October 20th, 2023 marked the release of blink-182’s tenth studio album and their long-awaited reunion following the band’s original members disbanding in 2012.
The album sees the return of the band’s original guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge after he left the band to pursue other passions. DeLonge is joined by his bandmates, Mark Hoppus, the band’s bassist, and Travis Barker, the band’s drummer.
The album is called “ONE MORE TIME…” and serves as an acknowledgement that the band hasn’t been its original trio in a long time and are willing to give their band another shot. The album excels with music that’s emotional and upbeat, catchy songs that allow for at least one song to be appealing to fans, if not more.
The album consists of seventeen tracks and each of them have their highlights. The first song on the album is called “ANTHEM PART 3,” which is the perfect album opener and is a track that derives from the band’s other songs “Anthem” and “Anthem Part Two” from earlier albums. In a way, “ANTHEM PART 3” speaks to the other two songs as they represent adolescence and the third one signifies growing up and living life. A beautiful, significant track that opens an incredible album.
The album is filled with noteworthy tracks and another one that I’d like to highlight is the title track, which is a song that explains and questions why tragedies bring people together. For context, the band broke up for the first time in 2005 and were brought back together in 2011 when Barker survived a plane crash. The second time that the band was brought back together was last year when Hoppus survived and beat stage four cancer.
The song calls out this idea with lyrics like the following: “I wish they told us, it shouldn’t take a sickness or airplanes falling out the sky / Do I have to die to hear you miss me? / Do I have to die to hear you say goodbye? / I don’t wanna act like there’s tomorrow / I don’t wanna wait to do this one more time.” These powerful and truthful lyrics drive home the passion felt and expressed by the band members, while also addressing their own frustrations, which allows for an insight into their lives.
The final track of the album is “CHILDHOOD,” which is a deep reflection of time passing by and aging, while questioning where the time went.
The emotion behind this album allows for the songs to be sung with such force that it leaves me with chills after every track. It has something for everyone, especially lifelong fans, and it definitely deserves the praise it has been receiving.
