The Vaccines - Come of Age

In what feels like hardly any time at all, The Vaccines are back with a new album, their highly anticipated sophomore record "Come of Age". 

The group clearly want to spell it out to the world; they mean business. Whilst album No. 1 was a slightly sarcastic nod by asking "well, what did you expect?", Come of Age is all about announcing their arrival as something serious.

Gone are the minute and a half long ode's to Danish models, the tongue-in-cheek references to "seamen". In their place are mid-tempo ballads with crisp, cleaner vocals (I Always Knew, Aftershave Ocean) and moodier, darker sounds that lurch and sway (Weirdo, Ghost Town) replacing the frantic bursts of energy that we saw on the first album.

Lead single "No Hope" kicks things off in true-Vaccines style; the line "When your young and bored and 24 and don't know who you are no more there's no hope" mirroring similar themes of growing up and reaching adulthood found on their first album. But whereas What Did You Expect was more sentimental and misty-eyed, Come of Age leaves this behind, instead, striving to live up to its title.

That's not to say this second record is completely devoid of those hip-shaking guitar riffs and pop-fuelled choruses; one my personal stand-out tracks "Bad Mood" is brilliant in its simplicity, whilst the third track "Teenage Icon" might just be my favourite track of the bands: it's almost frustratingly catchy and never lets up for the entire three minutes.

On Come of Age then, The Vaccines have managed to record an album that lives up to its name; It successfully manages to cover new ground whilst also retaining that distinctive sound popular with fans. But then again, what did we expect?

The Vaccines - Come of Age: 7.5/10

So what does everybody think? Like the new album or not? Leave me a comment below and check back again soon! In the meantime, check out the Vaccines performing "Teenage Icon" at Reading Festival last week.