Review Summary: Neighborhoods is a solid reunion album, but it is not a return to form.
It has finally arrived. Blink-182’s comeback album is here to mend a four year hiatus that sparked a multitude of side projects and ultimately threatened the band’s longevity. There were bumps along the way of course, and it wouldn’t be going too far to say that there were times when it looked like Blink-182 would never reunite. After all, Tom Delonge’s side project Angels & Airwaves met success with its very first album,
We Don’t Need to Whisper while tensions were still palpable between the former band mates. Those speculations only grew when Hoppus began to pursue a career as a television host and Travis Barker started working on solo material. But despite the apparent drifting that was taking place, the band announced its triumphant return in 2009. Their procrastination with actually recording a new album irked some anxious fans, but after extensive touring and ample time to record,
Neighborhoods is now available in stores as the first Blink-182 album in eight years.
If there is one immediately noticeable characteristic about
Neighborhoods, it is the way that Tom and Mark’s side projects have been given a chance to shine through the transition back to Blink. The opening track ‘Ghost On the Dancefloor’ illustrates AVA’s trademark “spacey” sound, with heavily synthesized looping and over-the-top production. Tom’s vocals are not all that dissimilar from his other recent outings, and there are certainly moments on
Neighborhoods that would have seemed just as fitting on
Love. Some will immediately point to this as a weakness, but when you consider how +44’s influence can be felt on songs like ‘Up All Night’ and ‘Mh 4.18.2011’, it becomes increasingly clear that all of Delonge’s seriousness and sometimes forced ambition is adequately balanced by Mark’s more down-to-earth, if at times monotone, approach. When all is said and done, the moving pieces end up fitting together tidily.
Another one of
Neighborhoods’ sticking points is its overwhelming maturity – and I say
overwhelming because it can be truly imposing at times. Whereas
blink-182 was the ideal stepping stone from adolescence to adulthood, featuring aspects of both, the band’s latest feels like more of a mid-life crisis...everything screams “take us seriously”, which can be largely attributed to Delonge’s melodramatic vocals and emotive urgency. Most of the songs feel like an outstretched hand desperately trying to connect with others,
if only they could just hang on. In small doses, it isn’t too bad and can yield surprisingly effective results. The closing track ‘Love Is Dangerous’ is a prime example, as Tom delivers a relatively juvenile theme with insight and tangible passion. However, it is the long stretches that kill
Neighborhoods’s energy and leave it practically void of the youthful tendencies that once made Blink everybody’s favorite band to not give a
shit with.
Blink-182 also comes up lacking in the department of variation. Do you remember how
blink-182 flowed, and how every single track was distinguishable from one another? How ‘Feeling This’ kicked everything off with its irresistibly fun chorus, ‘Obvious’ took things in more of a reckless and angry direction, then ‘I Miss You’ completely mixed up the tempo while giving the album its first heartfelt ballad? If you do,
Neighborhoods might be thoroughly disappointing. In many ways, it could be described as a less inspired version of the band’s self-titled release. It is every bit as serious, if not more so, but it fails to implement the amount of variety that we have come to expect from Blink-182. The alternating tempos are less frequent, the changes in structure follow suit, and the “distinguishing factor” of each song is not quite as recognizable. It’s not damning to the record’s overall success, but it causes everything on the album to run together, just slightly. As a result,
Neighborhoods essentially boils down to a
seriously mature album that occasionally pushes the envelope when it should take a step back and just stop caring so damn much.
Older fans will enjoy the nostalgia of a reunited pop-punk legend, but
Neighborhoods still leaves something to be desired. This isn’t the same old Blink that we knew and loved growing up – this is a more mature (or less fun, depending on your viewpoint) band that has learned to put the past behind it and start anew. They have managed to create a reunion album that
isn't terrible, and at times reminds us why they are one of the most successful punk acts of the past two decades. The influences of their respective side projects are apparent without focusing too much on one, and the members of the band seem to have rediscovered their chemistry. The result is a solid reunion album, but it is
not a return to form.
