Music Review

22 November 2008 04:00 BST

Angels and Airwaves: I-Empire

Geffen, out November 5th.

In a nutshell...

Lacklustre. Trite. Sophomoric. Gushy. Post-punk-pop.

What's it all about?

I-Empire, together with We Don't Need To Whisper, completes the second half of an apparent "double-album concept". While this is supposed to sound impressive, most listeners over the age of 19 will not be so persuaded. Tom DeLonge gushes lovey-dovey about girls and sunsets with his plodding 'punk' melodies and trite lyrics. While Tom and his fellow band mates are "punk rock kids at heart", this album is so far from punk rock it's almost incredible. According to DeLonge, I-Empire is "a hybrid of everything about alternative music that I grew up listening to, like punk rock music and new wave." What he really means is "U2/Duran Duran interspersed with cliche emo-punk aphorisms".

Who's it by?

Created by Blink-182 and Box Car Racer guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, A&A includes David Kennedy, notably from Over My Dead Body, Hazen Street, and Box Car Racer. Also performing with the band is former Offspring drummer Atom Willard and former 30 Seconds to Mars bassist Matt Wachter. This album hasn't come far from Whisper, but word is, it's an easier listen. While the music is generally palatable, the most frustrating part of the album is by far DeLonge's lyrics and attitude. It seriously irritates me to think about how incredibly hackneyed, repetitive, corny, emasculated and banal they are. I'm pretty sure that nearly every song on I-Empire is about True Love, the Stars in the Sky, a Field with a Dream, or some such meaningless yet stereotypically "thoughtful" imagery.

As an example...

"Everything/Everything's magic/Everything/Everything's magic/So hear this please/And watch as your heart speeds up endlessly/And look for the stars as the sun goes down." - Everything's Magic

"A blue-black shade of love/Sent from above/My hands are tied/Two worlds alone/And this I know... Stars fall like dust/Our lips will touch." - Breathe

"The light is the sign that love will guide you home/The stars in the sky illuminate below/If the world to die the light will guide you." - True Love

"Yowayohwayohwayoh" - True Love

Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys

Critics have been pretty harsh already, but loyal fans are ready to defend DeLonge. If this goes to the Grammys, though, I don't know what I'll do. Seriously. I might never write another music review ever again. But who knows? U2 have more Grammy awards than anyone, so maybe their semblance to them along with their teenage appeal will get them somewhere yet.

What the others say

"Musically, the band demonstrates a better grip on dynamics, thanks partly to the locked-in rhythm section of drummer Adam "Atom" Willard and new bassist Matt Wachter." - Billboard

"I-Empire feels like a rush job. Tom DeLonge does have talent, and maybe one day he'll make an album that deserves all his self-proclaimed hype. This, however, isn't it." - MusicOHM

So is it any good?

I included so many "examples" above (yes, "Yowayohwayohwayoh" is actually a lyric written in the booklet) with the hope that I might save myself some time down here. If you need any more of an indicator about how horrible the lyrics are in this album, I'll tell you right now: they are truly and terrifically dreadful, almost to the point of admiration where I am left to wonder how any one person could write so much crap and not realize it.

To be fair, as I indicated above, the instrumentation is actually quite good in places with some head-bobbing riffs, industrial electronic inserts, and sweet drum lines, evident, for example, in Secret Crowds which scores them some needed points.

The song after Secret Crowds, True Love, is a particular low point as evidenced by some of the quotes above - I'll even include another beauty here: "I love you/You make me feel alive/And I'll love you till the end of time." I can see how this would appeal to lonely, angsty teens, and for this I will allow them the folly of youth. But is it not off-putting that Tom is 31 years old and still talking about his grades and his dad and girls and sports?

In order to enjoy this album, it is a definite prerequisite to be a Blink 182/Tom DeLonge fan first. Unfortunately, I am neither. Tom has confidently claimed that, "this is as exciting as rock'n'roll gets!" I'm sorry Tom, but no - no.

