be a treat. In my experience with
Comeback Kid it was dreadful. The vocals were rough, and all I heard was that, one guitar, and a snare drum. After they finished with their first two songs I had had enough and left. Most things sooner or later get a second chance and this band was no exception. Upon purchasing Silverstein"s Discovering the Waterfront album a bonus DVD led me to the video of
Wake the Dead . The sound itself was much different than I remembered so I decided to check out the rest of the record.
The sound more specifically the vocals are the yell found in plenty of the heavy acts these days. Most of the lyrics are very easy to comprehend and hear which is a definite plus since they focus on some interesting subjects at times. The lyrics themselves are certainly above average in plenty of instances. The drums add to the aggressive sound and pound through most of the album. Guitars are layered octave chords at plenty of times with a few diminished bends sprinkled in. The bass does a nice job standing out at places and not following the guitars every single second. As stated above the main vocals are a yell and plenty of times the choruses turn into a chant showing some punk roots. While this can be quite effective, when it is exercised in practically every song it gets tedious very quickly. As a whole, this album suffers from a great deal of repetition.
False Idols Fall is a good open to the album, focusing lyrically on selling out.
Were we too blind to see you were only human like me" They build you up to watch you fall Simple, but quite effective in bringing energy to the table. When
My Other Side comes on, it does not sound like another side at all. It sounds almost exactly like the first song on the CD which is a huge red flag. The guitar, drums, and vocals sound all like the patterns used in the opener. When repetition sets in during the second song, it"s a very bad sign for an 11 track record.
The title track
Wake the Dead opens with a cool little drum fill and goes into a fairly catchy progression. The verse features the ever so present thumping snare, bass, and high hat formula used in the previous songs. A noticeable feature of this song is the somewhat mellower second verse followed by a small breakdown done for the perfect amount of time. The bridge of this song is done quite well and will definitely stay in your head for a bit, as it concludes the song.
The Trouble I Love starts out a bit different with some palm muted guitar. The verse is much less in your face which works great for this song. While nothing crazy, the guitar is done nicely for this very short song. The screaming at the end strikes a wrong note with me, it seems a tad forced.
Talk is Cheap opens with some bass on top of a fading in guitar. The rest of the song is pretty much what"s already been featured on the CD. The breakdown of the song is very mediocre and the little tempo change 5 seconds before the song ends is pointless. As the vocals for
Partner in Crime open the song the album really begins to show its repetition. The vocals have had no variation what so ever throughout the whole album and than one realizes that the music is the same way. It really makes it seem that once you have heard a few tracks there is nothing new to offer which makes the last half of the album seemingly pointless.
There is a little game you can play with this album; click approximately the halfway point of every song and listen for about 5 seconds. About 9 of the 11 songs sound like they could be the same one. The pounding drums, the yelling vocals with the same pattern, and the same guitar styles just get plain old. There is not a whole lot of point in going into specific detail about songs found on the last half of the album, nothing new is heard.
Comeback Kid has a very specific formula and they seem unwilling to take a risk in straying away from it in this album. This record can be summed up in three words; repetitive, predictable, and average. Perhaps in the future
Comeback Kid will be ready to drift away from their typical sound and begin experimenting with different song structures as well as new sounds in the songs; until than their material will wear off faster than a temporary tattoo in a bubble bath.
Final Rating: 3/5
