For the last few albums, fans of Weezer have been utterly pummeled with disappointment. With the release of their latest album, “White Album,” rumors have been circulating that this could be a return to form for the highly beloved ’90s band.
In the wake of the utter disaster that was 2009’s “Raditude,” most anything would be an improvement. Follow up albums “Hurley” and “Everything Will Be Alright In The End” both received lukewarm, almost positives reviews, with some highlights amid overall plain albums. “White Album” follows this trend as well, without massive return to form as hoped, but moderate improvement in the overall enjoyment of the album. It features a good amount of postproduction and mastering, evidencing a shiny polish that does little to evoke memories of the bands cherished debut. This does not in itself amount to a fault. Comparatively, “White Album” is still very clean for a Weezer album, but does not lack the crunch of the post-grunge guitar that originally helped to characterize the band’s sound. Also showing improvement is the album’s lyrical content, which has regained some of the depth of earlier albums and showcases a more acceptable amount of variety thematically.
Lead singer and songwriter Rivers Cuomo proves that he hasn’t completely lost touch with what made the band good in the first place. Songs like “Do You Wanna Get High” flashback to the band’s nerdy, stoner-rock origins that helped reinvent the post-grunge scene and deal the deathblow to the Seattle sound. Other songs, such as “California Kids,” show that the band can still come up with some catchy hooks and riffs while still pulling off a positive, but not silly vibe. Furthermore, songs like “Endless Bummer” and “Jacked Up” prove that Weezer still has a knack for unconventional song structure and rhythm, an invention that helped them survive the early 2000’s. While the band’s evolution has been mostly negative up to this point, these features have helped bring the back into good graces — showing that perhaps a mostly dead dog can learn new tricks.
However, the album is certainly not without its faults; the saccharine sound that plagued “Raditude” manages to pervade into this album, leaving traces of insincere lyrics and overly poppy chord progressions like stains on a white carpet. Other songs like “(Girl We Got A) Good Thing” come off as a combination of everything wrong with post “Red Album” Weezer, leaving a sour taste in one’s mouth as the album progresses to the next track.
“White Album” isn’t perfect, but it is an improvement, even over the band’s last two attempts. While 90’s Weezer is forever dead and gone, “White Album” shows signs of self-awareness, with the possibility of at least some sort of revival of the “Make Believe” or “Green Album” sound moderately. Even so, if they’re going to start making the fans happy again, Weezer can’t beat a dead horse. We’ve had our time with that era of sound, now we need them to evolve in the correct direction. Time will only tell if that ever happens, but for now, it’s looking a lot better. At this point in time, the Weezer that was once so beloved is lying asleep in a coma. “White Album” shows that it may not be brain dead just yet.