4/10

Spencer Thanhouser

"So what if he's 31? The song is about his life, growing up and how it got him to where he is today - I'm pretty sure the reason that so many people are bashing this album is because of all the shit that DeLonge said. Nevermind was given three stars by Rolling Stone when it came out, look at it now, it shows up in the top ten of just about every greatest album ever poll. I'm 21 and some of my favourite bands are Led Zeppelin and the Beatles and I think this album is really good. Lyrics are only a small part of the music. Like Dave Grohl said: "What the hell does My Sharona mean?" The point that was being made is that who cares about lyrics as long as the music is cool. The end." - Steven Saywell

"I think that this critic is bashing AVA so much because it is not stereo typical 'rock' that is out right now like the crappy Fall Out Boy singing about Sugar We're Goin Down. Tom DeLonge writes his music poetically, rather than writing crappy lyrics like "We're going down, down in an earlier round/And Sugar, we're going down swinging/I'll be your number one with a bullet/A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it". How the hell does THIS make sense and how are THESE good lyrics? Yet every critic in the world loved it. It's ridiculous. I majored in writing, and I'm older than 19, and this is the kind of writing we would study, because it is so meaningful and so poetic. AVA's lyrics actually MEAN something to someone out there. This band means the world to certain people out there, so I ask you, Spencer Thanhouser, if this album saves someone's life, how is it so damn pathetic? What have YOU done in your life.. nothing but criticize people... boy have you accomplished a lot in your life!!! Your mother must be SO proud that you bash people's spirits for a living. Angels and Airwaves is an inspiration to so many young people out there. This music gives some of them hope and lifts there spirits for the fives minutes that the song is playing, it gives them an amazing feeling. How long has it been since a band inspired people? Since a band really made people THINK for once rather than just sing a catchy crappy tune to be forgotten 30 seconds later that means not a damn thing? Rather than bashing this band.. you should be praising them for breaking the standard traditional punk or rock band out there right now. You should praise them for how they inspire people. This is a talented band. The music, the melodies, the lyrics, all of it is amazing. Let's see you make ANYTHING remotely close to sounding a FRACTION as good as this Mr Thanhouser. Who are you to criticise music when I highly doubt you can sing, play guitar, drums, or any instument for that matter? Get a REAL musician on here criticizing.. not a writer that's paid to bash music just because it's not stereotypically what you hear the radio stations play nonstop and what you don't see on TRL. Find somebody to write these reviews that will make people give a damn." - None OfYourBusiness

"Dear NoneOfYourBusiness,

There is so much wrong with what you just said that I won't even be able to address all of the issues you raise in the lengthy response that follows. You're in luck, though, because I'd rather rebut your ranting than research Afghanistan.
I'm sorry that I don't like your favourite band and I don't care what you majored in. But, first off, let's get a few things straight: you are right, FOB does sound like crap from what you quoted - I never claimed to like them. I think you are conflating me (yes, I am a real person) with the spooky, collective body known as "the Critics." I am not "every critic in the world". I don't support music just because it's played on the radio or TRL. I support music when I think it's good.
I'm glad that DeLonge's 'poetry' is so inspiring to young people. At the same time, however, I think it's sad that it does because it means that young people out there can only identify with trite optimism and simple minded phrases about 'True Love.' But, in my opinion, this thinking won't really do people a whole lot of good in the long run. It's obtuse and vague - DeLonge reminds me a little of Brian Wilson in this sense. Will this music really incite real, meaningful change? I doubt it. Anway, it has inspired you to perform various ad hominem attacks upon yours truly - that's just mean.
I hope their music does 'save someone's life'. That doesn't necessarily make the aesthetic quality of their music any better, though. There is other music out there aside from AVA that is also, believe it or not, very inspiring, life-saving, thought provoking and hope-lifting, and much better to boot! Try listening to Aretha Franklin, or Miles Davis, or Led Zeppelin, or Bob Dylan, or Fugazi, or Operation Ivy, or Sigur Ros, or Built to Spill, or Radiohead, or Band of Horses, or the Shins, or the Misfits, or Meshuggah, or whatever - the list of bands better than AVA goes on and on. AVA just doesn't stack up. I will give you £100 if you are still listening to this band in 10 years and liking them. Seriously. You're acting like this is the only band to make music in the last quarter-century. Broaden your horizons - there's a lot of great music that I think you would enjoy - perhaps you have not been exposed to it.
But I don't think AVA is really "breaking any standards". Sure, they're a talented group of guys that make mediocre music - like I said in the review the actual music is not bad (but the lyrics are beyond reproach). I don't hate Tom DeLonge - I'm sure he's a nice guy - but that doesn't mean I should like his music. Anyway, it's nothing to insult me over.
Finally, my Mom is very proud of me, and I having been playing music since I was 9 - I do play the guitar, harmonica, saxophone, some keyboard/piano, beat-box, and I sing and write songs on occasion. I don't claim to be a "real" musician, but I know what music I like and what music I don't like. We disagree - so be it. Also, I'm not paid. I'm an intern and I'm only here for another month, so my stint as a music critic will be over - which I'm sure you'll be happy about. Also, I would argue that my review did make people 'give a damn' - it made you speak up didn't it?" - Spencer Thanhouser


