This was the 7th and ultimately, the last album to come from the boys from San Diego.
Giving some of their older or mature fanbase (i.e. those who found no need for toilet humour) something to celebrate, this was a slightly darker album than the rest, which makes you wonder if they were moving on towards maturity
There had been unrest within the band before this album was produced, as Mark (Hoppus) was still hurting at being left out of Tom (DeLonge) and Travis (Barker)’ side project, Box Car Racer and then became suspicious of Tom wanting to go solo.
Despite this Blink 182 recorded this album, a self titled, which, to me is a sign of their new-found maturity. Gone are the days of the silly album names like enema of the state and to replace them we have an older, wiser blink than the band of 11 years ago
The album itself is amazing considering the circumstances it was recorded in. in fact, it’s just amazing, full stop. Starting off with the album’s first single “Feeling This” which was written by Mark and Tom about sex, written in separate rooms with no idea what the other was doing, one member’s part clicks with the other’s. No signs of unrest during the album, it seemed like business as usual and indeed it is, there are no glaring indications that this is a band that are being torn apart by jealousy.
Track 2 is the amazingly dark “Obvious” which is about one man’s view of how his relationship is being torn apart by jealousy, which, given the circumstances, has to be deliberate
The song wasn’t seen as being good enough to have a video made or to be made a main a-side. However it was on the “Always” single along with “Violence”
“I miss you” is the next track on the album and is also the second single and it’s easy to see why. With Mark’s quiet vocals and Mark’s shouty, anarchic voice on the second verse and on the chorus.
It’s also the only Acoustic track that Blink have ever recorded, or at least I think it is
“Violence” is another song that sees Tom’s song writing skills takes a much darker twist, if you were looking for poo songs; go buy an older blink album as this is a theme with this album. The song itself is actually very catchy, ok it’s dark, but it’s catchy as well
Also as this track finishes I plead with you, DO NOT PRESS SKIP as there is a 2 second pause between the end of violence and the “hidden” beginning of next track “Stockholm syndrome” in which, an old letter from Mark’s Grandfather to his wife is read by someone (I do not know who though) this then leads into the very very dark “Stockholm Syndrome” which is written about a strained relationship that someone is being held into. Hence the title (Stockholm syndrome is experienced by hostages, they feel a relationship with their captors) the lyrics in the verses are shared by Mark and Tom, with Mark Finishing off what Tom begins to say, the guitar and bass are very, very distorted and very, very loud
The next song down was written by Tom about a boy and a girl in a car wondering whether to stay together or break up. This is actually one of the more light hearted songs on the album and if you’ve heard it but not the rest of the album, might be an indication of what the album is like as a whole. An amazing track though but a lot of these songs are.
Go was written by mark about his life in general as a child ( you hear him mentioned in the song) and it’s actually very good unfortunately it’s not as good as the rest of the album
Asthenia is the one that has the real NASA transmission before the beginning, the song itself has a weird tone but that’s explained in the lyric sheet which, unfortunately, I’ve lost but I think it’s something to do with the amplifier used on it
Mark actually uses a 6 string bass on this (and before you ask, yes there is such a thing)
Which is quite cool but unfortunately, expensive to so don’t ask for it for Christmas, because you’ll only be disappointed, but this is a great song regardless
And then we move on to Always, which I have to admit, I hate. There are much better songs than this that they could have used as a single, by far the worst song on the album.
The only highlight is Travis’ amazing drumming which so far in this review, I had neglected to mention but his drumming on this really make it listenable at most
Easy Target signals a return to old Blink songs with a childish theme, the only difference is it’s not childishly sung, Tom had wrote this about a friend who had been invited to the hottest girl in high schools house, only to get soaked by the girl and her friends, he walked home sad, wet and angry. In fact the lyrics explain how he must have felt afterwards really well. (Holly’s looking’ dry, looking’ for an easy target) a really good song that flows straight into All Of This
In this Tom gets to sing with his hero, Robert Smith from the cure who really makes it his song with Tom doing Backing vocals instead of it being blink’s song with Robert popping up here and there. It is quite possibly one of the best songs on the album after asthenia and the next track
Here’s your letter is a song about the breakdown in communication between two people. In the song the guy knows what he wants to say but can’t think of how to say it, therefore the conversation “dies” this is defiantly the albums highlight and must be played loud
Lost without you is the last song I am going to review from this, simply for the reason that everyone except Australians and Brits and eBayers won’t have heard the hidden tracks
This song is a lot mellower than any other blink 182 material and at 6:21, is a lot longer. An amazing kind of ballad, it manages to maintain a kinda, punky feel to it while the band shows a softer side.
All in all this is a good album or great if you take into account it’s circumstances.
Unfortunately it’s just not as good as their previous albums and is not really a true indication of their greatness so to me it’s poo jokes 1 maturity 0 and maybe that was what blink had to stay as
So this only gets 48% from me and i loved blink's music
Lets just hope they fare well on their other musical projects
