Since forming at the dawn of the millennium the world has undergone some dramatic changes and Comeback Kid have managed to roll with the punches for over twenty years now. This year sees the group release their seventh studio album entitled Heavy Steps, their first full length in over four years, which co-incidentally has been co-produced by none other than John Paul Peters, the recording engineer behind Comeback Kid’s debut record, 2003’s Turn It Around.
Heavy Steps takes exactly zero prisoners from the get go, it’s title track immediately setting the president for the rest of the record as it rages onward with the force of a runaway train. “I think of our new single ‘Heavy Steps’ as a bold statement of a riff right off the bat, and lyrically coming from an unhinged perspective about tearing through life” states frontman Andrew Neufield, and tear it does. He goes on to describe the track as having a “just test me” type of sentiment to it, made all the more obvious by Neufield’s vocal performance, not just here but throughout the entire album. His delivery more urgent and pissed off than ever before but also showing maturity, soaring vocal harmonies scattered across the album show he’s no one trick pony.
Though Comeback Kid are in many ways the archetype hardcore punk band, they’ve always managed to widen their appeal, welcoming in fans from right across the heavy music spectrum. Be it ‘melodic hardcore’ or ‘skate punk’, ‘macho beatdown hardcore’ to straight up metal, their music has always been accessible. Heavy Steps contains two songs featuring artists from differing sides of the aforementioned genres, each complimenting Neufield’s vocal capabilities. ‘Everything Relates’ features a blink and you’ll miss it appearance from Deez Nut’s JJ Peters, a song full of melody and Comeback Kid’s trademark, massive sounding gang vocals. Whilst ‘Crossed’, the third single to be taken from the album accompanied by a video showing just how much fun you can have with a green screen, features the deep vocal styles of Gojira’s Joe Duplantier. A collaboration as unexpected as that with Devin Townsend on ‘Absolute’ a track featured on 2017’s album Outsider, which sounds somewhat lacklustre in hindsight when compared with the fury of Heavy Steps.
The most obvious progression and maturity in sound comes in the form of album closer ‘Menacing Weight’, a track that sounds like no other in Comeback Kid’s back catalogue. Whilst melodic to the core, this track feels as though it’s drawn mild influences from Neufield’s other musical project, Sights and Sounds. It’s fresh, fast and highly emotive. Despite the album not having as much of an ‘instantly memorable’ quality to it, like the earworm calibers of almost every track on Wake The Dead, Broadcasting or Symptoms and Cures, Heavy Steps is a high octane, energetic, furious and melodic package all round. It’s a band doing what they do best and then some, with the potential to be another defining moment in their already iconic discography. It just goes to show that even two decades down the line, Comeback Kid still have the swagger of a band in their absolute prime.