Album Review: Weezer - ‘Weezer’ (The Gold Album)

Alternative mainstays Weezer are back with the latest in their self-titled color series, Weezer, or as we will refer to it as, The Gold Album this week! We absolutely loved the first track, “Say Yes” which features frontman Rivers Cuomo doing some outstanding falsetto on vocals. “Say Yes” also features an upbeat, driving melody that pushes the listener through the track. It’s a welcome tune for an opener on the record, as it establishes a quick pace that is good to move to. We also fans of the palm mutes and distortion laced guitar work on “Don’t Make it Weird”. Where the verses on this one could be a bit clunky with the rhyme schemes, Cuomo and company bring it together for the hook (as much as we are not fans of that term outside of Blues Traveler’s usage of it).

“We Might As Well Be Strangers” is the single of the record and features a guest spot from Wednesday’s vocalist Karly Hartzman, who’s understated style pairs extremely well. On “C.E.O” Cuomo and company pace it very similarly to “The Sweater Song” as far as the verses are concerned, before kicking it off at the chorus with forceful guitar rhythm and a pretty decent solo around the two minute mark. It’s worth noting that on “C.E.O.” Cuomo says something akin to “here’s another 90’s jam”, so the similarities to “The Sweater Song” are surely intentional and tongue and cheek, which is par for the course with Weezer.

One thing we will always say about Rivers Cuomo, is that he really knows how to write choruses. The Gold Album continues this tradition. But before we wrap on this one, we would be remiss if we failed to mention “Up in the Clouds”. This one comes in at the near of the record and is a primarily acoustic number until about halfway through. Then some fuzzy guitar work leads into a full on tour de force of driving guitar and booming percussion work. This one is by far our favorite on this record. The Gold Album might be one of the most well rounded Weezer record that we’ve heard in some time. It’s pretty solid from bottom to top in all the appropriate times.

Rating - 8/10