Falchion's Edge

I was quite disappointed when I found out that the band Blink-182 had disbanded last year. I’m not that huge a fan, but I liked that while they were able to give a good resounding pop/punk sound, I was more impressed with their mid-tempo songs. They gave an emotional ride backed up with resonating bass and driving drums, played by one of the fastest drummer I have ever heard, Travis Baker, another highlight of the Blink sound.

So I was up flipping through channels late one night last week and I happened to come across a music video playing on MTV. Shocking isn’t it? Actual music on MTV instead of the hawt twins? The horror! Anyways, since it was such a rare occurrence, I just had to stop and listen. The video was some sci-fi thing with shots of WW2 thrown in. The lead singer sounded and looked very familiar, but it was the music that held my attention. Sweeping guitar melodies gave it a nice anthem-like rock sound which I love, but added to that was lots of atmospheric electronic pads which is my new joy learnt from bands like The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie. So a rock-anthem band not afraid to use electronics? I’m sold!

It turns out that it was the video for the single “The Adventure” by a new band called “Angels and Airwaves“. A quick Google turned up my suspicions as correct. That was the lead guy from Blink-182, and they are releasing their first album on May 23.

So I picked it up yesterday and have been listening to it on repeat. They weren’t kidding when they said that they are going for an epic feel, every single track is an anthem. There is no one track shorter than 5 minutes and they are chalk full of sweeps, hooks, riffs and phasing up the wahzoo. I’m loving it has it makes for great aural trip from start to finish And when the album finally ends, there is an uncomfortable feeling in the stillness, like there was something missing.

Two tracks in particular I noticed above the rest, that being the opening track “Valkyrie Missile” and the current single “The Adventure“. Turns out that they both where to be released as singles in that order but somehow the order got switch around. Either way, Valkyrie Missile does a very good job of setting the tone for the rest of the album. The short blurb of old-era radio chatter actually helps to give that far-away, airy feel, like there was something huge and unusual passing overhead as you stand on a grassy hill in the sunrise.

The weak track however is “It hurts“, which I suspect is Tom DeLonge’s take on the whole mess with Blink-182. The track is the most Blink sounding of the lot, in terms of both music and lyrical style. While it’s somewhat to the level of Blink’s usual stuff, here it just feels out of place.

Taken together, this is a fantastic album that just takes the rock-anthem style and updates it for our modern age. And did a far better job of it then the cheesy “The Darkness“.

Therefore, Angels and Airwaves with “We don’t need to Whisper” is the Artists and Album of the month. Which may not last very long as I have an eagerly awaited new CD coming to me. Watch for the review of that soon.