Blink 182 - ONE MORE TIME…
Pop Punk – Released October 20, 2023 – 17 songs, 44 mins
REID
We’re 24 years removed from Tom, Mark and Travis running naked through the streets on the What’s My Age Again? video. Crazy to think how time flies and things change. Many artists still produce music videos but they don’t have the same impact. The only ones making headlines are those showing the most ass. Where would be the boys be without their own iconic exposure?
This week’s review highlights the comeback album from the original blink-182 trio, their first since Neighborhoods (2011). After a multitude of conflicts, side bands, health scares, alien obsessions and a Kardashian marriage, the boys bury the hatchet, announce a tour and give it a go ONE MORE TIME… I’m a fan of their old work but the album’s single, EDGING, really doused the flames on my expectations. Here’s to hoping they don’t fizzle out completely.
Fortunately, that notion was erased about 3 seconds into the opening track as the third rendition of ANTHEM provides an immediate injection of nostalgia. As amazing as it is to explore new music, the feeling you get when revisiting old favourites is incomparable. This song alone totally reignited my flame and optimism. From there on out we’re treated to what we’ve come to know and love from blink-182. Tom and Mark may grab the spotlight as they share the mic on lead vocals but the true star of the band has always been and continues to be Travis. His drumming skills are on another level and he sets the fast-paced foundation to the punk rock sound.
Reminiscence and good vibes aside, ONE MORE TIME… is a quality record. blink has made a career on effective juxtaposition and they excel once again. It’s composed of the catchy cheesy songs (FELL IN LOVE), stadium anthems (DANCE WITH ME), melodic rocker jams (WHEN WE WERE YOUNG) and heart wrenchers (ONE MORE TIME and YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’VE GOT). They follow their own tried and tested formula with the uncanny ability to have you laugh at masturbation one minute and tear up in evaluating life the next.
This week was a difficult one in my community as a seven-year old boy met his tragic end due to a freak accident. I didn’t know him and I don’t know the family but I’m from a small town where connections run deep. Several of my friends were deeply affected. The outpouring on social media has been heartbreaking and the ripple effect is felt on families in our province. In an instant, those lives were changed forever. Life in fragile, man. My condolences go out to the family and I hope they find the strength to get by. You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.
ONE MORE TIME… is much more than a nostalgia act as blink-182 exceeds expectations with their comeback record. They stick to their age old recipe for success and deliver a new collection of jams for fans to sink their teeth in. Excuse me while I google those 2024 tour dates.
Overall Rating: 8.0/10
Favourite Song: DANCE WITH ME
LUNDI
Nostalgia is a hell of a feeling, but so is loss. This week conjured up a mixture of both as there’s a tiny piece of me missing that was amplified by the return of blink-182. Joe I miss you forever. One More Time goes out to you. On to the music.
Let’s get this out of the way. It is so damn cool to hear one of your favourite bands ever reunite. blink-182 filled the soundtrack of my youth. To hear new music was a thought I’d given up long ago, but alas here we are. The ferocious, unmatched drumming of the GOAT Travis Barker. The unmistakable punk nasal vocal of Tom Delonge. The upbeat plucky pop bass lines of Mark Hoppus. One More Time is a tidal wave of nostalgia. And let’s not discount what Mark went through to even be here. Cancer is no joke. To be standing is a modern miracle, let alone having the ability to write and track 17+ songs in the midst of a stadium tour. My admiration for Mark is unmatched. And if One More Time succeeds at one thing in particular, it’s that the feeling of admiration, friendship, respect, and love between the three has never been greater. Regardless of what you think of the music, there’s a lot of great life lessons that can be taken away from the album experience.
And the music itself. Well, fuck is it ever fun. I spent the week dancing around my house, often pausing to confirm the fact that it is indeed new blink-182 blaring over my speakers. Subjectively, One More Time is great, but damn you TSR you’ve ruined my ability to push aside the critical analysis of music. What feels great at first, doesn’t take many listens to spin into a guilty pleasure.
