I-Empire

Angels And Airwaves has made a grand step forward

Tom DeLonge's band Angels And Airwaves has not made the audience wait too long for the sophomore effort, its debut album We Don't Need To Whisper was released just last year. The record has provided a solid and constantly growing fan base for the rockers, and the Blink 182 is still not forgotten by many of them. Angels And Airwaves' enthusiasm in recording the new material causes envy – this autumn the new record I-Empire is already ready to please everyone who wishes. The two creations are similar in many respects: a splendid outrageous drum work, inimitable guitar riffs, topical lyrics. Yet I-Empire is a calmer album to some extent, containing serious and funny tracks, but not as aggressively sounding as it was on Angels And Airwaves' first record. As before Tom DeLonge's vocals remind of Blink 182's works. The effect is added by a greater number of pleasant and catchy melodies than there were on the debut album. So, one can say for sure that Angels And Airwaves has made a grand step forward and made its best record to date.

The main stake on I-Empire is made on the instrumental background

Although I-Empire is less aggressive than the previous album it is all the same Angels And Airwaves here. The record opens with a worrisome composition Call To Arms telling about the fears people have these days, and the album's single Everything's Magic is an up-tempo song with bindspelling guitars and the distinct vocals of DeLonge that make you sing along. A slow song Breathe opens with a rather soft piano accompaniment and gradually turns into a magnificent ballad, while funny track Love Like Rockets amazes with most powerful drums. Sirens is a very melodious track, but the melody is not that simple to remember at once, and DeLonge's performance is one of the best here. A mixture of pop music and practically heavy metal is on an unforgettable song Secret Crowds refined with unbelievable guitar solos, and ballad Star Of Bethlehem, causes the strongest emotions due to the amazing tune. A multilevel instrumentation on Lifeline combines greatly with Tom's vocals, and the psychedelic sound of the shortest song on the album Jumping Rooftops prepares the listener for the rich track Rite Of Spring with a simple repeating tune. The record closes with the longest composition Heaven lasting almost seven minutes each of which is worth listening. On the whole the main stake on I-Empire is made on the instrumental background, and here the band has evidently won.

Modern rock with a slight flavor of indifference and self-confidence

The band that consists only of experienced musicians can hardly ever let down its fans, but the evident evolution of Angels And Airwaves is a very pleasant surprise. All the songs on I-Empire are examples of the modern rock, with a slight flavor of indifference and self-confidence. Perhaps Tom DeLonge's manner of performance has not undergone many changes since the times of Blink 182, the new band has given him an opportunity to try some new styles and improve his skills. Moreover, the combination of the band's members minds has given way to enlarging the idea of an album into a film of the same name which is due to release in the nearest future. Another project the band is working at is a documentary Start The Machine with its music in it. Thus a band with such grandiose ideas and a one year pause between the albums only deserves in the least admiration, and it is worth while hoping that the energy will be enough for quite some time ahead. In any case, what the guys have done by now is already more than we could expect from them, and we should be very thankful.