Comeback Kid
Trouble
Keeping up your little hot streak, eh, Comeback Kid? Good move for them, seeing as 2022’s Heavy Steps was a terrific album that definitively inked in one of their strongest eras in years. For a band deep inside their third decade of existence who’ve already proven themselves as a cornerstone of hardcore punk in the 21st Century, that’s pretty good going, however you spin it. Hardcore’s elder statesmen (which is a phrase without the most comfortable fit on Comeback Kid, but hey ho) do tend to age more gracefully than other genres’, of which Comeback Kid have been exemplary at proving. Even on as brief an EP as Trouble, that still holds true.
There’s no secret to getting it right either; Comeback Kid just seem to do it. When Trouble In The Winner’s Circle lunges into view with a riff that’s all teeth bared and claws out, we’re back in business from the jump, clearly. This is a prime cut of Comeback Kid from every angle—vicious, and melodic, and propulsive at every turn. That might seem predestined for a lean four-tracker, but you really can’t discount the form the band are on here. Be it in the speed of Disruption that could crack concrete with drum thwack, or the bigger, brighter hook of Chompin’ At The Bit that’d already slam without the gang vocals, it’s all quality, quality stuff.
So, anything worth complaining about? Not really, mostly because there isn’t room left for complaints. See, because Comeback Kid know what they’re doing, Trouble is so optimised as a body of work. Dips or downtime aren’t even factored into the equation; as a tight unit with a vocalist like Andrew Neufeld who’s lost none of his bone-chomping power, they ideally shouldn’t be. And thus, Trouble fills a hole as cleanly as is possible for hardcore like this. It’s right in Comeback Kid’s wheelhouse for that, where the charge of the guitar and bass is perfectly mixed across the board (albeit with the most minor of quietening on Disruption), and the rattling anger more than follows suit. It’s actually very well-written for this kind of brusque takedown, which isn’t a necessity as much as Comeback Kid advancing out of their stylistic box when they don’t really have to.
That’s about everything, honestly. When every comment seems to circle back to a central point of ‘it’s great’, you’re kind of limited for how much is possible to say. Compounded by its hefty runtime of a whole 10-ish minutes, it’s more useful to relay Trouble’s self-evident quality and say to go listen to it. As a morsel to tide the fans over until whatever comes next, it doesn’t get better than this; as an illustration of the heights that Comeback Kid are still scraping this far in, ditto. Keep it up, guys, you’re doing great.
For fans of: H2O, Stick To Your Guns, Modern Life Is War
‘Trouble’ by Comeback Kid is released on 15th March on Sharptone Records.
Greywind
Antidote
Seven years, it’s been, since Greywind’s last full release. Hype cycles have since come and gone; careers have burgeoned and imploded in that time. It’s almost an unthinkable fallow period when quick-fix culture has become the name of the game. Though it hasn’t been without reason, as Greywind have now freed themselves from the major label machine and got the rights back to their debut Afterthoughts, the subsequent TikTok uptick of which might have you start to believe that music is the meritocracy that it’s really not. That album still totally holds up, by the way, as a beacon of alt-rock resilience where 2010s Britrock had since mostly crumbled, that should’ve totally had the stars align for it way earlier than now.
Still, better late than never, given that Greywind have evidently still got it in spades. Antidote might be a tentative release in length—not even a song for each year of unwitting hiatus—but nothing at all is being held back within them. That simply isn’t in Greywind’s nature, a duo for whom the notion of a canopy above alt-rock is tested with every phenomenally accessible cut. So with that, here’s five more of ‘em, arguably featuring a couple of their best yet. It’s certainly true of the title track, the electrified pop-rock puncher that has Steph O’Sullivan’s voice crackle with its usual feist and fire; elsewhere, the enormo-emo wallop of Swing And Sway and the scorching thrum of Glimmer aren’t far behind. All the while, without exception, there’s a blockbuster feel that swells and permeates, polished and sharp but never overdone.
