Angels And Airwaves - The Dream Walker (Album Review)

At this point in Tom DeLonge's career he's known for Blink-182, Angels And Airwaves, and his often times zany personality that borders on funny and charismatic to head scratching and a little left field. After news about a Blink album reached critical mass and delays tons of people took to blaming Tom. I for the record didn't and honestly still don't. With the delay we are getting a new Angels And Airwaves album this year instead. So how is it?

The truth is I've been lukewarm on Angels And Airwaves most of their career. I'm a big Blink-182 fan and have been listening to the band since I was in high school well over a decade ago. I've enjoyed most of their stuff even their most recent material. I haven't found that type of enjoyment with Angels And Airwaves. I've enjoyed quite a few songs off the first couple albums and handfuls of songs off the Love albums. No Angels And Airwaves album, save for the debut, had me on the edge of my seat waiting for the release date. I always go into them with an open mind and always come out with a few songs I like, a few I didn't, and the bitter realization that the band doesn't always live up to the hype.

All that being said, I think The Dream Walker is the most realized vision of Angels And Airwaves. It might not be my favorite album of theirs. I'd still give that nod to the debut album, but this album came together really nicely. It's easily one of the more cohesive things DeLonge has done in years. Yes, I think it's more cohesive than Blink 182's reunion album Neighborhoods and yes, I still like Neighborhoods more. "Paralyzed" has an industrial Blink 182 meets Angels And Airwaves vibe and I really like the mixing and the way the bass was done on the song. I can definitely see it being a fan favorite. "Anomaly" sounds great. I really enjoy closing the album out with an acoustic song. I've always enjoyed DeLonge's acoustic based material.

Ilan Rubin and Tom DeLonge were the primary people to work on this album. Rubin is a well known multi-instrumentalist and has worked with acts like Nine Inch Nails and The New Regime. He is a great addition to the band. His influence on this album can be felt throughout the entire project. It just sounds tighter as though DeLonge finally had someone in the studio with him that totally got what he wanted and knew how to help him develop it. The chemistry they have creates a cohesive, solid listen that to me hasn't been present, or at least been this strong, on any Angels And Airwaves album before. The elements all just click really nicely throughout the album. The instrumentals sound really good throughout this and are interesting. A song like "Kiss With A Spell" has a great instrumental that I think has a neat build and showcases some of the much improved songwriting on this album.

I think Tom DeLonge has finally hit the nail on the head with The Dream Walker. After years he's crafted an album that I think people will listen to and say it lives up to the hype a lot more. I find myself enjoying this one a lot more than previous Angels And Airwaves albums. With all that in the box this looks like a well wrapped present, but there is still a slight nagging feeling that it's a gift I'm going to enjoy for a few days and then it's just going to sit on the shelf and collect dust. Even though this is easily some of the best Angels material ever written it may not end up having much lasting value with me. I'll chalk it up to maybe personal taste. I will say, though, that this is an early judgement and I may end up coming back to this more than I think I'm going to. Only time can tell. In this moment I'm confident in saying this album is the most complete, best sounding, and worthwhile Angels And Airwaves album to date and a big accomplishment for this band.