blink-182 - NINE

Think of the late 90s, early 2000s music scene. What do you see? Exactly, plastic pop, Shaggy, and a variety of pop-punk bands. At the top of the list are bands that we could now consider classics: Sum 41, Green Day, Avril Lavigne, and of course blink-182. Avril Lavigne has turned her career from mainstream punk chick to pop singer, Green Day seem to have lost their edge more and more with each new album since American Idiot, and Sum 41 disappeared, just to reappear this year with their latest album, Order in Decline, which wasn’t too bad, but didn’t feel like Sum 41 to some old-school fans.

Amidst all this, everyone’s favourite drummer’s band, blink-182, have released a new album as well. Many weren’t too sure if this would be a good idea. After the very disappointing Neighborhoods from 2011, and a mediocre California in 2016, the first single of the album “Darkside”, sounded too much like a midlife crisis. And looked it, as well! The video shows three men in their 40s, surrounded by teenage cheerleaders. Mark Hoppus has never looked this old.

However, Nine, as their eighth album is called, doesn’t sound like a midlife crisis at all. Quite on the contrary: it’s dark, it’s fast, and even though it is a perfect album for your inner teenage angst, it still has the reflected qualities of a grown-up who has lived through heartaches and hardships before.

The album starts off with a proper pop punk hymn. “The First Time” catapults you straight back to 2005. The follow-up, “Happy Days”, sounds like blink-182 sat down with My Chemical Romance to create the ultimate 2000s emo song – and it really works. 

One of the strongest track is track number 9, “I Really Wish I Hated You”, a surprisingly self-aware take on a lost love you can’t get out of your head. “I don’t really like myself without you, every song I sing is still about you […] I really wish I hated you” – if this is where 2000s emo is taken in 2020, sign me up for it.

With Nine, blink-182 have created an album that is grown-up, yet refreshingly young still. The album sounds like Mark Hoppus, Matt Skiba, and Travis Barker have finally found their groove, and are on their way of defining the new sound of post-DeLonge blink-182. They like to experiment (you want a 50 second straight-up punk rock song? Just listen to “Generational Divide”!), and the overall feel of the album is that of a more refined, clear sound – everything you missed in Neighborhoods and California, Nine has to offer.