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New song "Never There" came out today after getting leaked yesterday. Totally different sound from the first two, and one of the better ballads they've done, IMO. Definitely digging this album more than their past few; seems like Brownsound's return and Deryck's changing mentality has given their sound a much-needed dose of focus. Seems like they're moving away from the atmospheric sounds of 13 Voices/SBM, and back toward just straight up rock, which I am absolutely down for. Excited to hear the rest of the album!

I enjoyed it overall. Was kind of cool to see Tom talk in earnest about each of the "eras" of his career, and go into what he tried to convey in his music. Some parts were a bit slow, but I definitely came out of it liking Tom a lot more than I did going in, and I can appreciate where he's coming from. Definitely a more down to earth and interesting person than the media and fans give him credit for.

Great to see Deryck doing alright again, Brownsound being back in the band, and Sum 41 just generally being active again. Pretty solid comeback song too! I might wind up enjoying this album more than California if they keep on this pace.

Honestly, I don't think the album will bother him that much. I'm sure he'll look wistfully at the tour and shows and everything (hence why he feels the need to make those awkward tweets and facebook posts on occasion about the band), but California is absolutely nothing like the kind of music that he wants to make. He quit because he wanted to focus on doing things that he is passionate about, so why would he be upset that blink is making music that he wouldn't enjoy making, regardless of whether it is successful or not?

Not a huge fan on first listen. It definitely has its bright moments, but most of the songs sound more like the legion of generic pop-punk bands that came after blink thank like blink itself. Overall, I would have to say that Bored to Death might be my favorite song on the album. Hopefully it will grow on me with additional listens, but for now, there wasn't a whole lot to get me excited on this release. Really not a fan of Feldy and his very noticeable influence on the direction of the album, and I hope the guys look to someone else to produce the next record.

It's repitched downward, you can tell by listening to the music clips in the video. Probably modified to avoid Youtube's ContentID.

Perhaps just because of key and tempo, but I can't get The Black Parade out of my head when I hear the chrous. Ultimately, I think that's the problem. I like the song, and I like BTD too, but they just sound like so many other bands/songs. Even in their most by the numbers album (which IMO was TOYPAJ), they still had a sound and style that was uniquely their own. I think Feldman's influence and/or Tom's absence has just kind of stripped that identity, and the resulting songs just sound more generic than what I'm used to from blink. There are still absolutely moments of brilliance (the bridge of BTD is about the most blink-sounding thing I have heard in 10+ years, and it's fucking amazing), but the overall product just seems to me like music that would be lost in the crowd of pop-punk if blink weren't already a huge band.

I personally prefer the second just because it's generally more powerful instrumentally, but both of them are so much better than the final release that I really wonder what made Tom decide to change it up so much.

Outrageous price notwithstanding, I listened to these when someone uploaded them to Youtube (before they got deleted, anyway), and I must say, Wolfpack Demo #2 is miles better than the final version of the song, IMO. It's a shame he brought the key down too, it's always fun to hear Tom try to shout out those high notes; the chorus reminds me a bit of his shouting chorus in Feeling This.

To each their own. Down is a simple song, but I always thought it was kind of interesting how that song was basically 100% Tom; virtually the only change from initial demonstration to the final version was removing the weird BCR-esque section. My point wasn't necessarily to say there was anything impressive about it, but really just to highlight how significant Tom was in the creative process for blink, since there were entire songs even at the band's peak that were like 95% his writing. Then again, we got a lot of Tom in Neighborhoods too, and that's where we see how desperately he needs a producer (along with more commitment to the band) to reign in some of the rougher ideas... I don't see him ever being able to get either of those things, so good riddance, I suppose. A man can dream though!

The full video has him humming the full vocal melody for the verses, along with rough lyrics for the chorus too (EDIT- had the wrong video the first time):

It's sad that there is so much division in the fanbase. I'm a longtime fan who falls somewhere in the middle (blink will always be Tom and Mark to me), but it feels like both sides are dead set against the other, and it's frustrating to read so much hate (or bizarre blind support) about musicians I've loved for most of my life. On the one hand, Tom was a total dipshit in how he handled all of this, and he 100% deserved to be kicked out. I don't honestly believe he could contribute to blink in the same way he did prior to the first hiatus. I'm glad to see that blink is continuing to do things without him, and I'm stoked to see how California turns out. Matt seems like a good guy and a good fit, and I hope he sticks around regardless of what happens going forward. With that said, I also feel like Tom does add a creative spark that helped to set blink apart from other pop-punk groups over the years. Watching the Cheetah vids back in the day, you can really see the creative influence he exerted, often times coming to the band with nearly complete song ideas already formulated in his head (case in point being the "Making of Down" video), and those ideas often sounded pretty different from the other pop-punk sounds out there, which kept me coming back time and again. I think he is still capable of forming good song ideas (I thought the Chasing Shadows EP was decent overall), but he needs a producer and bandmates to reign him in, as was the case with Mark, Travis, and Jerry pre-hiatus. It's a shame that his ego has gotten to the point that he can't seem to cooperate like that anymore. I sincerely hope that he and blink do reconcile some day (obviously only if Tom committed full time, which is unlikely), because I feel like both of them are better together than they are apart.

This is basically blink right now: http://southpark.cc.com/clips/152225/chris-or-saddam

Interesting... I do like that they're still talking, at least. I don't think that Tom is in the future of this band, but given how great of friends they once were, I will always hope for them to be able to be friends somewhere down the line.

Genuinely enjoy Overload, and will probably buy that once it comes out on iTunes. Pretty indifferent to the rest of the EP though. It's okay, sounds a Dream Walker-ish, but I feel like I'm kind of over that sound now.