Comeback Kid are, to me, a bit of an enigma. They managed to go from relative obscurity to scene celebrities through the single namesake of 2005’s Wake The Dead, and thus became the hardcore band that people who don’t like hardcore like. Fast forward to today, add in a new singer, and you have their latest offering.
What cannot fail to strike you, as I pointed out on our forums when this album’s single namesake was released onto MySpace, was the fact that Andrew Neufeld sounds unnervingly like Chester Bennington when he holds a note for any length of time without changing pitch. It will doubtless make you smile when you first realize it, but it’s actually rather aurally pleasing, and Neufeld is clearly a technically competent vocalist, as well as being a hearty screamer.
‘Irked’ is too strong a word, but what I didn’t quite like about their last album was how it was too biased towards the singles. Broadcasting is a much more solid and strong album when considered as a whole. There’s a few nice changes of pace in the album – case in point being ‘Industry Standards’ where we’re treated to a tantalising textural build-up of guitar and then vocal layers. Which brings me onto the production – it’s excellent. It strikes a great balance between gruff, traditional hardcore, and more modern stylings which have become associated with bands like Comeback Kid.
As I hinted at before, the band have the potential to be a true hardcore outreach – bringing people into the genre who wouldn’t normally give it a chance. And perhaps the biggest compliment I can give them is that I was undecided about checking them out in a live setting on their March dates in the UK until I heard this album. But my decision has been made for me.