For the first time in eight years, Blink-182 has come out with a new album. Titled Neighborhoods, the album features 10 tracks and is jam-packed with emotions.
It was a rocky eight years for the band, but Neighborhoods does its best to capture all the feelings that the band has been through.
In 2008, a brain aneurysm led to the death of Jerry Flynn, the band’s long-time producer and suggested fourth member.
Also in 2008, drummer Travis Barker and friend Adam Goldstein, known as DJ-AM, were involved in a plane crash that both survived; Goldstein later fell victim to a drug overdose that year. These tragedies brought the band closer together and allowed it to make a strong comeback with Neighborhoods.
Blink comes out swinging on the album, unafraid to unleash its emotions after an eight year hiatus. The losses of 2008 no doubt played a part in many of the songs on Neighborhoods.
The first two tracks on the album undoubtedly signal that the band members still have Flynn and Goldstein in their memories. Lyrics like “I saw your ghost tonight / I know it felt so real / Your eyes they write on mine / The music starts to heal” are a demonstration of the band’s move towards a brighter future.
The middle of the album seems to bring Blink back to a place where it once was, a rebellious crew of kids from Palermo, Calif. looking to escape through their music. Those songs really save the album from what could have been total failure.
These songs are classic Blink-182, with the “do what we want, when we want” attitude that seems to be missing from a lot of the tracks earlier in the album. The beats and melodies of these songs are reminiscent of “Feeling This,” the lead single on Blink’s last studio album, which was self-titled.
The album finishes with the same sort of emotion that could be felt in the first two tracks. These songs have strong lyrics going back to the band’s losses in 2008, but they also point to the road ahead.
Unfortunately, the album seems very repetitive, with the exception of one or two tracks. It flows from one track to the next very fluently but still lacks a creative sound. Most of the tracks follow a similar melody, and many seem skittish with long intros filled with whippy guitar solos and snappy synth that detract from the band’s groove toward the middle of the song.
The album gives off a very depressing vibe overall (perhaps rightly so after all that the band has been through) derived from a more metal-based sound than the original punk the band is known for.
Neighborhoods is a solid transition in developing the new sound that the band seems to be looking for going forward. It is worth listening to, if only for this reason: Not many bands make it eight years without releasing anything new and come back out of the gates as strong as Blink has here.
3.5 stars out of 5
