There’s a good chance that after reading that opening paragraph, you had one of three reactions:
1. Wow, I love Weezer! A new album is fantastic news!
2. Weezer never released anything good after Pinkerton! Leave my sight, fool!
3. Who?!
Death to False Metal is essentially a collection of rarities, but this is not your usual assortment of cutting-room-floor odds and ends. Rather it has risen from the ashes of 10 previously written but unreleased tracks, which have been rerecorded and formed into a coherent album. Ranging from Pinkerton-era Weezer to the present day, the album represents the various incarnations and styles that the band have approached over the years, but like their live performances, nothing feels out of place.
“These were great songs — great recordings — but for some reason they didn’t make the final cut for previous records,” begins frontman Rivers Cuomo . “Some just weren’t right for the albums we were recording at the time—just a bit ahead of their time, or too ‘rock’. Now, the time is right to introduce them. Together, they are the album that should logically follow Hurley.”
In 2008, Cuomo ran a YouTube campaign entitled “Let’s Write A Sawng” in which he sought out internet users to help him write a song. Their collaborative effort, Turn Up The Radio, doesn’t sound like a mish-mash of musical styles as you may expect, but is actually a decent tune and a worthy opener to the album.
I Don’t Want Your Love follows, a blistering power pop anthem which just screams Maladroit, whilst punk-metal Pinkerton-era track Everyone rockets along at a tremendous pace. Elsewhere on the album, Blowin’ My Stack is Weezer-by-numbers but no less for it, and sits nicely beside newer piano-infused song, Odd Couple.
There is no doubt that first half of the album is definitely stronger than the second, however that doesn’t stop every single song being worthy of its inclusion: there are no truly bad songs here. Even an intriguing cover of Toni Braxton’s hit hip-hop track Un-Break My Heart has its place at the end of the record.
Whether you’re a casual Weezer fan who sings along to Memories on the radio, or a diehard Blue/Pinkerton elitist, you can’t deny that Weezer have an incredible ability to craft a perfect pop-rock anthem. While this may not be their best album, it still rests miles above the dross that makes up the majority of today’s charts, and is a perfect example of what Weezer do best.
Death to False Metal is out on the 8th of November via Geffen.
For more Weezer visit www.myspace.com/weezer
ES
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