Clearly not a beat has been missed in the intervening timeframe, nor has newfound independence hampered Greywind’s capabilities to go big. How could it when ‘powerhouse’ is etched into every facet of this band’s being? The sound; the vocals; all of it. That’s always been what set Greywind far apart from their Britrock contemporaries, to where there isn’t a whole lot that needs amending, even this far down the road. These are towering songs reliant on very real emotion, executed to where the rock-solid foundation is apparant in O’Sullivan’s imagery of death among frigid nature on Swing And Sway and Glimmer. Even just as pulse-pounding rock songs, though, Antidote lands in a higher stratum than most of ilk; Deathwish and You’re My Medicine are probably closest to the pack overall, but even then, there’s enough bore brightly to pull them comfortably ahead.
Honestly, there’s so just much good stuff bundled into this EP that it almost makes the fairly unceremonious return of Greywind feel immaterial. They’ve dove back in headfirst to the exact spot that almost had them on the map all those years ago, ready to pick up where they left off. And that’s really the gushing magic of Antidote—there’s no uncertainty dwelled on, or doubt from what’s come before. Greywind have rocketed up from a standing start in a way that few others could, ready to take a place among the stars that was once reserved for them, and has gone unoccupied for far too long.
For fans of: Hot Milk, As December Falls, Dream State
‘Antidote’ by Greywind is released on 15th March on Version III.
Grieving
Everything Goes Right, All At Once
With a debut whose title is a spin on a quote from The Room—and bears a track additionally called Wiseau—Grieving clearly have some impeccable taste. That’s the GOAT of schlock cinema they’re invoking, after all, a film for which infamy and ironic enjoyment has circled around countless times over and arrived at a legitimate legend of outsider art. Grieving themselves, meanwhile, aren’t quite on the same career path, but hey, taste is taste. Manifesting in the fusion of ‘90s emo, indie-rock and a prehistoric strain of post-hardcore, they aren’t wanting for pedigree to build off of. And just as a certain Mr. Wiseau appeared from nowhere to grace the world with his opus, Everything Goes Right, All At Once isn’t too far from the same.
Okay, maybe not ‘nowhere’, seeing as some of the songs on here have been around since 2016, only just finding a home on a full-length now. That being said, Grieving have hardly proven prolific over the years, and being contained over an extended package gives these songs a notable new lease of life, regardless of how they old they are. Songs like My Friend, The Ghost and Ownership do feel freshened up solely from having more to bounce off, despite very few touch-ups being made. The sound is authentically dried-out and hollow, leaving space for some beautifully robust bass presence and accommodation for tonal shifts when required. This isn’t a rigid listen, by any means; Grieving are equally capable of bigger, brighter shimmers like Brian Emo, as they are more spidery, minor-key cuts in Tarpaulin and Old Wives.
Some credit can be attributed to a behind-the-scenes team affiliated with other throwback-emo wunderkinds like Spielbergs and Nai Harvest, but let’s not diminish the work of Grieving themselves here. They know their way around a composition brimming with detail, while also seeing the value of being grounded and accessible. This would likely be a good entry point into this end of emo, when the overlap with certain subsets of Britrock also stands out. My Friend, The Ghost especially has the melodic purity you want from a sound like this; you can see why that one’s been a favourite for so long. With that comes the authenticity that Grieving bring, in lyrical honesty and the cascading light and shade that frames it. There’s the feel of an album primed as the DIY crowd’s next obsession, built and carved in exactly the right ways to strike upon the right combination of blatant nostalgia and millennial ache.
Perhaps it’s a little obviously glib to say how the album’s title so perfectly reflects the product, but Grieving lay it up so easily that it’s unavoidable. It’s all through unfettered talent, too; bells and whistles are obviously at a minimum, so not to distract from how focused and concentrated the overall vision is. It’s the best way to be, honestly. Anything else, and Grieving wouldn’t have the compact, homespun, deliriously charming profile that they currently do. Hopefully they remain as enduring as a certain movie has after all these years.
For fans of: Tellison, Jawbreaker, Spielbergs
‘Everything Goes Right, All At Once’ by Grieving is released on 15th March on By The Time It Gets Dark.
Words by Luke Nuttall
