A spiritual follow up to 2003’s ‘Untitled’, ‘Nine’ sees the trio as confident adventurers. Dealing with the ideas of despair, loneliness and longing, the record doesn’t shy away from the shadows but you’re never far from a dash of hope ... ‘Nine’ sees Blink back at their very best.

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Kerrang!

Whether or not this slightly grown-up iteration of blink lasts more than this one record remains to be seen, but on NINE it feels like the band are finding a new lease of life in the dark days of 2019.

Look past the garish neon, the jarring pop and confused self-image, and what you find is a surprisingly somber and moving piece of work that might just stay with you.

While Nine is by no means a dour emo record, it carries enough emotional heft to elevate it as one of blink-182's strongest late-era efforts, one that matures the typical blink sound with its commitment to vulnerability and honesty.

The band’s second album with former Alkaline Trio frontman Matt Skiba on hand is a nuanced success.

Despite having, ahem, run out of steam when it comes to creative album titles, Blink still have it in them to release a pleasant, melodic album that will definitely strike a chord with existing fans. Winning new fans over, however, doesn’t look incredibly likely.

The shiny, beat-heavy sound of nu-blink-182 works in starts and stops, but feels half as fun as the band used to be.

Blink-182’s second album with Matt Skiba is ultimately subpar, weighed down by stereotypical lyrics and cloying choruses. Producers John Feldmann and Tim Pagnotta’s heavy use of compression makes NINE as in-your-face as possible, not giving the songs the necessary breathing room to develop without overproduction.

At its best, NINE is catchy but forgettable pop-rock candy that’s too sweet for its own good.

The Sydney Morning Herald

NINE reeks of adolescence — and not in the goofy, humorous way of Blink-182's past, but in a cringe-y attempt at youthful angst. There are no slyly couched bits of wisdom, no life lessons learned between goof-ups and heartbreak, and it's altogether too earnest and self-serious to even be enjoyed as carefree fun.

Nine will have you crying "nein" the whole way through.

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Pipe

That's it. I've had it.

Blink 182 are not a good band.

There is not a single record i've heard from this group that has 'wowed' me, or 'shaken me to my core', or hell, even a record that i've 'liked'. Every Blink 182 album i've heard even sounds too annoying, too boring or too stupid for me to really take them seriously or appreciate the performance. All I've gotten from this is a bad Fall Out Boy on Crack vibe that I hate with every fiber of my being. It just sounds fucking awful! And, for ... read more

100

Update - The 1 Year Anniversary Review of Nine - A Revisit and a Letter:
Today marks this album's one year anniversary (at least here in Australia). Boy, where do I even begin.
Below will be my testament to this album that's been there for me through thick and thin ever since its release, even if it doesn't seem like it.

When the album first came out, I was practically days away from graduating high school. I heard about the album from when Darkside came out. I wasn't blown away at the time, ... read more

2y*

Inglume

Is this what Halsey meant when she said "Play that Blink-182 song that we beat to death in Tucson"?

Except, it isn't just one Blink-182 song, it's an entire fucking album of grossly bland, pandering as hell, outdated pop punk clichés that you can't even ironically enjoy.

You know an album is pretty horrendous when listening to it suddenly reminds you of one of the worst #1 pop hits of all time, Closer by The Chainsmokers. Now, I absolutely hate that abomination of a song and ... read more