Blink 182- Neighborhoods

Without a doubt, this has been for me personally the most anticipated release of this year. I have been a diehard Blink fan since I can remember. The fact that they have gone through such a great amount of turmoil, and a growth experience that has been unrivaled amongst so many other pop-punk bands; has led me to become even more stoked about what they have to offer after a long, long eight years.

Upon purchasing this album, I was so eager, nervous, and incredibly excited to hear Blink as what they described themselves as: a more modern, mature, but still relevant form of what everybody came to know and love them as.

The first song "Ghosts On The Dancefloor" sets the mood for the album with its proggy guitar riff, synth layers, and dance-oriented drums. The lyrics set the same landscape by crooning "I saw your ghost tonight, the moment felt so real." The bridge is the only part of the song that is questionable, with its unnecessary noodling, and Barker's flashy excuses to place himself in the rock drummers' heirarchy.

"Natives" is such a great example of what the band was and what the band is. The opening riff is very reminiscent of "M+M's" opening guitar part, while the trade-off of vocals and musical styles in the chorus reminds me of a song on TOYPAJ. The final chorus bleeds a passion for melody that easily makes this my favorite song on the album.

Refer to my earlier post regarding "Up All Night", the first single on the album. My opinion remains the same.

"After Midnight" is by many opinions an "instant classic" as far as the Blink 182 catalog is concerned. It is instantly catchy in the verses as well as the choruses, and is equally easy to sing along to.

"Snake Charmer" finds itself reminiscent of Delonge's side project Boxcarracer, complete with heavy riffs and dissonant chords. I think that the crowning achievement of this song is the outro and flow into the second half of the album. Regardless of this fact, the guitar riff in the song is heavy as fuck, and makes you want to learn how to play it and think you can find beauty in such simplicity.

"Hearts all Gone Interlude"- One of the most delicate and well thought out songs on the record in my opinion. This is exactly where my tastes lie... somewhere in between coherence and progressive rock craziness.

Where this progressive rock ends, and the straight forward rock begins is such a great transition and sets the mood for the second half of the album. "Hearts all Gone" is a simple, pop-punk track that yearns for the youth and angst that Blink came from; but also the darkness that has helped this machine come what it has today. The bass is screams through the song with such authority, and the lyrics makes me rethink every relationship I've ever had.

It's hard to listen to the song "Wishing Well" without thinking about the lyrics to the early Blink song "Carousel", but the pre-chorus's "la-da-da-da-da-da-das" make it difficult to not sing along. It's such a cool song about finding yourself, and it's so catchy.

"Kaleidescope" is definitely a Hoppus track. It's decidedly more concise easier to digest, and much more indie-rock oriented than a lot of the record. It's cool that there's this dichotomy on the record.

In listening to interviews about "This Is Home", it's interesting that the song was actually written by Mark Hoppus, but ended up being sung by Tom Delonge. It makes this sing have a little more meaning, and it's reassuring to know that they actually worked together to make this record; regardless of being in separate studios. It's synthy domination, and use of acoustic guitars throughout make this a much more interesting song if listened to at more than face value.

"MH 4.18.2011" is another one of Mark's tracks that brings it home to the indie/pop-punk craftwork that he is known for. It's another anthem that voices the fact that we have a lot more to be thankful for than we really know.

"Love is Dangerous" is, for lack of better words ominous and creepy. The octave lyrics in the verses leave me with the chills every time.

"Fighting The Gravity" got the most negative reviews from the whole album from others, while I think it's one of the coolest tracks. It's super electronic, dark, progressive, and not really what I would expect from these guys at all. Once again, it borders between coherence and oblivion; which is exactly where my tastes lie. I'm so impressed with this song and how weird it is. I can't say enough good things about this song.

The last song "Even if She Falls" (which is only on the deluxe edition I might add) is the only song in this set that I would categorize as filler. I'm not really sure if I like it still. It just seems like regurgitation of what people wanted to hear. Don't get me wrong, it's catchy, fun, and upbeat, but it seems to lack the depth that the other songs possess on the album.



What I have to say about this album is that I'm impressed with where they decided to go with it. I thoroughly enjoy listening to it (I've probably played it through ten or more time since I got it). What I'm more interested to hear is where they'll go next. It seems like it's more of a stepping stone into being a more mature and pragmatic band than they were previously. When you break it down, it has many of the same song, chord, and album structures, that identifies itself as a Blink 182 album. That is what people like, and I'm VERY, VERY ok with that. However, with benchmarks like "Fighting The Gravity" and "Natives" that set this album very much apart from what they have done previously, I want to see what this band can do if they set there minds out to create something really creative, progressive and different.