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With the first Angels and Airwaves album everything felt like it was way over the top. Before the release, Tom Delonge made some pretty big predictions about the band, and the band itself put an extraordinary amount of pressure to deliver an epic album. Some people out there think that “We Don’t Need to Whisper” was an epic album (me being one), but most don’t agree with that assessment either due to Tom’s claims before the album was released or just because they already have their minds made up about Delonge from his days in Blink-182. Regardless, Angels and Airwaves is still around and well and they’re back with another album, “I-Empire.” It’s important to note that nobody is doing what Angels and Airwaves is doing in music right now; they’re making true arena rock. Their stuff is a three part blend, take The Who, U2, and mix in a little bit of punk and you get Angels and Airwaves. The new Angels album is different in a lot of ways from the debut.There’s not as many builds in this album through the intros, they move into the songs a lot faster this time around. Also, this record seems a lot more hopeful than the first album did. That’s in part because there aren’t as many builds, and the drums have been thinned down in places (compared to that first album.) I wouldn’t call this a better album than the first disc; there wasn’t a bad song on “We Don’t Need To Whisper” and there’s not a bad song on “I-Empire” either, so I’d rank them about the same. This is an excellent album, that’s complete, artistic, and it doesn’t have as many labels attached to it as the band’s first album. So if I had to give an edge to one of the albums it would have to be “I-Empire.” Angels and Airwaves is doing something special right now, hopefully more people can shake some related thoughts with this album and embrace it for what it is: excellent.