Tricklin

I've always been a fan of Blink 182. So when I heard, from my brother-in-law, about Tom DeLonge's new band "Angels & Airwaves", my curiousity was peaked. So, I loaded up Rhapsody, searched for them, and quickly added their new album, "We Don't Need To Whisper", to my playlist. This new band consists not only of DeLonge as the lead, but also former Box Car Racer - another of DeLonge's experiments - guitarist David Kennedy, bassist Ryan Sinn of the Distillers and Offspring drummer Atom Willard. Sounds like a pretty star-studded band. Can you say "Audioslave", or maybe "Velvet Revolver"?

Well, after listening to this album, I must say that I'm pretty impressed. DeLonge has an extremely distinctive voice, so when you hear him singing, it's hard not to think of Blink 182. However, the lyrics and the music itself couldn't be farther from Blink. This is far from a bad thing. I definitely enjoy this album. Everything on this album is much more serious and deliberate. Think Box Car's self-titled debut and Blink's last album, but a little more grown up. As Stephanie Benson's review on Rhapsody states:

Imagine Blink-182's tattooed quirkiness clashing with Peter Gabriel's atmospheric art rock. It could end up one big mess of piercings and sledgehammers, but Angels and Airwaves are smart with their artistic experiments.

That's a great way to describe this album. It's perfect for thirtysomethings that aren't quite ready to admit they're not kids anymore.