With newfound maturity, Blink does a '182' on listeners

The dead smiley face on the cover of the new blink-182 album says one thing: the joke is over. The self-titled release finally throws out the lame dick jokes and moves the band in a bold direction. \nBlink draws from their long respite in side projects to evolve its pop-punk sound without alienating its fan base. It experiments with orchestration, synthesizers and acoustics to make its sound more dynamic. This is especially evident on "I Miss You," which layers piano, strings and bells over a love ballad. \nMeanwhile, blink still holds onto the pop-punk freight train for the furious "Go" and "Stockholm Syndrome." Holding all of this together is drummer Travis Barker, whose intricate beats and lightning fast hands make the sonic expansion possible.\nWhile the music takes leaps in new directions, the lyrics only take baby steps. The majority of songs are about girls and love, but they are becoming more eloquent and less juvenile. \nBy the time you hit "All of This," a crushingly beautiful love song featuring Robert Smith of the Cure, one knows there is no going back. Blink has grown up, and the joke may be on those who dismiss it as a corporate pop machine and overlook its crowning achievement.