BLINK 182
Enema Of The State (MCA)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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It would have been just as easy for me to not like this album so much. I mean, the one Blink 182 show I've seen pretty much confirmed everything I'd heard about their "Show us your tits!" school of stagecraft performance style, and after all, how many major label pop- punk bands with deep cleavage album covers and not quite cute enough album titles does the world really need?

Well, I don't know if the world really *needs* Blink 182, but the world is better off with a set of songs like the dozen collected here in circulation. First of all, these guys sound real good. They get huge energy and power out of their three piece lineup (that's Mark Hoppus on bass & vocals, Tom DeLonge on guitar and vocals and Travis Barker on drums). Extra points to drummer Travis Barker, who manages to sound like he didn't learn to play simply by stealing every lick from every Epitaph drummer who ever stole every lick from every other Epitaph drummer.

Not only do they sound good, but when they set themselves to the task, they write pretty damn well, too. The maturity reflected in some of the songs on this disc belie the general juvenility of their act. They have the speed and power that a punk act needs, but they have a much stronger feel for the structure that underlies great pop than most of the punk-pop posers on the scene. Altogether it adds up to a little over a half an hour of some of the catchiest, smartest thrash you're gonna find in the record store.

Track List:

Dumpweed * Don't Leave Me * Alien's Exist * Going Away To College * What's My Age Again? * Dysentery Gary * Adam's Song * All The Small Things * The Party Song * Mutt * Wendy Clear * Anthem

© 1999 - Shaun Dale