Review Summary: "We Don't Need To Whisper" was quite different from anything that his previous band, blink-182, had done. While many blink fans were disappointed, and some even rejected it completely, the album is unarguably special. Packed with lots of emotion, ambition
I first heard 'We Don't Need To Whisper' on June 11th, 2006. The first song "Valkyrie Missile" opened up the album with heavy synth. The first thing I thought to myself was "This is going to be a lot different from blink". I was correct. As the song built up and finally "exploded" into the verse, it immediately brought a strange sensation from deep within my heart. Since then, the only word I've been able to use to describe it is 'magical'. Having received a burned copy of the album, I was surprised that, when I actually bought a copy, the artwork was the same spacey imagery that I had imagined in my head.
"Valkyrie" ends with the statement "We're Angels & Airwaves" which, for me, was fitting for the feeling that I had that this was something special. As the anthemic "Distraction" comes in, the 'magical' feeling does not fade. In fact is maintains it's strength right into "Do It For Me Now" which returns to a darker atmosphere, similar to the opening track. Many people say that the whole album sounds the same... well of course it does. Granted, none of the songs stray much from the spacey-synth sound, but that's what makes the album great. It's one that is meant to be heard in it's entirety, almost as if it is one 50 minute song. If your mind is open, you will hear that each song has it's own special melody and "sound" to it. Every single song has a catchy hook to it, and not at the cost of great songs structure or lyrical depth.
"Do It For Me Now" fades into "The Adventure", and the album takes off into what I like to think of as... Well, an adventure. With pounding drums and a very distinctive guitar riff, the song is perfected with a catchy hook and an almost chilling outro. Some would say it is the highlight of the album, though I was initially more interested in the song that follows: "A Little's Enough".
I like to think of this track as a kind of interlude to the album, as if to highlight an important key concept to the album. The song has a strong melancholic undertone, with a sense (whether truly honest or not) that DeLonge "cares". "Love" has proven to be a very important aspect to AVA.
"The War" brings back the anthemic feel, and I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the fact that they're both about war. Either way, the song brings something special to the album... something powerful, and the sense of "magic" is amplified. The song ends with chanting, and leads into "The Gift", which brings back that spacey feel, and brings to my mind images of twinkling stars. It slows back down to a pace similar to "A Little's Enough", and isn't exactly a highlight of the album, but fits well.
Now, this is where I start to criticize a bit... the following track "It Hurts" sounds like a blink-182 song that was revamped to sound like AVA. It is a good song in itself, but does not fit the album well and would probably ruin the album if it wasn't so catchy and didn't have such a cool bridge/outro.
"Good Day" starts off with somewhat creepy whispers that state the name of the album, which is almost kind of clever. The song brings sense that the album is about to end, yet is relaxing and almost uplifting.
The bridge comes along with DeLonge singing 'da-da's in what almost seems like a variation of the chorus (also clever, in a musical way). The song ends with more 'da-da's into the albums closing track "Start the Machine", which has what I want to describe as an almost hip-hop beat, as well as a distinct intro on what I believe to be a xylophone (PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong, I want to know what the hell that is).
The song closes the album on the line "If love's a word that you say, just say it. I will listen", thus ending the album on a positive note, and leaves any listener with a good taste in music with a thirst for MORE.
