The past couple of years have certainly been interesting for fans of the California rock band, Weezer. After years of disappointment, Weezer releases two great albums back to back that were loved and praised by fans and critics. Those albums being 2014’s Everything Will Be Alright in the End and 2016’s White Album.
This era of Weezer was a much-needed return to form as the music they released prior to 2014 were corny and cringy poprock songs that paled in comparison to 2000’s rock staples such as “Buddy Holly” or “Island in the Sun.”
After the success of The White Album, fans were ecstatic to hear news of the band working on another self-titled release called The Black Album.
With Weezer returning to their roots and effectively winning back their fans, it seemed like nothing could go wrong. However, Weezer started to lose this momentum as they pushed back the release date of Black and dropped Pacific Daydream instead, which received a ton of negative reviews upon release.
Then, after their successful and popular cover of Toto’s “Africa” made it onto the top 100 charts, Weezer decided to surprise fans with the less than well received Teal Album, an album solely comprised of covers of popular hit songs.
It’s times like this that really make or break even the most hardcore Weezer fans. However, there was still the promised Black Album on the horizon, and after all this waiting, it is finally here.
I was looking forward to this album, not only because I was dying to see what direction Weezer was going to take Black in, but singles like “Can’t Knock the Hustle” and “High As a Kite” had me genuinely excited. The former introduces a funky groove that is new and refreshing for the band. It’s clear they wanted to try something different with this song and I think they were able to stick the landing. Rivers has incredible swagger throughout “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” and I can’t help but sing along and bob my head whenever this song comes on.
“High As a Kite” is the most traditional sounding Weezer song and is easily the best track on Black. Rivers sings about getting high and escaping the problems and troubles of the world, all while tender pianos and soaring guitars accompany his vocals.
The song is simple, effective at capturing the classic Weezer vibe, and has a very entertaining music video where Rivers and company dress up as characters from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and perform the song in front of an audience of children.
Unfortunately, that’s where the praise stops, and the problems start to arise. The Black Album is loaded with repetitive and boring pop rock songs while also featuring tracks that bring new ideas and sounds to the table. It’s as if Weezer couldn’t decide which direction to take this album, so they just dumped a bunch of random songs at our feet and called it an album.
For example, you have songs like “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” “Too Many Thoughts in My Head,” and “Zombie Bastards” that present listeners with a variety of new sounds and flavor, and then you have “Piece of Cake” or “Living in L.A.” that are clearly more pop-friendly with bland, corny lyrics and annoying, repetitive production.
The worst offender is “The Prince Who Wanted Everything,” with its same repeating guitar riff throughout the entire song that leaves it pretty stale and uninteresting. Not to mention the song’s annoying “Do do do” hook which turned me off from the track entirely.
Overall, Weezer’s Black Album sees the band going through the motions once more with a little added flair and the tiniest amount of experimentation. Black’s biggest weakness is that its set of songs don’t mix very well together which makes the album feel inconsistent and aimless.
Caesar Torres
Editor in Chief