+44 - When Your Heart Stops Beating
[Polydor]

Mark Hoppus (bass/vox) and Travis Barker (drums) continue to follow the more mainstream, melody driven power pop path with an emotive drive. Something that Blink 182 started to lay out in their latter stages prior to a period of “indefinite hiatus”, after years of high jinx pop punk.

Racing guitar riffs are supplied Shane Gallagher (The Nervous Return), facilitating the urgency and underlining Hoppus’ heart drawn vocals. This coats the languid, reflective and stern prosaic lyrical thrust that has the sentimental pull of Dashboard Confessional, also seeping in a little through the vocals;

“Turn it up, I never wanna go home I only wanna be part of your breakdown.
She got caught by the fall on the floor, I picked her up and she’ll never get let down.”

This title track from the aching, but powerful debut album emboldens a reflective and seriously sharp streak to Hoppus, the former joker in the pack. With sincere delivery such as that displayed here, it is no longer difficult to take Mr Hoppus seriously. Maturity is like a dark secret, it will catch up with you in the end, whoever you are.