Although bathed in relational dysfunction, “Asthenia,” “Always,” “I’m Lost Without You” and “Down” want to see conflict resolved. “Go” rails against men who abuse women “trapped” in bad situations, but …
Those very personal reflections also contain the s-word. Alcohol anesthetizes a broken heart on “Violence” (“Six bottles went down the drain/One hour’s waste of time … One drink and the pain goes down”). The haunting “I Miss You” finds the singer yearning for a dark girl from the morgue of his nightmares. The f-word is used to describe sexual encounters (“Obvious,” “Feeling This”), and shows up several more times as a bitter expletive (“Here’s Your Letter”). While he may be speaking metaphorically, a paranoid man gives in to hopelessness on “Stockholm Syndrome” (“It’s too late to save me … I dread the moment when you finally come to kill me”).
This self-titled disc isn’t as intolerably juvenile as the band’s past efforts, but Blink-182 has yet to outgrow blunt, raw language that demands a warning label. Of course, even without the obscenities, fans would still be left with sexual situations, alcohol abuse and a heavy dose of lyrical angst.
