This is my review of the new Blink 182 album which is selftitled. I hope you find it useful.

I would like to start off by saying that this is their 'growing up' album and is absolutely brilliant! Though I have been waiting a long time for the band to make new material, since the previous 2001 release Take Off Your Pants and Jacket album infact, I am still very impressed! The band experimented with different kinds of effects when recording using a mantion as their recording studio, and came out with some fantastic results. Their lyrics and music sounds much more mature with no more songs like 'F**k a dog' like the pevious album, and the drummer, Travis Barker is allowed to finally show what he is capable of, which is incredible!

Travis Barker is a superb drummer, possibly one of the best in the world, which is proven by material on this album. Guitarist Tom Delonge and Bassist Mark Hoppus have decided to keep the 'I fucked your mom' jokes to their free time and have concerned their lyrics with more important topics, and the two best friends have also concentrated on improving their musical talents aswell with more complicated guitar parts and crisper sounding vocals than before. Even though I have worshipped this band for years now and fell in love with their old stuff, I think it is really cool that they have decided as a band to mature instead of Delonge and Barker's side project, Box Car Racer during 2002, which upset Hoppus as he was left out.

The first song on this record, Feeling This, the new single which is available now on a variety of music channels on television, was the first song written by the band for this CD. The lyrics were written by Tom and Mark with both of them sharing the vocals, and it has a cool drum intro which was done using two tape machines. I love this song!

Number 2, Obvious, is a much darker song than old Blink stuff. It has a heavy guitar riff at the begging and angry



sounding vocals with Tom shouting in the chorus. For the verses, there is quiter guitar and the drums rule as usual.

Track 3 on this CD is a favourite of mine: I Miss You. This is an acoustic song with brushes used for the drumming and Mark singing the opening verse. It was written because they are huge fans of The Cure and Tom was listening to their song 'Love Cats' and thought a fully acoustic song would be a good idea.

Violence is number 4. This is another fantastic song which combines odd effects from different musical styles which you wouldn't expect to be paired together. For the verses it has a wierd clicky sound in the background, and a cool, fast guitar riff for the chorus. The breakdown is my favourite part and I love the lyrics 'like violence you have me forever and after, like violence you kill me...'

Stockholm Syndrome is another favourite of mine. It starts with Joanne Walley reading out letters Mark's grandfather wrote to his grandmother during the Second World War with soft piano in the background. The fast muted guitar in the verses gives a nice effect and I really really like the chorus with Tom shouting the first halves of sentences and Mark calmly finishing them.

Down starts with guitar and then is joined by the rest of the instruments. It repeats the word down many times in the song giving a calm effect and I particually like Tom's vioce in the verses. He wrote the lyrics about a boy sitting in a car with a girl while it rains, wanting to kiss her.

The Fallen Interlude is a chilled interlude made by Jacken who was given a beat from the end of down to work on. Late in the song, some lyrics are added but not by the band's voices.

Go is such a rad song - It is fast and reminds me of old Blink 182 music but still has meaningful lyrics like 'are we all victims of oppertunity?' The chorus is fabulous and simple with Tom shouting 'go go go
go go
'
and
as this song is rather short and very catchy, it is so brilliant.

9. Asthenia is about an astronaut who is sitting in a space capsual floating above the earth. It has some effects at the begging which sound like an astonaut, and it has an amazing guitar riff which isn't too complicated but is effective. The confusion of the astronaut is shown in the lyrics 'should I go back should I go back should I? I feel alone and tired'.

Always uses four bass guitars at the end - a Fender Bass VI, a Fender Percussion bass doing two differnt riffs and a Roland Synth bass which sounds like a keyboard. Travis uses uses a cabassa as an accent before hitting his snare which gives a great percussion effect. This song has an 80's effect and a really fast tamborine is used for choruses. The song stops, sounding like an ending then continues after a second - it rules!

Easy Target is about a high school friend of theirs who was invited to go to the prettiest girl in school's house and when he rode his bike there, they jumped out and sprayed him with a hose. He was humiliated and sad. At the end of this song, the guitar keeps playing with effects added and it blends in with the next song when Travis' drumming joins it.

All Of This features vocals from Robert Smith of The Cure, who the band are all huge fans of and the track was sent over to England for his to add vocals. I adore this song - it is slow and peaceful but has lyrics with a meaning 'Another night with her but I'm always wanting you'. Robert Smith's voice makes this song even better as I think it is just the right track for a sound like that and the sound of Travis Barker's drumming is excellent. Tom's voice in the chorus just adds to the brilliance of this track 'Use me Holly come on and use me'. This is the second time the name Holly was used on the CD... The drumming continues at the end for a bit and then
ends.
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He
re's Your Letter has a strange but cool effect at the beggining and is another pop-punky fast song with cool verses and chorus' and I just love it like the rest of the songs! The lyrical content is about people's inability to communicate with one another, and how words and explanations only confuse the issues. It is a rad song and sounds kind of pop punk but with slightly heavier guitar tunes than usual when it brakes into different parts.

The last song on the CD is called I'm Lost Without You. In my opinion, it is just beautiful and meaningful - the lyrics are something everyone can relate to 'are you scared of being alone? 'cause I am. I'm lost without you'. To me they show true love. The keyboard in the intro is amazing. This song takes you somewhere else - so many different tracks were recording, giving such a brilliant effect, and it gets slightly heavier but not really for the choruses. This song truckin' rules! It sums up Blink's mature change and before judging the band on their decision to explore, they should hear this song properly. It rules so much and the fast and complex drum beats at the end give a wonerful effect and also gives Travis a chance to show off.

I would deffinetly reccomend that all real and true Blink 182 fans buy this album because it is deffinetly worth it and is probably their best yet with a lot more emotion and thought put into it than most old recordings I have heard. For those of you who have only heard the new single, Feeling This, and are not too sure: try to hear some more new songs, there are some much better than Feeling This, though it is a great song. This album can be purchased from Play.com for the really cheap price of £8.99! Though the UK version does include two bonus tracks- Not Now and Anthem Part Two (live). The book includes all the words and some amazing new pictures of the band (still looking hot!)
.

Thanks for
reading my review on o
ne of the best
albums of this year :-) I hope I did it justice with my review. If you enjoy albums like Brand New - Deja Entendu and Funeral For A Friend - Casually Dressed and Deep In Conversation, or maybe even more pop-punky bands like New Found Glory and The Movielife (R.I.P) this could be an album for you.