Angels & Airwaves - Love

Blink-182 may have reunited, it didn't stop Thomas Matthew DeLonge Jr. to continue his space odyssey with his friends of Angels & Airwaves, releasing their third album for free on Saint Valentine's day. Hate them or love them, you can't say the four-piece haven't created their own signature sound, no matter how prominent the influence of a band starting with a U and ending with a 2 appears to be. Well, if you disliked the two first albums of DeLonge's more-ambitious-than-the-moon project, 'Love' will unfortunately have the same flavour as watching 'Notting Hill' with a box of chocolates, alone on your couch for Saint Valentine's day.

From the very start of the 'Chariots of fire'-like intro of the record, fans will indeed feel home. For their third full-length, Angels & Airwaves have kept the same sound and grandiloquent aesthetic that captivated fans - and pushed others away. 'Love' is grandiose, as every Angels & Airwaves album, full of metaphors on love and space, echoey guitars and huge drumming. Same slick production, same low-key soaring guitar lines, same mid-tempo hooks, same drum beats (despite a very good work from Atom Willard), same stretched vocals, it's 'We don't need to whisper' and 'I-empire' all over again. I guess we can't reproach them for having found their signature style, but on a pure musical level, you feel like you've heard all of this before. The main riff of 'Shove' sounds just like the one on 'Distraction', 'Epic holiday' reminds 'Everything's magic' and the majestic 'The adventure' comes to mind when hearing the back sample of 'The moon-atomic (...Fragments & fictions)' and the rhythm of 'Some origins of fire'. The transitions between songs are totally flowing, indeed you won't even notice it when the second track skips to the third. It could backfire the band as the limits between the songs are so blurry and the compositions so similar that you may feel like you've been listening to one single song that would have lasted 54 minutes. Thus, the changes on 'Love' are to be found in the details. If you scrutinize the band's new delivery of arena rock anthems, it appears a few things have been modified since the last album. First, it seems that Tom DeLonge has almost abandonned the vocal fuss he put much effort into on the previous records, if you override the "Yeah, hey, hey, hey, ho" on 'Soul survivor (...2012)'. Despite some obvious Auto-Tune moments, his voice also seems more natural (keep in mind we're still talking about Angels & Airwaves, though) and less suffocated by effects. One very noticeable difference however is the increase in the use of synth on the album ('Clever love') which, despite not providing any unforgettable moments, adds something more. But the best moments are to be found when the guitars deviate from the twinkling effect layers they usually are swallowed by, like on 'Epic holiday' or the amazing 6-minute long 'The flight of Apollo', which energetic riffs and different construction manage to maintain the listener's interest all the way through the song. Angels & Airwaves try so hard to build atmospherical moments that when a real riff comes in it always end up being noteworthy. When they pick up the pace on the very unsurprising single 'Hallucinations', which reminds the average level of their previous album, it actually works well. 'Young London' is a success, its intro being one of the best moments off the record, if only the main riff wasn't that reminiscent of AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck'... DeLonge can also revive the attention of the listener when he actually decides to sing and it's a shame he doesn't do it more often. His main fault is however and with no doubt his terrible lyrics. Vague, common and abstract, they're just as cheesy as the title of the album, the lowest level of songwriting being reached at the very end of the album when on 'Some origins of fire' he decides to open the world's eyes with the chorus lines absolutely ruining the song: "We are all love / And love is hard / So here's my heart". And as you could tell reading this review, the song names aren't less ridiculous. So lots of cheese on this album, but if starship romances is your thing, you'll always find what you want in Angels & Airwaves.

'Love' isn't bad. It's a good music album, that gets credit for at least proposing a universe. Let's not forget that the band (or dare I say their frontman) decided to give the album away for free and that's always a respectable decision. Many will find it repulsive and neverending, reproaching the band with laying it on thick. Yes, Angels & Airwaves stick to the pompous/fascinating image and sound they have created. I personally think that it's now in their own interest to try something new and maybe to focus on capturing more energy and variation, as it seems they've already experienced everything when it comes to dreamy and spacey atmospheres. At the end of the day, the group of four astronauts certainly didn't make it up for all of DeLonge's cocky declarations and have a hard time creating songs really memorable for their own sake as they kind of all rely on each other but 'Love' is a good and pleasing experience, that will satisfy every fan of the band.

3.5/5

Nb.: You can download the album for free here.

Recommanded if you like:

30 Seconds To Mars, U2, Muse
Check also:
Dead By Sunrise, SafetySuit, Beta State

www.myspace.com/angelsandairwaves
(Self-released, 2010)