Blink 182 – the popular punk-rock trio formed during 1992 in Powey, California – just released their new album ‘Neighborhoods.’ The band has been on hiatus since 2005; their last album ‘Take off Your Pants and Jackets’ was released in 2001. After a nine-year break from the recording studio, they’re back together again making their new album. After nine-years of no new releases, expectations are high among the hardcore Blink 182 fans and even the occasional listener. However, This new album came as quite a surprise to listeners.
Mark Hoppus’s voice is still unchanged from Blink 182’s debut album ‘Cheshire Cat’ and Travis Barker’s drum solos are as great as before, salvaging many a song in Neighborhoods. The stuff that will throw many Blink 182 fans off, is how much of his side project Angels and Airwaves influence Tom DeLonge has brought with him. The guitar chords are heavier and much more reminiscent of Angels and Airwaves, while DeLonge’s voice, though never the pinnacle of singing, has become shakier and less confident than it was in Blink 182’s older albums. A lot of the songs, ‘A Ghost on the Dance Floor’ and ‘Snake Charmer’ have definite changes with the addition of lots of experimentation with some techno and much darker lyrics.
The California trio addresses concepts such as loss, depression, and isolation with darker lyrics and heavier riffs on songs such as ‘After Midnight’ and ‘Hearts all Gone’. There is a contrast to those songs, with a hint of their old stuff in ‘Wishing Well’ and ‘Kaleidoscope’, displaying the simple middle school rhymes and high school romantic antics. Hoppus’s voice carries through the songs well and Barker’s drumming keeps the upbeat tempo going throughout the songs. DeLonge’s voice falls flat at times, but he carries a back up tune throughout the album pretty well in the more upbeat songs.
All the dark lyrics and heavy rock that comes out of this album culminates in their first released single Up All Night. The music video was released shortly after the music video, and though it contained some of the pop-style rock from their older songs, it always drifts back to the heavy punk rocker sound that seems to be symbolic of their new album. Overall, this album is a progressive step forward and the experimentation might offend some fans but as Blink 182 showed in their 2003 album, they were already starting to shift away from their teenage style pop-rock with the crude limericks and toilet seat humor, to a darker, more mature style of rock. With some songs not quite meeting the standard, there are plenty of opportunities for redemption in this album, giving this song a solid performance, just above the average punk rock of the new millennium.