It’s probably my own fault that I’m let down by the lyrics on One More Time. Wanting Blink to grow wasn’t exactly expected but it certainly wasn’t out of the realm of possibility either. There is an album out there that builds on the gigantic leap forward that was untitled but that’s not at all what we got here. While there’s glimmers of hope and substance with the words they’ve penned most of the writing falls pretty flat and is ultimately predictable and cliche. It’s not quite juvenile but it’s not exactly dripping with insight and wisdom either. We’ve done many comebacks now and Blink’s reunion falls more in line with repeating the past for fan service like RHCP and Metallica before them, rather than pushing forward and discovering new territory like Phoenix and Death Cab for Cutie. It doesn’t exactly help their cause that they never quite found many of those classic Blink hooks that can make you forget about the nonsense that came before.
While the lyrical output could be forgiven and chalked up to Blink being Blink, the album production, mixing and overall decision making cannot. After watching some live shows Tom and Mark just don’t sound like this. Their vocals are pitch corrected beyond belief and shined up to this glossy finish that pulls away from the heart of what Blink is supposed to be. For a lot of the record there is just entirely too much happening at once. Keyboards, bells, synths, whistles, you name it it’s there. There are a lot of great ideas at the core, but too many were implemented. Simplicity would have served them well. Sometimes the raw, undoctered recording booth output doesn’t need all that studio magic and it sure as hell it it doesn’t belong in the punk scene. This feeling is compounded to nth degree by the album length. Who decided to push this to 45 minutes?? I would like a word. Bad News, Turpentine, Childhood and Edging could all have been easily cut with no negative impact. The back half really brings down what was a promising opening run of tracks. Ultimately though in the end Blink succeed in filling the pop punk void their breakup left behind, you want it to be great, but nostalgia only goes so far.
It’s a minor miracle One More Time ever got made, for that the music world should be grateful. No one makes ‘shitty pop punk’ quite like blink-182, but once the excitement and nostalgia wear off you’re left with a good, not great discog entry that never reaches the heights of their heyday.
Overall Rating: 7.3
Favourite Song: Blink Wave
ROZ
The last time that the TSR crew reviewed an album by this week's band, it was a tribute to a good friend who left us too soon. With the trajectory that the band has been on through its tumultuous history, I firmly believed that it would be the last time we’d be taking a deep dive into the trio. I guess I was wrong. Neither creative differences nor alien conspiracy obsessions could keep these guys apart for good. This week, Too Sweet Reviews checks in with blink-182 once more as Mark and Travis team up with lapsed band member Tom DeLonge for their ninth (and maybe last) studio album ONE MORE TIME.
From a performance standpoint, the band sounds absolutely great. Track standouts include ANTHEM PART 3, TERRIFIED, and BLINK WAVE, with all three giving off a certain catchiness and charm that sticks with you even after putting the headphones down. Although it does not need to be said, I will say it anyway – Travis Barker is a living legend on the sticks for a damn good reason, once again being the star that stands out the most throughout the trackist. Overall sonically, and I mean sonically, ONE MORE TIME… sounds just like blink from the old days. Once the introduction to DANCE WITH ME kicks in however, that on-brand tinge of mischievous childishness and vulgarity (that seemed fun on their older discography) really didn’t seem to have that same ‘boyish charm’. I mean, the gang is staring out into their 50’s, after all. Immaturity displayed by an objectively mature human is a very interesting contradiction to process, and this album is ultimately a great example of that.
For all the delicious nostalgia of the band's pop-punk sound resonating through my ears, I find it incredibly hard not to notice the waning of its intoxicating effect as my listens continue onwards. Lyrical substance is not a strong suit on this album, that’s for certain. On the technical side, I can’t help but find myself obsessing over the application of auto-tune effects as a general enhancer, which on this album is used to an obnoxious degree (FELL IN LOVE and ONE MORE TIME being the largest offenders). One major example of the cracks in the armor that any aging rock band shows as they begin to lean on the magic of the professional studio and, in this case, the 15-person audio engineer room. I came to realize by the end of my listening experience that nostalgia can only take an album so far and at 17 songs, that warm feeling can and did begin to cool off.
ONE MORE TIME… is a warm blanket that I can wrap around the younger version of myself; a relic of one of the simpler, more care-free times in my life. With that being said, we try to be as objective as possible here at Too Sweet Reviews, no matter how much fun my inner teenager may be having. Nonetheless, ONE MORE TIME… is a pleasant surprise; it is an album that serves as not only a reflective piece on the band's unique history, but also as the group's apparent swan song as well. If this truly is the final time, consider this blink fan satisfied.
Overall Rating: 7.1/10
Favourite Song: ANTHEM PART 3