So here | am, are you ready? Nearly a decade later and Blink-182 still has it

By Kyle Wallis

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fter waiting eight years for Blink- 182’s Neighborhoods, | finally got the hance to indulge some of my middle school tendencies last week. The band had put off the release date about ten times... okay, maybe I exaggerate a little, but it was expected to be released back in May, which eventually became the last week of September. So I was anxious to see if the trio of punk poets had been using their time wisely, or just procrastinating. To some extent, it tumed out be a little bit of both. My first thought after listing to

Neighborhoods went something like, “wow, that’s darker than usual” —a reasonable

response. For a band so troubled by broken friendships and near-death experiences, approaching their newest album must have brought back some demons. The first single, “Up All Night,” reflects those feelings: “Let me get this straight, do you want me here/As I struggle through, each and every year.”

song into something instantly memorable. Musically, the trio is still as technical and brilliant as ever. I really have to give props to Travis Barker’s drumming; that guy continues to astound with both his technicality (“After Midnight’) and his ability to keep up fast beats (“Heart’s All Gone’). Bassist Mark Hoppus

“The album is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s still pretty good. For a band that hasn’t recorded anything together in almost a decade, Neighborhoods is a solid effort.”

The band doesn’t let this gloomy feeling dominate the album though. Some of the songs are still as pop happy as ever, such as “Wishing Well,” which has a very evident jump and groove beat coming from the drums and bass. With some collaborative and catchy vocal contributions, “Wishing Well” captures Blink’s ability to make what could just be any other

and guitarist/lead singer Tom DeLonge play off each other well, with one consistently keeping the rhythm and the other complementing with background melodies. These guys keep coming up with good songs time after time, sticking to their usual song structure, but keeping it fresh by exploring themselves in their lyrics.

My only criticism is that some of the

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songs are a little too tailored to fit the same format. Songs like “Hearts All Gone” and “This Is Home” revolve a bit too much around the standard intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-end song pattern. This makes me feel like the guys were just trying to push out a few more songs for the sake of album length. With that said, the issue doesn’t impede on the overall product too much; it’s Blink-182, what can you expect? The album is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s still pretty good. For a band that hasn’t recorded anything together in almost a decade, Neighborhoods is a solid effort. The band also chose not to work with an outside producer, which deserves commendation. Was it as good as their last couple albums? No, but did this album make me miss the good old days? Not really. Blink- 182 is still their punk pop selves, just a little more mature.

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