Mark, Tom and Travis are adults who are still young at heart
Just just a year ago i Blink-182 they returned after twelve years to release an album in the classic lineup, the one that involves Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker and Tom DeLonge. On the occasion of the first anniversary of “One more time…” we thought we’d re-propose our review of the album.
If it is true that you should not judge a book by its cover, it is equally certain that by the previews of theirs new albumBlink-182 had already offered enough clues to make their own return in historical education more than predictable. Starting from the recognizable smiley face in the preview of the artwork, up to the title, the Californian trio immediately clarified theintent of self-celebration and nostalgia effect of his new job, “One more time…”. It is, however, precisely thanks to the melancholy and direct references to the past, especially to the eponymous 2003 album, that fans will feel reassured from listening to the current album, the first studio project since “Neighborhoods” in 2011 with Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker reunited with longtime friend Tom DeLonge.
In the late ’90s and early ’00s, it was hard not to come across one of Blink-182’s bizarre music videos on MTV. Born under the California sun in the summer of 1992and after years of apprenticeship with former drummer Scott Raynor, the group consolidated itself in the formation composed of Mark, Tom and Travis, and in 1999 reached the mainstream success with his third studio album“Enema of the state“. Thanks to lightheartedness and freshness, boldness and speed, but also introspection, the trio became a symbol of pop punk and a point of reference for the youthful anger and rebellion of the period.
After a break and a reunion, as well as three more studio albums with which Blink-182 shaped their trademark before evolving and renewing it, .DeLonge left the lineup of Poway being replaced by Matt Skiba. Since then fans have never stopped wondering if and when they would seen again in action together with Mark, Tom and Travis. Following long rumors and false hopes, with Hoppus returning from a difficult period due to his fight against cancer, the moment that the band’s most loyal fans were waiting for arrived in 2022. In full pop punk revivalwhich found its guru in Travis Barker, Blink-182 announced their return with DeLonge, which resulted in a world tour (which stopped in Italy last October 6th – here is the lineup and video, here is the story) and in a new album. As anticipated by the first singles, friendship, mortality, introspection, growth and awareness are therefore physiologically at the center of the narrative of “One more time…”. While those pandering sounds with fast rhythms, inspired by Californian melodic hardcore but combined with captivating pop sounds, return to weave the constant sonic texture of Blink-182. Between new ideas and a new use of the vocoderwith the attempt to adapt to the latest trends thanks to the skilled guidance of Travis Barker, here also as producer, in the band’s ninth album we find – once again – the classic trio attitude.
From the beginning, “One more time…” is a leap into the past and present of the band, with the first track “Anthem part 3” which immediately appeals to nostalgia, as a sequel to “Anthem” from “Enema of the state” and the second part in 2001’s “Take off your pants and jacket.” Barker’s crisp drum hits and lively guitar chords hit you in the face, making the soul of Blink-182 reemergeswho find themselves here to celebrate where they have arrived, and where they could have gone after “Neighborhoods” and the subsequent EP “Dogs eating dogs”: “This time, I won’t be complacent / The dreams I gave up and wasted / A new high, a new ride and I’m on fire / My hope shit ends here tonight”, goes the chorus. The most melodic voice of Mark Hoppus and the more acidic and nasal one of Tom DeLonge, together againthey are like a hug heartening.
The following “Olé olé olé olé” of the single “Dance with me” and the easy “Na-na-na” of “Fell in love” bring the more commercial side of the band to take the spotlight, without there being anything wrong with that. “Terrified” (originally a song by Box Car Racer, the group formed by DeLonge and Barker in 2001) instead ventures back in time and sheds light on the general tendency of “One more time…” to refer to that maturity that the trio began to revel in since the 2003 album. The evolution and introspection gained by the band with the album of twenty years ago, that of “I miss you”, “Feeling this” and “Always”, seem to continue in the new work, starting from the rawness of the lyrics and the emotionality of the music of the title track and the changes in atmosphere of “More than you know” – one of the best moments, between changing rhythms and precise drum fills.
“I wish they told us, it shouldn’t take a sickness / Or airplanes falling out the sky”, recalls Mark in “One more time” thinking back to some problems faced over the years from the formation, while DeLonge with a ringing tone, supported by some effects on the voice, sings “Do I have to die to hear you miss me? / Do I have to die to hear you say goodbye?”.
Speed is the other constant of “One more time…”, with seventeen songs for over forty-four minutes. There frenzy reigns supreme in songs that run out in less than thirty seconds like “Turn this off!” and “Fuck face” (in full Blink-182 spirit like “Happy holidays, You bastard”), but also in a piece, “Blink wave”, where 80s synthwave influences even peek out. In addition to the first single “Edging”, which even after a year makes you wonder why Blink-182 chose a song with simplistic and repetitive lyrics and tones as their first song with Tom after a while, sensitivity and introspection they are the backbone of other better brackets, when in “
You don’t know what you got” Hoppus screams: “I took you all for granted / You can write my epilogue”. The short “Hurt (Interlude)” brings back references to the moods of the 2003 album “Blink-182”, but “Other side” mixes together other past periods and with “Childhood” we go even further back, even if the text suggests a more self-reflective and mature way of doing things. While Mark, Tom and Travis are still young-at-heart adults, “One more time…” it’s like a hug between old friends for the group’s fans who, now former teenagers, simply wanted the “old Blink-182”.