Review Summary: Well, that was unexpected
Nine is the 8th album (9th if you go by what Mark Hoppus says) by pop-punk superstars blink-182. The follow up to 2016s underwhelming “California” couldn’t come soon enough as I feel blink needs to find their identity. I adored 2011s “neighbourhoods” and the experimentation on the ep dogs eating dogs was incredible. However, since the departure of ufo hunter Tom DeLonge, the band have struggled. Matt Skiba's entrance was rough but welcomed. “California” has about 5 good songs in its original release but did imply stronger music going forward. This was proven in the release of the deluxe version which showed the band becoming a stronger force. “Nine” just continues this.
The album opens with a song I could only call Skiba's version of “ghost on the dancefloor”. By that, I, of course, mean it’s fantastic. It’s a great mix of Marks great songwriting and Skiba and Travis’ energetic performance. The albums then dives into its 2nd worst track “happy days”. This song is so average it’s hard to talk about. It seems like filler and makes the album feel like more of a playlist.
Whist on “happy days”, let’s talk about the singles and how bad they were. The band kicked off this album cycle with the boring “blame it on my youth”, a bland, overproduced song which can only be described as a generic pop-punk anthem. “Generation divide” followed and was pretty good with its high energy and classic blink sound. One issue, it was 49 seconds long. That’s not single-worthy, that should be an interlude song. After this, I lost interest. I didn’t listen to “happy days”, ”Darkside” or “I really wish I hated you” until listening to this album and only really dug “I really wish I hated you”.
Don’t get me wrong, none of these songs are really bad (like “she’s out of her mind”), but they don’t represent the album at all. Compare any of these songs to ragers like “black rain” or “no heart to speak of” and they pale in comparison. Which is when I realised one thing, this album is one fantastic troll. Blink got us all with the worse songs on the album being released as singles and keeping all the gold hidden from us. Songs like “remember to forget me”, "on some emo ***", “pin the grenade” and “ransom” are all amazing and show Blink know what they are doing now, which is making some great pop-punk music.
I just want to quickly mention Marks songwriting and how brilliant it is. It feels like I'm listening to a second +44 album and I love it. He feels bitter and almost lonely at times and it makes the album feel personal. Well done Mark.
People are calling this album blink 2.0, which is incredibly accurate. And I think Blink 2.0 is the best they have been in 15 years. This is easily the tightest blink have ever sounded and it’s probably the best jumping-in point. If it wasn’t for the singles, I’d say this is album of the year material. The production is a mix of pop, rock and punk all in one and it really pops (especially the drumming).
I think this album needs to be listened to as an album. It flows nicely together and feels like most songs could be spun off into singles. I feel like I like this album a lot due to lowered expectations, but it's still a really solid album, fantastic almost. If you like anything related to blink, listen to this. I think everyone will love at least one song off of this album.
