Blink 182 – Untitled

Forget about anal sex with animals. Forget about incest and guys with three testicles. Forget about masturbation and ejaculation. Forget anything you may think you know about this band and put any preconceptions behind you. The guys of Blink182 have moved away from their immature jokes that they are known for and have made a new, different, mature album.

“Hello there, my angel from my nightmare. The shadow from the background of the morgue. The unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley We can live like Jack and Sally if we want. Where you can always find me. We’ll have Halloween on Christmas, and in the night we’ll wish this never ends.” The first lines of the band’s second single “I Miss You“, not something you’d expect to hear from this trio is it? The truth is, nothing on this album is what you have come to expect from them. Darker lyrics, heavier melodies along with nastier, stronger and grittier riffs are what you find in the latest effort from the San Diego trio.

Blink182 used many different techniques to make their songs sound exactly the way they wanted them to sound. It worked perfectly, but I find it hard to imagine how they will play the songs live and make them sound the same as the recording. Will they bring a shower onto the stage to sing into to get the same reverb sound that they have on Down? Or will Tom stand 15 feet away from the microphone and scream into it for certain parts of Feeling This? Will they ever get the chance to play All Of This live? Without the help of Robert Smith from The Cure? I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see.

The Untitled album is something new from the band, pumping something different onto the airwaves then the generic pop-punk we are seeing everywhere. It takes some time to get into and to really understand. I really doubt that many people will fall in love with it in their first listen, but give it time and it will grow on you. O, and one final thing, now it is impossible to say that Blink182 “sold out”. They have created a 50 minute album of songs for themselves and no one else. They threw away all conventional writing methods and made an album which must be respected and enjoyed. You may not agree with what they write about or may not like some of their songs; but they are still a band that deserves respect no matter what for that succeeded and what all bands try to do: they made an album for themselves. Forgot about what people wanted them to make and wrote an album for themselves and if their fans don’t like it, well that’s their problem.