Love it or hate it, Tom Delonge loves to experiment with spacey-sounding synths; U2 and aliens appear to be the NASA fanatics’ biggest inspiration. Unfortunately, Euphoria embodies an alien sound to people who enjoy good music.
The imagery and cinematography of the band is irrefutably impressive, but the substance of a band lies in their ability to consistently release great music – Angels & Airwaves are consistency inconsistent in that respect. The delay pedal effect has been employed so readily by the band throughout their carer, they have become a caricature of themselves. The supplementary bells and whistles only add to further confuse what is already a confusing listen.
The Angels & Airwaves army will probably enjoy the new offering, however. In fairness, Delonge’s capacity to produce repetitive yet beguiling vocal hooks is steadfast in Euphoria. There’s also a strong riff running throughout the song but it is too quickly quashed by electronic murmurings, just when it should be upping the intensity.
Perhaps present fans will appreciate this number, but Euphoria will not endear strangers to the band, and acts as a poor example of their work to date.
5/10
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