Comeback Kid and Flee the Seen

Five days before Flee the Seen‘s Tuesday release party at El Torreon for its debut full-length, Doubt Becomes the New Addiction, Comeback Kid, a group with a similar career trajectory, plays the same stage. Hailing from hometowns that aren’t known as hip destinations (Winnipeg, Manitoba, is Canada’s Kansas City), both bands merge potent dual-guitar riffs with a positive, subtly Christian message. Exactly three years ago, Comeback Kid unveiled its inaugural effort, Turn It Around, on Facedown, Flee the Seen’s label. For 2005’s Wake the Dead, Comeback Kid moved to hardcore haven Victory Records, holed up in Colorado’s Blasting Room studio (where Season to Risk recorded its swan song, The Shattering, to add another local-music connection) and generated 11 incendiary tracks. Comeback Kid’s sound is more old-school than Flee the Seen’s, with quicker beats and rougher vocals, but it’s more melodic than the early loud-fast-rules acts. Both bands will pack the place, drawing many of the same spectators, a scenario likely to repeat as their paths intertwine on future cross-country treks. <