Blink-182 is back ONE MORE TIME…

Blink-182 is back ONE MORE TIME… and I wish they weren’t because this new album is a disappointment. If you’re unfamiliar with the iconic pop-punk band Blink-182, they debuted in 1992, and among current members are Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Travis Barker. They didn’t reach breakout success until their third album, Enema Of The State, released in 1999. That album includes the most dope pop-punk song, “What’s My Age Again?” I consider that album to be Blink’s peak, though they had a solid fourth album, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. But shelving those two, I couldn’t get into any of their other material post-fourth album. I don’t listen to Blink-182 religiously, so this opinion comes from a casual listener, but I can confidently declare ONE MORE TIME… was made only as fan service.

Upon first listening, I thought this to be a banal record compared to their previous work. After listening again, I better understood the innovations, but the issues still exist. First and foremost, the egregious production caused discomfort while listening, even at low volume with headphones. The person in charge of the audio mixing fumbled with the drum's loudness as it drowned out every other sound. The best way to describe the drums is like a crescendo that remained at a peak without the slightest trough. There are a myriad of tracks where the drums muffle the singing. Because of that, they sound like concert sound checks brought into the studio, for example, the track “MORE THAN YOU KNOW”.

The lead single, released a year ago, “EDGING,” is one of many tracks where the vocals have watery, painfully obvious autotune, which is not usually present in a rock album. I understand that the members are much older now, but there is no way their voices need to contain that much sound correction. “ONE MORE TIME” leans on their acoustic side with a promising opening but leads to more overblown vocal production that I cannot get over. Even though I did not like many of the songs, I thought some were alright, such as “TERRIFIED,” where I liked the chorus, but the verses fell flat. “FELL IN LOVE” contains the same lonely love song aesthetic you would get from their early 2000s era. Finally, the album’s opener, “ANTHEM PART 3,” continues the “Anthem” trilogy with parts one and two from prior albums. Lastly, some ephemeral tracks are present in this record, with songs lasting from 29 to 90 seconds, but these bite sizes are not as memorable as one would anticipate.

This new album clearly done in fan service, considering it’s marketed as a reunion album, even though they dropped one in 2019 without Tom DeLonge. Upon listening, I felt like checking out after the first half. While there is an attempt of value put into this, it just sounds soulless. I’m not trying to nitpick all the small things, but the memorability of this record after a complete listen is gone faster than a blink.