Come of Age by The Vaccines - Album Review

Come of Age is The Vaccines follow up album to their debut album ‘What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?’ (Released on the 11th March 2011.) Their debut album reached no. 4 in the UK album chart, and received mixed reviews, although many listeners found that some of the songs were too short. However the latest edition from The Vaccines (which made it to number 1 in the UK album chart) delivered 11 unforgettable songs, all of which were over two minutes!

The album starts off with lead single ‘No Hope’ which was released on the 8th July. One of the lines featured in the song is ‘…when I haven’t got my own life figured out…’ When listening to the song for the first time it made me dubious that if Justin is writing about how he hasn’t sorted out his own life, how is he going to manage to write an equally (or even better) follow up album, in such a short space of time. However, as the songs keep playing you begin to realise that Justin and the rest of the band have really pulled together to sort out the album, and create an array of songs, that almost all fit together and work as a whole album.

As with almost every album there are a couple of songs that feel as though they were simply put on ‘just to fill space’ and for me these tracks are ‘Weirdo’ and ‘Bad Mood.’ Bad Mood is just 3 minutes and six seconds of erratic guitar playing, and Justin almost shouting into the microphone. Perhaps this song was recorded to vent out the bands frustrations, and I can’t help wondering if it should have just been left in the editing room?

Each song is different to the next, with the band attempting to establish a difference between then (What Did You Expect From The Vaccines) and now (Come of Age) and you can clearly hear the difference between the more structured  songs on their debut album and the more loosely structured songs on this album.

After the success of their debut album, and subsequent sold out venues, I can only hope and believe that 2012/2013 will hold great things for the album and The Vaccines, and who knows maybe even a number 1!

My Rating

Tracks to listen to:
No Hope
Teenage Icon
Aftershave Ocean

Tracks to Avoid:
Weirdo
Bad Mood

By Rebecca Knightsbridge