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Rating: The Vaccines are back with an album that is the natural follow-up to their debut record "What Did You Expect from the Vaccines?".
From the title (in Italian "coming of age"), you would expect a record less carefree and power-pop compared to the previous one, and in some ways it is. It starts with "No Hope" featuring a typically English and stereotypically cynical lyric, perhaps the best track of this work. It continues with "I Always Knew," with the guitar effectively supported by a typically post-punk rhythm section. The opening trio closes with "Teenage Icon," which stays in your head from the first listen thanks to a simple and incisive chorus ("I'm no teenage icon/I'm no frankie avalon/I'm nobody's hero"). After the first three tracks, you might expect less impactful pieces, and that's the case, filler tracks ("Bad Mood" above all) with the band working mechanically to pad out the album. Besides the fillers, the band appears excessively derivative in songs like "Weirdo," almost a Pixies cover, and "All in Vain," too similar to Harrison's "My Sweet Lord."
In conclusion, the second album by the Vaccines seems like a collection of bland songs and in some cases derivative. For the third album, it is logical to expect an evolution that brings new ideas to these four young Londoners.
Tracklist
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Other reviews
By definitelyalex
"The second album is always the most difficult, even for the latest 'next big thing' of English indie rock."
"This is undoubtedly a more mature and considered album, with the risk, however, of losing the freshness and immediacy that were the fortune of their debut album."
By scummyman
This is not a bad album because it is composed of decent songs, where the Vaccines once again show they can find great melodies with a rare immediacy.
The Vaccines, despite reaffirming themselves as a promising reality, are overreaching, exploring territories where they do not always demonstrate they can move well.
By GabriAvella
It was such a productive period that it would have been foolish to let the opportunity slip by.
Come of Age does not hold up in comparison to its dazzling predecessor, even though it possesses a handful of songs that would make 90% of today’s bands green with envy.
