Sleigh Bells - Comeback Kid

As if the baseball-bat slinging, the jock attire and the come-at-us attitude weren’t big enough clues, lyrics like “Go get your gun ready” and “You gotta try a little harder, you’re the comeback kid” fully confirm that Sleigh Bells are big, bold and quintessentially American. ‘Comeback Kid’’s artwork consists of an illuminated wildfire, but it might as well have the letters ‘U.S.A’ plastered onto its front in the biggest typeface possible.

Alexis Krauss and Derek E. Miller have taken up their abrasive rock-meets-Cheerleader chant position once more, with ‘Comeback Kid’ leading the pack as new album ‘Reign Of Terror’’s first single.

Like virtually every track on the pounding, brilliantly obnoxious debut ‘Treats’, it’s a track that doesn’t hold back; giving the listener a hearty portion of formidable, excessive noise. Certain elements hope to display some kind of progression - synth lines seem more prominent than ever and instead of it being one glorious burst of angst, there’s something resembling a bridge-chorus structure in there - but for the most part, Sleigh Bells are retaining their signature sound.

This needn’t be a negative, but ‘Comeback Kid’ is so tied in with the debut album’s trail of thought that it leaves you cold. Perhaps we’ve moved on from ‘Treats’’ immediacy, because God knows half of that record’s appeal lay in its rush of adrenaline.