Come of Age

[Come of Age] is even more of a dystopian nightmare than Kid A or an El-P record: The Vaccines draw us into a universe that revolves entirely around Young, and if he's got nothing to say, his only possible conclusion is that nobody does.

It's good in places, sporadically very good, but is no significant step up from their debut. [Oct 2012, p.113]

Unfortunately, just like The Vaccines debut, there is very little to really make you stand up and take notice.

Come of Age isn't a bad album, but nor is it the swaggering bid for world domination it's made out to be: it's too confused and incoherent. But if it isn't going to propel them skywards, there's enough decent songs on it to keep the Vaccines ticking over in their current position.

[Come of Age] starts off promisingly enough, the infectious No Hope recalling the Libertines jangle of If You Wanna... But from then on there is precious little to set them apart from the retro-indie pack.

[Lead singer] Justin Young assert[s] that he's "too self-absorbed" to be the voice of a generation. This wouldn't be so bad if the music didn't follow suit, with lumpen punk-rock grinds and spartan guitar-rock trudges.

There's nothing wrong with seeking to accomplish the same things your heroes did, but when a band tries only to imitate a few aspects–in this case, detached singing, jangly guitar interplay, and lyrics about teen angst–without offering many of the other aspects that made that band great–like clever storytelling and interesting perspectives--it's always going to fall short. Which Come Of Age does.