+44 - 'When Your Heart Stops Beating' (Interscope) Released 13/11/06

What has become most evident after Tom Delonge’s venture with Angels and Airwaves and now Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker’s +44 project, is that the special combination of all three was the reason that Blink-182 were so successful. Travis Barker is arguably one of the best punk-rock drummers of his generation and while Tom and Mark aren’t blessed with the greatest of voices, the alternation between both vocals in the majority of Blink songs worked perfectly and their harmonising was spot on. Remove one piece of the jigsaw and the gap is impossible to replace, Hoppus’s vocals on their own soon become bland and very monotonous which infects some truly decent songs and prevents them from being great tunes. 

Recent single and opening track ‘Lycanthrope’ is a positive and lively start, with a riff reminiscent of one of Blink-182’s last songs ‘Not Now’ it kicks the album off in a confident style, but sadly +44 have used their trump card at the first opportunity. ‘Baby Come On’ has a chorus that even Hoppus seems to struggle pronouncing as he tries to sing the lyrics “Quit crying your eyes out”  but it comes out more like “Qwit quying your eyes out” (think tweety pie). Possible follow-up single and title track ‘When your heart stops beating’ has great melodic verses that are enhanced by the slight distortion of Hoppus’s vocals and superbly backed up by a gem of a pop-punk chorus. 
  
In +44 Mark and Travis have certainly matured in both lyrics and sound but with this evolvement comes a certain conformity and rigidness that tends to suffocate the life and vibrancy out of a few of their songs. ‘When your heart stop beating’ has several mellow moments and while some pass you by in their mediocrity, ‘Make Your Smile’ and ‘No, It Isn’t’ really stay with you and uncover a deeper side to the band. On ‘Make Your Smile’ Hoppus brilliantly duets with a female vocalist, while ‘No, It Isn’t’ has the most sombre lyrics such as “Let’s slit our wrists and burn down something beautiful”. Unfortunately for every song that hits the mark another nose-dives such as the tedious ‘Weatherman’.

Unlike Tom Delonge, Mark and Travis haven’t stated their album will ‘change the world’ and rightly so, as although it’s an enjoyable listen, when you think what talent is in the band and the killer tunes they’ve produced in the past you cant help but feel a little disappointed. This could have been something really special, but sadly it lacks the added spark and invention of you know who.