COMEBACK KID CHOOSE THEIR OWN HELL ON CRUSHING NEW ALBUM TITLE TRACK

PHOTO CREDIT: Keith Thompson

After more than 25 years of keeping hardcore sweaty, pissed off, and moving forward, Comeback Kid still sound like they’ve got plenty left to burn down.

The Canadian hardcore veterans have announced their eighth studio album, Chosen Hell, out November 6 via SharpTone Records in the U.S. and Dine Alone Records in Canada. Along with the announcement, the band dropped the album’s title track and a new music video, giving fans their first real taste of what this next chapter sounds like.

The track comes packed with the urgency that has defined the band for decades, pushing breakneck hardcore aggression through the kind of melodic instincts that have always helped Comeback Kid stand apart. It’s fast, heavy, and instantly recognizable, but it doesn’t feel like the band is trying to remake Wake the Dead for the hundredth time.

Lyrically, though, “Chosen Hell” digs into something a little heavier than just chaos for chaos’ sake.

Frontman Andrew Neufeld says the song is about morality, ethics, and the frustrating human habit of knowing the right choice while still walking directly toward the wrong one. Sometimes the door out is right there, and we still choose the fire. That’s the hell at the center of the track: not something forced on you, but something you knowingly step into.

That idea gives the song’s aggression some real weight. Comeback Kid have never needed some overly complicated concept to make their music hit, but “Chosen Hell” takes that familiar urgency and ties it to something painfully relatable: knowing better and fucking up anyway.

For Chosen Hell, the band worked with producer Will Putney at Graphic Nature Audio in New Jersey. According to Neufeld, Putney’s history with Comeback Kid helped the band lean into everyone’s strengths while still pushing the sound forward. Neufeld has also described the writing process as more collaborative than usual, with the frontman opening himself up to more input from the rest of the band.

They brought some serious guests along, too.

Spiritbox vocalist Courtney LaPlante appears on “Shedding Season,” while Incendiary vocalist Brendan Garrone shows up on “Yesterday’s Gone.” If you’re building a guest list for a modern hardcore record, that’s a pretty damn strong start.

The 11-track album follows 2022’s Heavy Steps and finds Comeback Kid continuing to stretch beyond straight-ahead hardcore. There are pieces of modern metal, punk, and melody worked into the mix, but none of it comes at the expense of the sound that has carried them for more than two decades.

Comeback Kid will also hit the road shortly after the album arrives. Their November U.S. run features different combinations of Defeater, The Warriors, Dead Heat, Fear of Loss, Slow Pulse, Barrio Slam, and Time X Heist, including a November 15 stop at 1720 in Los Angeles. More U.S., Canadian, and European dates are expected to follow.

Chosen Hell arrives November 6 via SharpTone Records in the U.S. and Dine Alone Records in Canada.

CHOSEN HELL TRACK LISTING:

"Target On My Back"

"Vindication"

"Shedding Season" (Feat. Courtney LaPlante)

"Lost And Found"

"Underneath The Pressure"

"Chosen Hell"

"Yesterday’s Gone" (Feat. Incendiary's Brendan Garrone)

"Tunnel Vision"

"Becoming"

"Heartland Elegy"

"Too Late"

COMEBACK KID ON TOUR:
11/7 — Oklahoma City, OK — Flyover Fest
11/8 — Dallas, TX — Puzzles Deep Ellum
11/9 — Houston, TX — Secret Group
11/10 — San Antonio, TX — Paper Tiger
11/11 — Austin, TX — Come And Take It Live
11/13 — Las Vegas, NV — American Legion Post 8 +
11/14 — San Diego, CA — Corazon Del Barrio +
11/15 — Los Angeles, CA — 1720 +
11/16 — Berkeley, CA — Cornerstone +
11/18 — Portland, OR — Dante’s ^
11/19 — Tacoma, WA — Real Art ^
11/20 — Boise, ID — Shrine Social Club %
11/22 — Salt Lake City, UT — Metro Music Hall %
11/23 — Denver, CO — HQ ^
*Comeback Kid w/ Dead Heat, Fear Of Loss, Slow Pulse
+Comeback Kid w/ Defeater, Dead Heat, Barrio Slam
^Comeback Kid w/ The Warriors, Dead Heat, Barrio Slam 
%Comeback Kid w/ The Warriors, Dead Heat, Time x Heist