So Tom DeLonge finally got his way. Apparently sick of the scatological humor of Blink 182 and ill-received attempts at maturity, the band broke up and he was free to record the album that would be "the greatest album of [his] career." Hyperbole aside, this record is, according to DeLonge, "more than an album, and more than just a cool punk-rock tune". While "Fuck a Dog" was indeed a cool punk-rock tune, it's encouraging to see the development of DeLonge's musicianship alongside the work of his former bandmates Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus in Plus 44.
The album kicks off with "Valkyrie Missile", a slow-to-start 6 minute introduction to the record that never really ends throughout the 50 or so minutes We Don't Need to Whisper occupies. Incorporating strings, delayed guitar and samples of conversations, it's clear that the intention here is "epic," or perhaps "U2." Almost three minutes in, when the first vocals show up, we hear DeLonge's familiar whine - this time with added reverb - with his trademark nasal enunciation of words like 'time', or as DeLonge sings, "toime", still present. The track is good but is let down in part by the similarity the rest of the album bears to it.
"Distraction", track two, is a slower and more broody track that really doesn't seem too varied from the previous track besides a less urgent drumbeat. Lyrically, DeLonge is trying to be more intelligent, but it's still funny to hear him sing "It hurts / Your best friend is not your girlfriend" in the midst of a record with tracks that name-check missiles, wars, and machines.
Many of the tracks make use of heavily delayed guitar parts echoing through the speakers, alongside a drumbeat that alternates from fast and choppy to slow and powerful. It makes for a particularly repetitive record with vocals that all seem to be similarly pitched. In some ways, the record plays like a single 50 minute long track rather than a collection of individual songs. Whether DeLonge would be pleased with this consistency is up for debate, though.
With "The War" we get the record's first true "rock" moment, with a Fugazi-esque introduction before some early Weezer-like guitar crashing in. Ultimately though, it doesn't go anywhere new besides the "whoaa-oh" outro. "A Little's Enough" is similarly uninteresting despite its ambitions of Coldplay-esque dynamics. Closing with "Start the Machine", the record ends with the sounds of a child's glockenspiel, somewhat appropriately given the band's nickname "AVA", originating from DeLonge's daughter's name.
As a project, We Don't Need to Whisper is ambitious and nobody can deny Tom DeLonge's efforts in producing an homage, if not his own offering, to the albums by U2, The Cure, and Joy Division that he clearly loves. However, what his efforts have resulted in show a lack of the ability to know when to stop. Over-long intros, repetitive song structures and a slight God complex in his hype of the record do not help Angels and Airwaves. While We Don't Need to Whisper's sounds almost soar to the level of their forebears, there's something holding them back from achieving the goals that DeLonge clearly desires, and it makes the record's epic and almost shoegazing nature often drab and uninspiring. 10 points for effort, but minus 4 for originality and overconfidence, plus .44 just to be ironic.
