Angels And Airwaves: We Dont Need To Whisper is a complete masterpiece, and the greatest record Tom Delonge has made since 2005 blink hiatus?
Back in 2003 blink-182 released the Self-titled record and suddenly they were fucking everywhere...Radio..Internet.. Television.. even video games. I remember hearing feeling this for the first time on Madden... Skip to just 2 years later 2005, I come across a article on MTV.com announcing that blink-182 was going on a "indefinite hiatus". As a 14 year old massive blink fan I was completely devastated. As well as slightly confused because I had never seen or heard the word "hiatus" ever before in my life. 😂
2006 Tom forms Angels And Airwaves and once I heard the opening riff on The Adventure I was hooked.
Streaming wasn't a thing back then and with no income to buy WDNTW. My buddy downloaded the record off of Limewire burned it to a blank CD, and snuck it in my homeroom desk. I open my desk one morning and there it fucking was. Shit felt like Christmas morning but 1000 times better because it was a total surprise. I went home and listened to it and it completely blew my mind. I was obsessed. You dont think of it at the time but its the last record with the classic legendary Tom Delonge vocals. Atom Willards drumming is incredible. Entire record is a no skip and has a cohesive tracklist that transports listeners into a different atmosphere. Never heard anything like it in 2006 and still haven't to this day.
I dont think its nostalgia when I say Self-titled record, WDNTW, and When Your Heart Stops Beating was a very special era for blink fans, and in my opinion the absolute peak of Tom and Mark's songwriting and composing careers. AVA has put alot of songs that are awesome but none of the following records ever came close to the brilliance of WDNTW. As for Blink I still think their last masterpiece was Self-titled...Neighborhoods was just okay when I l first bought the record, but as Ive gotten older Its grown on me. One More Time is my favorite record since Self-titled, but my biggest gripe with it and with alot of records made today is that it just feels like a collection of songs. I seem to gravitate towards records that possess a distinctive music identity.