Review: Blink 182's Neighborhoods

Alright people this is gonna be my first blog review and probably my most biased one.  If you know me, you know im a huge Blink fan so from the start i was basically gonna like this album.  When they first announced they were gonna reform back in 2009, i couldn't wait for this album to drop, i was like a little kid waiting to open my presents on christmas morning.  When i finally got my hands on a leaked version (note: i did pre-order the deluxe edition so i technically didn't steal it ha)...i was not disappointed what soever.

From the very begining the albums starts out with "ghost on the dance floor" and if your a big Tom [Delonge] like me; you could hear a tad bit of Box Car Racer's "There Is" along with some angels and airwaves all mixed in. This song sets the tone for basically the whole album. The albums is a huge melting pot for all three (tom, mark and travis) musical taste, ranging from Mark's indie taste, to Tom's big stadium rock anthems to Travis' punk and hiphop likings.  The second track on the record is "natives" which is basically "carousal part 2" it has the punk riffs which we love from blink along with a sprinkling of some AVA dust on top.  The Albums follows with two of the strongest tracks on the record; "up all night" and "after midnight".  Its hard not to like the melodic and harmonic chorus of "up all night" which catches both delonge and hoppus sharing the spot light. While "after midnight" gives a nod to "i miss you" with its hopeless romantic kinda feel. Its a perfect mix of toms over dramatic voice, while marks mellow chill and soothing voice blurts the the typical catchy  blink choruses. In my personal option this song is one of blinks best work ever, i couldn't stop listening it, ear-gasm after ear-gasm and i still find myself putting that track on repeat.  The albums continues strong all the way up until 2 of the weakest tracks on the albums.  "love is dangerous" falls short and seems like a last minute addition to lengthen the album. "Fighting the Gravity" is probably one of the weirdest tracks i've listened and does not fit well with the rest of the albums, it doesn't even sound like anything blink or any of their side projects would do.  The albums ends strong with "even if she falls" the song lends great to tom's guitar style and voice, its a mellow-dramatic love song, which makes a great ending to a great albums, i could see them ending a concert with such a song.

Overall The albums did stand up to the Blink name.  Some people will dislike it because its so much different from lets say..."Dude Ranch". But then again those same people would say its too much like "dude ranch" if it sounded like it "dude ranch", so its always a lose-lose for blink. But i think they took the album in the perfect direction, blending all their musical inspirations to form an excellent cd.  Overall great album, would of been perfect with the exclusion of a couple songs, but the other songs pick up the slack.  Anyways pick up the album!!



Overall: 9/10