{"id":12947,"date":"2014-12-01T11:15:24","date_gmt":"2014-12-01T11:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-angels-airwaves-the-dream-walker\/"},"modified":"2018-03-17T15:06:20","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T15:06:20","slug":"album-review-angels-airwaves-the-dream-walker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-angels-airwaves-the-dream-walker\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Angels &amp; Airwaves \u2013 The Dream Walker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/d01e8d7a4cf3a79944f46eead39a5ed1\/tumblr_inline_nfv1unIdEq1qztcot.jpg\" width=\"150px\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">Who said the 80s were dead? <strong>Angels &amp; Airwaves<\/strong> have ventured into the unknown, bouncing gritty synth against equally gritty rock to create a sound we\u2019ve waited 30 years to hear again. But was it worth the wait?<\/p>\n<p>The four piece supergroup consists of Blink 182\u2019s Tom DeLonge and Nine Inch Nails\u2019 Ilan Rubin, with recently tentative roles played by Box Car Racer\u2019s David Kennedy and Thrice\u2019s Eddie Beckenbridge, but it\u2019s unsure as to what extent they remain involved with the group. Their fifth studio album, <em>\u2018The Dream Walker\u2019<\/em> has been born of yet another massive idea for <strong>AvA<\/strong>, becoming the soundtrack for DeLonge\u2019s short animation <i>&lsquo;Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker&rsquo;<\/i>, due for release on 9th December. This immense concept will span not only the short film, but a live action movie, comic book series and novels, but it seems the album content has become somewhat of an afterthought. Uninspiring track titles and an inconsistent theme don\u2019t make this the easiest album to listen to.<!-- more --><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The atmospheric techy piano opening of <em>\u2018Teenagers and Rituals\u2019<\/em> sets a nostalgic theme, while the soaring <i>\u2018The Disease\u2019<\/i> establishes the movie soundtrack nature of the album. DeLonge\u2019s unmistakable twang combines with groove-inducing techy guitars and Rubin\u2019s impressive drum work throughout <em>\u2018Paralysed\u2019<\/em> to create a new, and to some extent welcome, ethos of laid-back serenity.<\/p>\n<p>Having said that, DeLonge\u2019s distinctive vocals make it difficult to avoid comparison with punk giants Blink-182, and the contemplative solemnity of <em>\u2018Mercenaries\u2019<\/em> and the punk defeatist essence of <em>\u2018Anomaly\u2019<\/em> wouldn\u2019t sound out of place on a Blink album. <em>\u2018Tunnels\u2019<\/em>, an anthem of refusing defeat and holding your ground, presents the best lyrical work of the record, for example <em>\u201cI&rsquo;m Johnny come lately but I will not give up\u201d<\/em> and the infectious line <em>\u201cthe look in my eye is one that can kill\u201d<\/em> \u2013 let\u2019s face it, they\u2019ve got Blink written all over them.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018The Wolfpack\u2019<\/em> and <em>\u2018Kiss With A Spell\u2019<\/em> throw a sickeningly 80s vibe into the mix &#8211; imagine a pop-punk kid playing Pong at the arcade and you\u2019re just about there. This is a brand new approach for <strong>AvA<\/strong>, creating meandering and reflective yet somewhat energetic synth-rock. If only for the length of two tracks, it certainly destroys comparisons with the other musical endeavours of each member \u2013 Nine Inch what?<\/p>\n<p>However, <em>\u2018Bullets In The Wind\u2019<\/em> echoes The Killers with a singalong quality to mirror the groove-a-long guitar work. At times, there are glimmers of true punk melodies hidden in there somewhere, but you have to wade through an awful lot of space rock atmospheric effects beforehand.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps this record would suit live shows more, as it\u2019s too difficult to distance the tracks from their intended soundtrack purpose in flat studio-quality recordings. A tougher bass-line and more of DeLonge\u2019s familiar twang would distance this from its movie companion, but nevertheless, a valiant attempt. <\/p>\n<p>3\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2019The Dream Walker\u2019<\/em> by <strong>Angels &amp; Airwaves<\/strong> is released on 9th December on <strong>To The Stars Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Angels &amp; Airwaves<\/strong> links:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/www.angelsandairwaves.com%E2%80%9D\">Official Website<\/a>|<a href=\"\/\/www.facebook.com\/angelsandairwaves%E2%80%9D\">Facebook<\/a>|<a href=\"\/\/www.twitter.com\/avabandofficial%E2%80%9D\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Ali Cooper (<a href=\"\/\/twitter.com\/alizombie_%E2%80%9D\">@AliZombie_<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who said the 80s were dead? Angels &amp; Airwaves have ventured into the unknown, bouncing gritty synth against equally gritty rock to create a sound we\u2019ve waited 30 years to hear again. But was it worth the wait? The four piece supergroup consists of Blink 182\u2019s Tom DeLonge and Nine Inch Nails\u2019 Ilan Rubin, with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8181],"tags":[5879,499,7003,7589,7590],"class_list":["post-12947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-post","tag-album-reviews","tag-angels-airwaves","tag-angels-and-airwaves","tag-the-dream-walker","tag-to-the-stars-records"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Album Review: Angels &amp; Airwaves \u2013 The Dream Walker - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Who said the 80s were dead? 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