He used his left brain—logic—to access his right brain—emotion—to create what might not be the best Weezer album, but most definitely is the perfect Weezer album, at least right now.
In revisiting those times, in trying to get back in touch with that man, he and the rest of Weezer have created something that’s completely unique to their catalog, a record that tries its damnedest to feel alienated by the conflicts of the past, but discovers that it’s actually at peace with them.
The tracks devoted to Weezer's bond with their listeners are the most tormented and theatrical, as if Cuomo and Co. stitched together their own American Idiot.
In short, it sounds like Weezer. Those magic chord changes, the wiry guitar licks, Rivers Cuomo’s awkward, faltering vocals – these may be brand new songs, but they’re all so immediately familiar that, as the title may suggest, they create one almighty aural comfort blanket.
There's a sense that Weezer made another record of massive, hooky rock not only because that's what the fans want but because they know it's what they do best.
While the record is first and foremost concerned with winning back the faithful, in its most abandon-free moments Everything forgets it’s a return-to-roots album and takes some exciting leaps.
Rivers' lyrics are just as bad as they've always been, the band's sense of pop-song structure is still the backbone of every track, but that doesn't matter when everyone is having fun.
While the tones of their youth can be really, really difficult to recreate—EWBAITE shows that they can still be pretty good, too.
It’s no ‘Pinkerton’, but Weezer, finally, are back on track.
With Everything Will Be Alright in the End, Weezer has brought back something that’s been missing from their discography for a long time: a solid collection of songs.
Ultimately, there will be scores of fans that will say this is the best Weezer album in years, but the truth is much deeper than that: even with its flaws, this is easily the best album Weezer has released in over a decade.
Everything Will Be Alright in the End doesn’t set a new benchmark for Weezer, but hopefully it can go lengths to ridding them of the ridiculously unfair catch-22 they’ve faced.
This is the sort of album that’s easy to overpraise, if only because of the depths Weezer have reached over the past few years, so let me be clear: Everything Will Be Alright in the End is not as good as Weezer’s first two albums.
Everything Will Be Alright in the End echoes much of Weezer's past, but the real selling point here is that, for the first time since Pinkerton, it feels like a coherent album as opposed to a loose collection of songs.
EWBAITE chugs hard and whines with its heart on its sleeve, and while they’re longer in tooth, the unstoppable Weezer still say it like it is.
While Cuomo might be frustratingly stuck in himself, Everything Will Be Alright In The End shows that he’s taking the first trepidatious steps into an earnest reflection on what it’s taken to be the man he’s become.
The most passable =W= moments on EWBAITE are also those that are embarrassing enough to punch holes in the teenage bedroom wall that is your faith. But Weezer are embarrassing; they’ve always been embarrassing. What they’ve rarely been is dull, which is precisely what these canny imitations are.
In spite of its moments of charm, it’s a far cry from being either a fun retreat into 20 years ago, nor is it any indication that Weezer's reputation will be in better health 20 years from now.
Everything Will Be Alright in the End is without a doubt better than anything the band has released in the past 10 years, but it’s not a great Weezer album – not by a stretch.
In the End still has its fair share of the innocuous, ordinary, Weezer-by-numbers stuff that has turned people away. Weezer-by-numbers can still produce satisfactory pop, but it's hard to find complete consistency with it.
Overall this record feels like a pocket in time and the breeze of nostalgia is welcome in parts but is wholly unsatisfying.
It's not that Everything Will Be Alright in the End is a particularly bad album, more that it's the latest in a series of disappointing ones.
For the most part, this is no improvement on Weezer’s medicore output of the past decade.
Holy shit! A modern Weezer record I actually like!
They do the same power pop sound they’ve been doing since 2001, and they polish that sound up like a rag and Windex on a dirty mirror. Unlike most of their previous projects, this one feels much more cohesive than albums like Make Believe or Raditude.
They start maturing as songwriters in this album, getting rid of 75% of the cringe they had from 2005 to 2011. They start to become less and less of a joke band when every single song on ... read more
I did it, I finished Weezer's discography. Well, that was quite interesting. A lot of their output was either just mid, straight up bad, or boring. The great albums they put out like White and OK Human were near amazing and their stuff like Raditude and Make Believe being utter garbage. With my previous album listens, Red being quite mixed having a couple bangers but mostly sleepers, Hurley also suffering from similar problems, and their SZNZ eps which felt quite inconsistent, the majority of ... read more
This is a great album on it's own sure. But in the wider context of Weezer and there output before hand, this is amazing. Nothing much to say. Great guitar. Actually good lyrics and a 3 song ending that is perfect.
Favourite songs: Futerscope Trilogy, Ain't got nobody, Eulogy for a Rock band
Least favourite: Cleopatra
i’ve been listening to the whole weezer catalog for the first time and in order - this album is such a victory lap
1 | Ain't Got Nobody 3:21 | 85 |
2 | Back To the Shack 3:05 | 80 |
3 | Eulogy For a Rock Band 3:25 | 86 |
4 | Lonely Girl 2:49 | 72 |
5 | I've Had It Up To Here 2:49 | 88 |
6 | The British Are Coming 4:08 | 82 |
7 | Da Vinci 4:05 | 83 |
8 | Go Away 3:13 | 72 |
9 | Cleopatra 3:11 | 80 |
10 | Foolish Father 4:31 | 89 |
11 | The Futurescope Trilogy: I. The Waste Land 1:56 | 88 |
12 | The Futurescope Trilogy: II. Anonymous 3:19 | 89 |
13 | The Futurescope Trilogy: III. Return To Ithaka 2:17 | 92 |
#14 | / | Rolling Stone |
#16 | / | Consequence of Sound |
#80 | / | PopMatters |