One More Time...

About

blink-182’s ninth studio album—and first in 12 years with guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge in the lineup—is far from a self-satisfied victory lap. Even after all these year, the band’s irrepressible cheekiness animates their insouciant riff, whirlwind drum, and yelped vocal. They may be elder statesmen of punk rock at this point, but they’re still kicking against anyone who might get in their way. The reunion of DeLonge with bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker (who produced <i>ONE MORE TIME...</i>) grew out of the members dropping their past differences in the wake of Hoppus’ cancer diagnosi. “I feel like there’s a real sense of brotherhood with u,” DeLonge told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe during a full-band interview. “Like any brother, you have your little spats over the year, and you grow apart. You come back together. You’ve always got a foundation, you’re connected. You’re still inseparable energetically.” That connection is apparent throughout <i>ONE MORE TIME...</i>, which Barker calls “very collaborative.” It calls back to blink’s past at its outset, opening with the speedy “ANTHEM PART 3”—the third part of a trilogy that dates back to the band’s <i>Enema of the State</i> era, although this time out, things are more optimistic than the angst-filled first two installments: “If I fall, on some nails/If I win or set sail/I won’t fail, I won’t fail,” DeLonge wails as the song comes crashing to an end. <i>ONE MORE TIME...</i> has other moments of introspection: The title track is a very blink-182 take on a power ballad, with DeLonge and Hoppus musing about life being too short to not get over past difference. The anthemic “WHEN WE WERE YOUNG” turns the old phrase about youth being wasted on the young into fuel for one last trip to the mosh pit and closing track “CHILDHOOD” pivots on the always pertinent question, “What’s going on with me?” .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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