Nearly 20 years ago Blink 182 broke onto the scene with their own brand of punk. A lot has happened to them since: they’ve changed drummers, got married, had kids and – in drummer Travis Barker’s case – survived a terrible plane crash. When you put all that into perspective, it is tough to expect they’d still be writing the same kind of music as when they first released an album.

On their self-titled 2003 album Blink ventured a long way from their original music – basically they grew up. Neighborhoods continues the musical shift. If you have heard the first single Up All Night then you have a good idea what the new album sounds like. It is dark and brooding; the trio have taken some of the darkness of the self-titled album and extrapolated on it. It was almost like when they wrote I Miss You they decided what path they wanted to go down as a band.

Neighborhoods is not a punk album, it is just a rock album - and a good one at that. The songs are no longer funny, but it is a great album in its own right. Once you can accept the fact that it isn’t the Blink you used to know and get past that, Neighborhoods is so easy to enjoy.

Michael Wickham

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