Angels & Airwaves - TheAdventure

Mon 24th Apr, 2006 in Music Reviews

U2.  The Cure.  New Order.  The Killers.  Jimmy Eat World.

No, this isn’t a list of some of my favourite bands.  Nor is it an excerpt from the playlist for some hip new indie club.  These are just some of the bands that spring to mind during the first minute of The Adventure, the first single by Angels and Airwaves, the new project from former Blink 182 guitarist Tom Delonge, also featuring former members of the Offspring and the Distillers.

From the delay laden guitar intro, to the atmospheric keyboards, it’s soon clear that this sounds like nothing one might have expected from a band of Angels and Airwaves’ pedigree.  While the building blocks were certainly laid with Blink 182’s final eponymous album, there is an element of all or nothing experimentation here that wasn’t evident on that record.  Whether or not it will be hailed as a success is a more difficult question to answer.

While there is plenty to love about this track, it’s fair to say that at times the band may be trying a little too hard.  It will be necessary to hear it in the context of the album, We Don’t Need to Whisper, due out in May, to know for sure but while musically The Adventure is a joy, when Delonge reaches the chorus things slow down just a little bit too much, and instead of providing the most memorable part of the song one is left waiting for the verses to come back again. 

So is this ‘the best music made in decades’, as Tom Delonge has been quoted as saying?  No.  But is it enough to heighten expectations for the album and to make you think that Angels and Airwaves just might be a force to be reckoned with in 2006?  Definitely.