Their numerous delays in the recording process resulted in the cancelation of a European tour and label executives setting a deadline for the album to be due.

[3] Following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, DeLonge agreed to perform at Music for Relief's Concert for South Asia, a benefit show to aid victims.

Two events in late 2008 would lead to the band's eventual reformation: the death of longtime producer Jerry Finn (who suffered a cerebral hemorrhage) and a near-fatal plane crash involving Barker and collaborator DJ AM.

[21] In June and July 2010, Blink-182 spent time at their rehearsal spot, with the intention to wrap up touring by September and stay in the studio for the rest of the year until the record was finished.

[13] Instead of a producer, each band member had their own dedicated sound engineer, with Hoppus and DeLonge receiving help from longtime co-production partners Chris Holmes and "Critter", respectively.

[27] Under pressure, the band released a statement in April that effectively rescheduled all European tour dates due to the album's prolonged recording.

"[43] Though DeLonge hoped to retain the angst present in the band's past work, he wanted to "deliver it in a package that's very modern, using instrumentations and formulas to launch you into different places with music that is not just three-chord pop-punk with riffs".

[28] He struggled with writing upbeat, happy songs for the album and attributed the dark lyricism to heavy events occurring shortly before the reunion.

[32] MTV News called Neighborhoods the "bleakest thing Blink have ever done, haunted by specters both real—depression, addiction, loss—and imagined", noting the constant lyrical mention of death in many tracks.

The album mixes the electronic flourishes of +44 and the "laser-light grandeur" of Angels & Airwaves into what MTV News called "a sound that recalls nothing so much as dark streets and black expanses, mostly of the suburban variety".

[31] "Natives" first arose from a tribal beat Barker created in the studio,[49] and the song's title changed multiple times before settling on simplicity.

[45] "This Is Home" was originally titled "Scars to Blame", but changed considerably when Hoppus took the chorus and bridge and combined it with new lyrics written by DeLonge, morphing it into what he described as "an anthem for youthful abandon".

[58] Hoppus described "Fighting the Gravity" as a "very strange song", and highlighted its production: he ran a drum machine through his bass amp, and when the volume was turned up, it shook the entire building, causing a light fixture in the control room to start shaking.

[65] "Up All Night" was released as the album's lead single on July 14, and the band began streaming another new song, "Heart's All Gone", through a dedicated website on August 4.

[70] Blink-182 returned to Interscope Records to distribute the album, but found the music industry landscape dramatically different since the band's last effort.

[32] Blink-182 broke up at a heightened popularity period for pop-punk, but Neighborhoods was released in an era for the genre that Billboard described as "lacking exciting mainstream representation", in addition to falling sales for peer bands.

Social media such as Facebook and Twitter were present throughout each stage of the album, which Hoppus believed allowed more direct access and control over the band's music.

[32] Although Modlife, DeLonge's revenue-sharing online service, was not involved in the promotion of the record, the band's personal business projects were integrated, such as Macbeth Footwear and Famous Stars and Straps.

[82] A pre-release review from NME regarded Neighborhoods as the band's best album, calling it "bravely progressive" and noting the dark lyricism and random experimentation.

[83] Mike Diver of BBC Music described the album as "unexpectedly great", and while agreeing the recording process gave some tracks a "dislocated feel", he concluded that "Neighborhoods could easily have been a disaster—that it's not, and actually a very successful endeavour, is worthy of substantial praise".

[85] Nitsuh Abebe of New York Magazine deemed the record "one of those albums on which a group reunites as professionals and equals, each having gone off and collected his own interests via side projects, and then negotiates a sound that brings it all to bear: no-nonsense modern rock, serious but unpretentious, ambitious but full of the same easy hooks as ever".

Perhaps Blink could stand to sharpen their words but it's better that they concentrated on their music, creating a fairly ridiculous yet mildly compelling prog-punk spin on the suburbs here".

He went on to add that, "While it occasionally sounds like Mark, Tom, and Travis are playing three different songs at once ('Kaleidoscope', 'After Midnight'), the band are still capable of producing genuine moments of magnificence".

[77] Scott Heisel of Alternative Press attributed the album's flaws to the lack of an outside producer and the fact that only a few tracks were written and recorded as a group: "Blink-182's members are still capable of writing good songs, but without a strong outside influence (i.e., a producer) and no real desire or effort to consistently work in the same room with one another, the amount of truly transcendent, classic material is minimal.

[87] Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone gave the album three stars out of five, noting elements of sophistication, introspection, and darkness in the music and lyrics and commenting that "Some Clinton-era pants-dropping might've been a fun nostalgia move.

Club was critical of DeLonge's vocals, saying that he "sounds flat as ever, and has a fondness for clunky lyrics", concluding that "Although Blink-182 has long since left its past as a bare-bones punk band behind, overwrought rock isn't its forte, either.

[80] Scott McLennan of The Boston Globe considered the album a step forward, summarizing, "Blink-182 again delivers a record with nothing outright awful and enough dynamite songs to pack a punch at future tours".

[98][99] Despite this, sales were not as smooth as the group's label, Interscope, had hoped, according to Billboard: "Despite the extended hiatus between albums, Neighborhoods failed to connect on the same scale as earlier releases".

Together with My Chemical Romance, the trio fronted the 10th Annual Honda Civic Tour, which ran from August to October 2011, with additional dates scheduled in Canada with Rancid and Against Me!.

[111] Barker, who still suffers a fear of flying, did not attend; Brooks Wackerman, drummer of Bad Religion at the time, filled in for the Australian leg of the tour.