Any energy-based band returning to the fray after eight years -- especially one whose calling card was its immaturity -- will be a nervous prospect. Yet here is Blink-182, out today with Neighborhoods. Let's see how it goes.

Stream the album on Blink-182's website here.

Ghost on the Dance Floor

Synth strings. That's all I'm scared of? They're layered over a familiar guitar and drum blatter and thank god Tom DeLonge still only knows how to sing one song. The catchy one. And his backup harmonies have improved. Travis Barker can be trusted to do what he wants in the background and make everything sound more important than it is. A strong start for a death song by a life band -- it goes "I saw your ghost tonight/ It fucking hurt like hell."

Natives

Frenetic single-note guitar riff -- these guys haven't lost a step. The synergy is remarkable considering the bad terms they split on (canceled a benefit and DeLonge changed his phone number to avoid the other two), and how bad Angels and Airwaves sucked. It's been a grim year: no more White Stripes, LCD Soundsystem, R.E.M. When Hoppus comes in to sing the ultra-wordy, even-more-melodic chorus it's as close to rock-band magic as 2011 has offered.

Up All Night

Odd, thickheaded guitar riff shapes a truly weird song with a phasey, creeping intro and a chorus that doesn't exactly scream classic Blink, but is not difficult to imagine six years from now as classic Blink. This album's so good, so sane so far, that I hope they have records in six years to compare to this. The big-room harmonies on the tagline "And all these demons keep me up all night" convince me of something I've never advised: reverb = good.

After Midnight

Travis Barker looks like such street trash and whores himself out to so many bands that it's easy to forget he's one of rock's best drummers. His light touch and penchant for shaky double-time elements like the trilled hi-hats in these verses maybe used to be equaled by Green Day's Tre Cool, but that guy's tempos were always several rungs slower and he's settled into an on-off switch of "jaunty martial" or "mid-punk-tempo straight 4/4," along with his settled band's shitty new tunes. "After Midnight" has a fantastic chorus too -- this album actually feels safe to relax in. It's so consistently doing what it's supposed to, maybe even a little better for its age.

Snake Charmer

This is a little darker, whinier, more exotic and a perfect place for me to bemoan what you're all thinking: No, nothing here is funny. "Good girls they like to sin" I hope is a celebration; Hoppus says he's been listening to lots of "weird indie rock" so maybe he means the Hold Steady. With his slobbery new voice, DeLonge has obviously been rocking a lot of Say Anything.

Heart's All Gone Interlude

I'm used to bands growing up, because I review a fucking lot of them, but that's not the same thing as becoming more emo, and is often the opposite. In any case, a Blink-182 piano and squished guitar instrumental called "Heart's All Gone Interlude" is not something I was prepared for, nor should anyone be. For what it is, it goes somewhere.

Heart's All Gone

Reassuringly, when it gets there, it begins heartily -- with Barker's usual battalion of drums. This is a morose album to be sure, but lines like"let's drink ourselves to death" and "passed down from father to son" aren't far removed from the torn-house desperation of "Stay Together for the Kids," from their last album, when they could balance this stuff out with dickpoop.

Wishing Well

Ah, well, this is pretty stupid. Unlikely that anything else here will be as bad as this one, or contain a line as bad as "I reached for a shooting star/ It burned a hole through my hand." Another reminder than "maturity" is very easily confused for an attempt at bad emotional depth. DeLonge is too old for wishing wells and "la-da-dadada" choruses alike.

Kaleidoscope

Inventive riff (for them), Barker's big tumbles on the toms are all welcome, and it's nice to hear Mark singing more, since he doesn't much here. I'd have to go back to old Blink albums to check if it wasn't a 50/50 split like it always seemed. DeLonge takes the chorus, doesn't suck. Album's picking up again, even though "Wishing Well" has me tuning out lyrics. "It's a long road through the night" -- whatever you say Tom, just emblazon it with a tune. And he does.

This Is Home

Those synths are back, which reminds me, this could've been a lot worse. It's really a generic album done by extremely reliable professionals and it stabilizes well. Stuttery chorus works, '80s affectations might not be a phase, and they'll probably get sappier if they remain a band. For now I can't tell you how glad I am that this is so much better than 21st Century Breakdown.

MH 4.18.2011

A great one, probably the only great one after the first four songs, but it's highly anthemic, melodic and reminiscent of great old Blink and maybe even a little bit of (who's hearing ghosts now?) R.E.M.. I don't know what "stop living in the shadow of a helicopter" means, but it sounds vaguely political and at least the title cites a date I might be able to look up facts on. Jimmy Eat World wouldn't do that.

Love Is Dangerous

The most '80s-indebted thing here and it could be worse. It could also be a hit. Think the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' It's Blitz! as cannibalized by Good Charlotte. It is one of the catchiest things on Neighborhoods, although DeLonge doesn't have the sexiness or heft the chorus requires -- which is good. We don't want to encourage this sort of thing. Hoppus backup vocals always welcome.

Fighting the Gravity

Apparently the bonus tracks make this lean thing a full fifteen minutes longer. This is an argument against the deluxe edition. Hoppus' incoherent vocals waver in reverb and cavort with various feedback-and-synth-pad nuances over a diet Fugazi jam from Barker. I never need to hear it again.

Even If She Falls

This sounds like classic Blink, though the uniformity of this "experimental" album brings up the question of how much classic-sounding Blink one would need. Luckily even with "her heart will attack" in the chorus, this climaxes the whole experience with one of the better choruses here. This album should be a lot of things to everyone: cautious reunion that's actually worth hearing twice, maturation catchier than the self-titled album, and coup for an eight-year silence. Now is it too much to ask that they loosen up and crack a joke again?

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