Since 2009, when Mark Hoppus declared that ‘Blink-182 is back’, the trio have been on and off the musical radar like a yo-yo on overdrive: one minute they had a sixth album they were dying to showcase, the next they were pulling out of and suspending headline tours. Amidst all this, a die hard fan would be forgiven for losing their patience with the Californian outfit.
But at long last, the boys finally have something new to show us. The anticipation was high, the hype was all over the social networks, and the wait was everlasting, but the release of ‘Up all Night’ is very little to write home about. It opens with some interesting guitar work that grabs the listeners attention, but as soon as Tom Delonge’s characteristic voice enters the mix, many listeners are likely to lose interest. It sounds exactly like Tom Delonge’s side project Angels and Airwaves (no, we’ve never heard of them either), and their innovative ‘dark’ lyrics that many fans have been praising feel torn from the self titled album of 2003. It’s not unbearable though. As soon as Mark Hoppus comes into the equation, it feels a lot more like a Blink-182 track, and it is almost pleasurable listening.
Overall though, it feels a lot like British Summer Time – a lot of anticipation, with a lot of disappointment.
5/10
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Same, I thought they should made their comeback with something more upbeat like Feeling This.