“The kids are in a hurry // And I’m just full of fear” may be the most telling line any of the members of blink-182 have written over the past six years.

After all, the band left a double platinum album on the radio and fans clamoring for more in 2005 when they disbanded following the release of 2003’s Untitled.

Close to three years after the announcement of their “continuation,” Neighborhoods is finally here. But the content within the album is not nearly as happy as most fans will be while listening to it. A break-up, an airplane crash, multiple deaths, and an overdose, among the normal ups and downs of life, pervade every second of the 49-minute record.

Infectious guitar riffs, vocal trade-offs between Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus, and the never unimpressive drum beats from Travis Barker make the first three songs on Neighborhoods a perfect introduction to the long-awaited record. And what comes after the first leg of the album makes it clear that blink-182’s endless delays were well worth the wait.

On the second leg of Neighborhoods, “After Midnight” and “Wishing Well” prove to be the only two light-hearted songs on a record that is filled with solemnity and darkness, “Snake Charmer” and “Kaleidoscope” bring blink right back into the history of their past between references to DJAM (“He was the first to go // In search of the great unknown”) and to the uncertainty regarding the process of creating the album itself (“Let the hours tick past the deadline // Get another stamp in your passport // Wash you breakfast down with some red wine”), respectively.

“This Is Home” and “MH 4.18.2011” will be favorites on the album for fans of blink’s earlier work with their driving guitars and drum beats and fast-paced vocals. The verses and pre-choruses on “MH” might be the most “punk” blink has been since the Dude Ranch era, but lyrically the song keeps up with the rest of the album while Hoppus sings, “Stop living in the shadow of a helicopter,” potentially a reference to Barker’s near-fatal incident.

The standard edition copy of the album closes with “Love Is Dangerous” which, along with “Heart’s All Gone,” constitute the two least powerful tracks on the record; however, they hardly falter. Bonus songs “Fighting The Gravity” and “Even If She Falls” round out the album perfectly for the deluxe edition with the latter one of the catchiest tracks on the record.

Fans, both old and new, may write off the album before hitting play due to the delays and the fear that the blink-182 they knew eight years ago have progressed. The band has progressed. Are there parts on the album that sound like Angels & Airwaves? Yes. Are there parts on the album that sound like +44? Yes. Will most fans that write off Neighborhoods forget that material on both of those band’s first records was partially taken from what would have been blink-182’s next album? Yes.

There’s good news: blink-182 will continue to tour in stadiums and amphitheatres, and they will not forget to play the 16 songs that compose their Greatest Hits album. It would however be a shame to shut the door on the band’s second best album in their career, even if it won’t have them parading around MTV without clothes on.

This is the blink-182 that would have followed 2003’s Untitled—it just took a little bit longer for them to get there.

★★★★.5/★★★★★