Lately, it’s been tough to stay a loyal Weezer fan. I had the luxury of hitting my music fandom stride around the same time people started realizing The Blue Album would be a classic. Unfortunately, this coincided with the band’s descent into failed experimentation and messy collaborations. Weezer walked into the pitfall of confirming their own stereotypes by emphasizing their quirkiness and penning meaningless lyrics on their most recent releases.
On their newest album, Everything Will Be Alright in the End, frontman Rivers Cuomo recognizes this period of the band's progression as a "college sexy phase,"—a time for him to branch out, explore his horizons and ultimately return to what he loves. Reunited with producer Ric Ocasek—who produced their multiplatinum records, The Blue Album and The Green Album (both also called Weezer)—Weezer rediscovers their knack for power-pop riffs and vibrant, summertime hits.
The lead single, “Back to the Shack,” acts as an apology for Cuomo’s many missteps over the last few years, and he comes out baring a white flag in an attempt to “rock out like it’s ’94.” He’s apologizing because he wants his audience back. Cuomo is tired of sporting a Magnum P.I. mustache with no one to appreciate it. “Back to the Shack” returns to the soft-loud-soft technique that Weezer adapted from the likes of the Pixies and Nirvana, and could fit in well with some of the better tunes from their 2005 release, Make Believe.
“Lonely Girl” comes as a break for fans from Cuomo’s lamenting. The fourth song on the album, it will almost certainly be overlooked as a sub-three-minute, four-chord punk song, but it wound up being the biggest flashback on the record. As much as the rest of the album touches on the band’s history and returning to what they do best, “Lonely Girl” is the only song that would fit on The Blue Album. It has the fast paced fuzz of the '90s and a distorted guitar solo near the middle familiar to Weezer fans.
After many ill-advised collaborations—including Lil Wayne and hipster archbishop Michael Cera—the band nails one with Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino on “Go Away.” The surf-rock ballad features a back-and-forth between the two vocalists and places the listener on an ex-lover’s front stoop to have their heart broken. Falling in line with the surf-rock genre, the chorus has minimal words, but they’re emphasized by the stage set by Cuomo and Cosentino—this makes for a powerful mid-album song.
The album closes with a three-part string of songs that mainly feature Cuomo on guitar. A last attempt to win his fans back with a rock anthem, for fans to eat up or push back. This is the true test for Weezer fans. Most of their music, since the turn of the 21st century, has admittedly pushed me into the closet of Weezer fandom. But I’ve stuck with them, and the reason is so clearly displayed in this album’s closing: I enjoy being a Weezer fan. They’ll make decent-to-good rock music given the time, but more than that, they’re goofy, original and they connect with their fans. With his closing riffs, Cuomo asks his fans to accept his apology and to trust in their latest album’s title.
Rating: B+
