Weezer - 'The Black Album' (2019) Review

Weezer were one of the most popular bands from the mid-to-late 90's, with their debut, 'The Blue Album' now certified Quadruple Platinum, and since then have dipped in and out of success with fan favourite and mediocre releases, but they're still going strong. The nerdy Rock 'n' Rollers dropped their 13th Studio Album, entitled 'Weezer' (The Black Album) yesterday (March 1st), and to be honest, it's a pleasant surprise. Weezer's last album release actually only came in January of this year, with a full Covers Album, called 'The Teal Album'. It was created off the back of their viral success after they covered Toto's 'Africa', and the album features hits like 'Billie Jean' and 'Take On Me'. It's alright, but now this full original release, is actually quite good.

Weezer - 'Weezer' (The Black Album), 2019.

I've listened through the whole album 3 times, in order to get this review out as close to yesterdays release as possible. And on first impressions, it absolutely flies by. With a total run time of 37 minutes and 39 seconds, it's really able to work as a 'sit down and listen to the whole thing' kind of album. And it keeps you interested. The album mainly consists of great guitar playing, groovy beats that'll keep you moving, and some bizarre and downright bad lyrics, like, 'I'm so high on cookies it's insane', f*ck off. That's from Track 7, 'Too Many Thoughts In My Head', which sounds like those songs the Oompa Loompas sang in Willy Wonka, but it's fine I guess.

It could be hit with claims that Weezer have faced many a time before, that everything sounds the same. Now some songs very much do, but there is a lot of differentiation throughout. A great thing here, is that it's all positive, up-beat, no gloomy sounding music. Now, it's Weezer, they never seem to be sad, but in this day and age, I respect a fully positive vibe coming from an album. It's not that depression, sex or violence themed music that litters today's releases.

Weezer performing live in 2018.

So lets start with the bad. Aside from the actual songs, Weezer debuted the album before its release using the popular video game, 'Fortnite'. They had their own island set up in the open-world game, and the album played in full for any players who were standing on the island. There was even a customised Weezer stage. I get why this was done, for advertisement reasons, but f*ck off. Anyway, my least favourites on here are 'High As A Kite', 'I'm Just Being Honest', and 'Byzantine'.

I didn't like 'High As A Kite' because it's just pretty laughable hearing 48 Year Old lead singer Rivers Cuomo singing about being high on weed. The chorus is a bit moany, the guitar in the bridge is cool, but it's very meh. 'I'm Just Being Honest' falls in the 'sounds like everything else' pile, it's bland. Nothing to even say about it, just boring. 'Byzantine', is sh*t. Sounds like elevator music, wasn't a fan at all. Also to mention, the closing track 'California Snow', is a mix between good and bad for me. You know that music that plays when you finish a Mario level, yeah imagine that on cocaine, that's the intro. Give it a listen.

Nerdy Rockstars, Weezer in 2019.

But to revive my hope in the album, we have two hits. Now, the majority of the album is good, bit these are proper 'hits' of this whole piece. 'Can't Knock The Hustle' opens the album, and the groove is so good. It bounces along, fantastic beat, and the guitar playing is really good. It's got some Spanish lyrics in there which may put some people off, but there's also some super fast and cool Spanish Acoustic Guitar Playing! It's a really good tune, highly recommend.

Now my favourite, and the best piece on the album in my opinion, is 'The Prince Who Wanted Everything'. Driven by a nice rhythm guitar beat, it's very simple, but great, and the flow is just really cool. The electric guitar used throughout is brilliant, which actually occurs a lot in the album, but it's utilised very well here. Some may think its bland, but in my 3 listens this one stood out to me every time. I think this is the only song on the album that's not trying to be something it's fully not, and within that we just have a great song. Good stuff.

Weezer in 2010.

So overall, Weezer's 'Black Album' proved to me that they can still make good music, and keep their reputation alive without having to live off of doing covers for the rest of their careers. Their 13th Studio Album is an overall good groovy piece, that is definitely worth sitting down and listening to the whole way through, and you'll be tapping your foot and nodding your head along all the way. My rating, 7/10. Some bad stuff, some generic stuff, but then some really great stuff. Thrilling analysis.

Weezer - 'Weezer' (The Black Album)

7/10

Thank you for reading.