Combat Sports (album)

Shortly after the release of English Graffiti - which was a deliberate departure from their previous two albums - The Vaccines discovered only a few songs from it translated well when performed live. In early 2016, The Vaccines reconvened at bassist Árni Árnason's studio in London to figure out their next move, without much success. Though Robertson's departure in mid-2016 made the band consider calling it a day,[11] it also forced them to rediscover their identity.[12] The remaining trio contemplated various directions of continuing as a band, including resorting to drum programming.[13]

Meanwhile, the presence of touring musicians Lanham and Intonti helped improve relations within the band,[12] with Lanham in particular acting as a mediator between band members, helping Young on new demos and arranging song parts with everyone.[14] Due to their involvement during the writing process, Lanham and Intonti were promoted to full members.[8]

By late 2016, Young mentioned that The Vaccines were already "far along" in the writing process, with new material that "builds on the musicality of English Graffiti" but with "a lot more of spirit and energy from What Did You Expect from The Vaccines?" Young also added that the songs felt more like a band again, due to The Vaccines playing together in the studio every day.[15]

In January 2017, it was reported that The Vaccines' fourth album would contain songs "like polished '70s and '80s rock: Big Star, Todd Rundgren, Guided by Voices – that kind of stuff. Very smooth, like a super FM radio sound," stated Young. "Someone to Lose", "Out on the Street", and "Young American" were among the songs considered for the album, with the band looking for "a polished pop producer" to handle the recording sessions that were scheduled to take place in February.[8] The band recorded two songs in initial sessions with Patrick Wimberly as producer; however, they felt that the results lacked identity.[12] After meeting several other potential producers who were also confused with the direction the band wished to take,[12] they eventually worked with Ross Orton, who "essentially banned" the band from listening to music and urged them to reference themselves.[11] After initial reluctance to work with Orton, the band realized that they needed his "brutal honesty."[16] Most of the songs originally planned for the album were also scrapped and new ones were written.[16]

Young cites the death of Leonard Cohen as "a watershed moment," because it made him listen to Cohen's music and drive himself to write better lyrics.[12] Previously, Young had stated that this album's lyrics would be about "sex and love, and love lost," after he realised that "it's all I care about."[15]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	75/100[17]
Review scores
Source	Rating
The A.V. Club	B+[18]
The Guardian	[19]
The Independent	[20]
The Line of Best Fit	9/10[21]
NME	[22]
Paste	7.9/10[23]

Combat Sports received positive reviews from critics, with The Line of Best Fit describing it as a "brash, attention-grabbing record".[21] The Guardian called Combat Sports "top drawer garage rock" and complimented Young's lyrical strengths.[19]

Combat Sports failed to recreate the bands previous successes. The album entered at #4 in the chart but fell out of the top 100 in just 4 weeks. None of the four singles released from the album charted in the UK.

All lyrics are written by Justin Young; all music is composed by The Vaccines unless otherwise stated.

• Justin Young – vocals, rhythm guitar
• Freddie Cowan – lead guitar
• Árni Árnason – bass guitar
• Yoann Intonti – drums
• Timothy Lanham – keyboards, additional guitar