Everyone knows that blink-182 hit their peak of awesomeness just after Travis joined the band and just before Tom turned into a douchelord. While their lyrics were still about being fuckups, girls and generally not wanting to grow up, their songs matured greatly thanks to Mr Barker and the structured flair he brought to proceedings.
That's not to say that Dude Ranch isn't a great album, or that the self-titled album doesn't have some good songs. Anyway, Blink went on hiatus, came back, released an okay album that I hungrily reviewed at the time but haven't listened to since, and now they have a (relatively) new EP out called Dogs Eating Dogs.
My first thought was HOLY CRAP HOW SWEET DOES THAT COVER LOOK, THIS IS GONNA RULE, IT'S SO BADASS.
I calmed myself down by remembering one of the guys behind this was the guy behind Angels and Airwaves and their 8 minute 18 second music videos. Then I remembered how The Offspring have gotten old and put out some curious music lately. But then I thought about how an EP is a pretty cool idea for a band like blink who have three members pulling in different directions. I thought that maybe an EP would trim the fat and leave nothing but sweet jams!
And it doesn't start off that badly. Opening song When I was Young is a typical TomSong circa TOYPAJ, the verse is stripped down and then the chorus goes big. (These are real terms, y'all). *disclaimer* Tom does whine on about random metaphoric crap, the chorus isn't amazingly catchy or anything and it does stray into weird electronica. Having said all that, the song is okay and I might listen to it on a bus ride, maybe.
Next up is Dogs Eating Dogs a MarkSong, as the 2nd song for a blink release usually is. This is very like modern blink by Mark or in other words Plus 44. I think I'm more disappointed by Mark songs because I <3 him and feel he's being held back by Tom singing about a 'crippellling feeer uv hiiites'. Another trend I've noticed is that Mark sings a lot higher than he used to and added to the underpowered (self) production, it all sounds a bit weak.
From a none to inspiring start, things start to go downhill quickly with Disaster, which is basically an Angels and Airwaves song. Maybe when I'm old and need music that doesn't cause any type of emotional reaction in me I will understand Angels and Airwaves. I'm going to stop posting the videos now, they're online if you want them..
Boxing Day is a Christmas song of sorts. It's the musical equivalent of an endless plate of plain spaghetti, if you just get through it without paying too much attention you'll survive, if you concentrate on what you're doing, you'll slowly lose the will to live.
Tom makes me sad with the last song, Pretty Little Girl. This is 4.20 long and has a rapper towards the end. Not that I'm against rappers but, yeah.
Closing thoughts
- The EP was a good idea (as opposed to a full album of this mediocrity)
- They should get someone else to produce their music
- Dogs Eating Dogs = DED
- Going back to pretending they were DED after the self titled.
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