Comeback Kid – Outsider – Review

Comeback Kid

Outsider (Nuclear Blast)
By Mike Delano

Manitoba hardcore punkers Comeback Kid sound razor sharp on Outsider, their first album since 2014’s Die Knowing and debut for Nuclear Blast. It’s more diverse than Die Knowing, which was satisfyingly relentless with its aggression but didn’t tap into the range of the band’s strengths like this album does. Vocalist Andrew Neufeld’s piercing bark can still peel the paint, sounding like the unholy halfway point between Snapcase’s Daryl Taberski and Municipal Waste’s Tony Foresta, and on Outsider he gets to play more with melody, to great effect, like on the choruses of “Surrender Control” and “Hell Of A Scene.” He goes roar for roar with Devin Townsend, who guests on “Absolute,” and quickly adjusts as the band strips away some of its metal influences for a more street punk style on “Consumed The Vision,” which features The Flatliners’ Chris Cresswell. Guitarists Jeremy Hiebert and Stu Ross knock out plenty of fresh meat for the pit (the best of which is the ferociously groove-based “I’ll Be That”) but also get a chance to stretch out on the hopeful “Recover.” And for a band already famous for fist-pumping sing-a-long-worthy anthems, Comeback Kid manages to outdo their previous work yet again with immediately catchy stuff like the title track and the instant classic “Somewhere, Somehow.”
(nuclearblast.com)