Additional InformationBoth a return to form and an enjoyable maturation, the pop-punk godfathers return with a new guitarist on their best effort in 15 years.
Reviews"There are gems aplenty. ‘Bored To Death’ is a summer-anthem-to-be....The upbeat ‘She’s Out Of Her Mind’ will never leave your head.", "'Bored to Death' is the album’s first single and most successful song, with a compressed drum intro and dolorous three-note repeating riff that hits you like a tornado...", "CALIFORNIA explodes from the speakers with much-welcomed, in-your-face sheen on 'Cynical,' a double-time slab of skate punk and desperate vocals.", "CALIFORNIA explodes from the speakers with much-welcomed, in-your-face sheen on “Cynical,” a double-time slab of skate punk and desperate vocals.", "CALIFORNIA sounds like what Blink-182 probably should sound like in 2016: upbeat, hooky and, above anything else, a total blast.", 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "'She's Out of Her Mind' builds a cheery singalong moment out of the term 'anti-social,' and on 'No Future' and 'Kings of the Weekend,' hooks pile up like empty beer cans."
It's just not that good. Simple as that. Whatever Tom DeLonge brought to Blink 182, including all the dodgy vocals, etc the fact is that Blink without him are a shadow of their former selves. There's a couple of pretty fun songs but a lot of it is just rehashing what they've done before. Worse, particularly as a drummer and a massive fan, there are a number of drum parts where Travis is just repeating himself. That for me is the killer. Nothing will ever detract from the glory of Enema, Jacket or Neighbourhoods (much underrated) but this album is almost certainly the beginning of the end.
Even without Tom this is still a good album with a typical distinctive Blink 182 sound. I like it and would buy for others that I know that like the band. Give it a go.