Blink-182
Enema Of The State

THE REVIEW

Considered by many as one of the best pop-punk albums, it is nothing more than the umpteenth stereotypical example of this genre done poorly and very irritating.

From this work onwards, a new drummer, Travis Barker, joins in place of Scott Raynor, alongside Tom and Jerry (more commonly known as Tom and Mark), the group's guitar and bass.

12 songs all made of the same expired substance that represent the absolute nothingness, paving the way for dozens of similar bands that play two random guitar riffs, slap on a hyper-clichéd refrain, and babble four predictable phrases as lyrics. Amusing on the first listen, but they become indigestible on the second.

An album lacking content, but as mentioned, with the sole goal of an easy refrain. There are even faster songs which aren't bad ("Don't leave me", "Anthem"), speeding up the pace where the drummer pushes, but unfortunately the other two, rather than grinding out sharp and edgy riffs and making the voice more energetic and expressive, continue to play cat and mouse, coming out with yet another reluctant devil's arpeggio and the usual annoyingly mellow, sugary voice. The drummer, as mentioned, manages to set several rhythms to the tracks, but the atrocious, overly clean production doesn't do justice to the drums, which are watered down, and its sound is compressed and made softer and more appealing.

To be clear, try downloading a piece from the Alkaline Trio like "Mr. chainsaw" or "Armageddon" and you'll notice the difference in touch and how strong and present the sound of the drumsticks is compared to the songs I've previously mentioned.

But what's worse is that the guitarists have creativity equalling zero; even the riffs of two songs included in the album, "Going away to college" and "Mutt" (soundtrack of the first American Pie) have two riffs that are identical or almost, truly pathetic. Try listening to the beginnings of the two songs and you'll see.

But it's not over: the lead voice of the group is Tom Delonge, and calling it unbearable and childish is an understatement. Meanwhile, the secondary voice of Mark Hoppus, definitely decent and not as dreadful as the former, can only be heard sporadically here and there.

Another question arises... Can they manage to make a single song without using the same sweet guitar arpeggio? The negative answer is already evident in the singles "What my age again?" and "Adam's song" and more, whether you like it or not, the majority of the compositions (let's call them ditties) almost always start this way. Of the released singles, the only somewhat presentable and not bad one is just "All the small things".

If you just love Blink-182 to pieces and can't give them up, listen to something scattered before "Enema Of The State" or the self-titled which, all things considered, is not that bad.

In a nutshell, skip this musical atrocity, and if you truly like less predictable and more original pop-punk, listen to the early works of Green Day ("Kerplunk" especially or "Dookie") or the excellent "From Here To Infirmary" by Alkaline Trio.

By the way, as it's well known, cat and mouse can never really get along, and consequently they either bicker or separate... In this instance, they split: one moves on with Angels And Airwaves, the other forms with other members the +44 and their 'king': the biggest battery in the world.