Weezer - Weezer (Gold Album)
Weezer's Gold Album is a fitting alt-rock soundtrack for the final stretch of summer.
At some point, I realized that August is one of my favorite months of the year. The heat has started to fade, but that sense of carelessness and slow-paced freedom still lingers in the air. There's also something about the end of summer that makes certain albums feel tailor-made for the season's final days. The biggest surprise for me this year was discovering that Weezer would be the ones providing that soundtrack.
With all due respect to this already legendary quartet, Weezer's history has a frustrating pattern: every genuinely good album tends to be followed by a string of releases ranging from forgettable to downright terrible. So after the rather underwhelming Van Weezer and a series of merely decent EPs divided by the seasons, I was hoping the band would finally deliver something truly great. And, miraculously, those expectations were met.
The Gold Album kicks off with the electrifying “Say Yes”, which practically knocks you off your feet with a mind-blowing guitar riff midway through the track. From the very beginning, Weezer seem determined to prove that they've got plenty of energy left in the tank — and that listeners are in for an entertaining half-hour ride. On the heavier “Shine Again”, which leans toward stoner rock territory, the band sounds better than they have in at least a decade. They carry themselves with remarkable confidence, as if finally declaring that they're no longer afraid of falling flat on their faces.
The album's finest moment arrives with “We Might As Well Be Strangers”, featuring Karly Hartzman of Wednesday. Drawing from the roots of slacker rock, the song becomes a perfect meeting point between the old and new generations of alternative music — a collaboration we didn't know we needed until it happened. Hartzman sounds phenomenal alongside Rivers Cuomo, and her anguished scream during the bridge is easily the track's defining moment. On “C. E. O.”, one of the most aggressive songs in the band's catalogue, Cuomo seems to fire back at the listeners who refuse to embrace Weezer's newer material and would rather hear the classics at every show.
Naturally, there's still plenty of the band's trademark silliness. The driving “Hoops” might make you burst out laughing thanks to its gloriously nonsensical lyrics, but that's precisely what makes it quintessentially Weezer. Just think of “Hash Pipe” from the band's Green Album. On “Nowhere”, Cuomo switches into full sincerity. His mid-song vocal outbursts don't always land, but the roaring guitars are powerful enough to drown out the weaker moments. His introspection reaches its peak on “Up In the Clouds,” a refreshing track that builds steadily before exploding into its final chorus.
By a happy twist of fate, one of the defining songs in Weezer's career became “Island in the Sun”, a charming track that's almost impossible to separate from its wonderfully goofy music video. The Gold Album closes with “The LA Sound”, a weighty and self-assured final statement. "We came to melt your face / We're gonna torch this place / We're gonna take you down / This is the LA sound", Cuomo sings in his unmistakable style. Those lyrics may describe Weezer's music more accurately than ever. On their new album, the California band sounds stronger, sharper, and more confident than they have in years — and, most importantly, no longer afraid of missing the mark.
7.0/10