"This is album is a progression of Whisper, but I do have to admit it is a bit lacklustre in section and unlike Whisper, I-Empire by the first three tracks is a bit too lovey-dovey even for today's youth maybe. Overall the album in its entirety does the job of being the conclusion that DeLonge aimed for with this album and it's a lot better then some of his contemporaries' contributions to music and the rock genre. Even if the press do damn it for the hype I would say when hasn't an artist not hyped their goods? And a little difference and uplifting tone never hurt anyone in a world that seems more a mess and a constant rat race. It's a great album to listen and take time out to." - David Jones

"Even though I am a AVA fan,I was severely disappointed after hearing this album for the first time. To me the music sounded contrived and the lyrics were juvenile and of a kind more often found in the journal diaries of teenagers. But before I am crucified,as Mr Spencer Thanhouser was, by the fans, the album did grow on me after repeated listens. I haven't changed my opinion on the lyrics or the music for that matter,but I find listening to this album a welcome respite from the normal responsibilities an adult faces during the day. The music is not revolutionary, the lyrics are filled with pretentiously poetic phrases but I LOVE it because of that. The problem is that Tom is proud of his work,as any artist should be,but the hype he creates does not justify the artistic merits of the album. The job of the critic is to criticize the music on its own merit, not what it potentially means to thousands of people out there. And before I am questioned on my qualifications to criticise music I am a professional musician who composes and performs." - Andreas Groening

"I love them, I love Tom, and honestly do we really have to be so life-changing,inspired by every song lyric? Oh and emo?? I don't think so,isn't all music 'EMOtional'? I'm gonna stick with AVA and pass on Aretha Franklin.I would rather listen to that, then all this teenage angst 'bla bla life is horrible, I wear clothes that don't fit' bands. Some people love music without tring to associate their whole life with one line of a song. Last point - you would be lying if you said AVA doesn't have amazing musicans from a lot of really good bands. Besides, what's wrong with love and stars? You're "Yowayohwayohwayoh" wrong, Spencer." - Marianne Lowe

"The review focuses too much on slating the band. Some of the lyrics on the album are great whereas some are found wanting, but I agree with what someone else said, it's not just the lyrics that matter. I thought that the song Good Day from the first album had some weak lyrics, but it was still one of my favorites. It is the song as a whole and ultimately the album as a whole. You cannot just quote chorus lines from specific songs to slate the lyrics. Because that could be done with any album. If you listened to the album properly, which is something you have to do with AVA albums, you would realise that Tom is just talking about his whole life and not just his grades etc. I agree that Star of Bethlehem/True love maybe should not have been put on the album, but I may just have this opinion since it was not something new. But this album has received great reviews. I just thought this one had one mindset only without any real insight." - Michael Rodgers