Weezer’s new album, Everything Will Be Alright in the End (EWBAITE) is due for release this week, and it has been streaming on iTunes and Spotify, so fans have already been getting their taste of it. As a lifelong fan, I am proud to say that the album is a welcome return to form, with the great hooks, singalong lyrics, and crushing guitar that we had in the Blue to Maladroit era and that have popped up here and there since then. I love all of their albums, but most of the songs on the Weezer’s Greatest Hits mix I have created on my iPod are from that early era, with three or four from the subsequent albums making an appearance too.

What I am trying to say is that I love all of the songs on Blue most of the songs on Pinkerton to Maladroit and quite a few songs from the albums in the rest of the catalogue. EWBAITE is the first album in a long time where I love every song on the album. With all the teasers that have come out, and the drip feed of full song releases, to the release of the whole album, the album and component songs have grown on me, and now, having listened to it through three times from start to finish, I can’t get enough of it.

It seems that many fans feel the same. Our love for the band has never wavered, even through Raditude, Hurley, and Death to False Metal – all had good songs, but none of them gelled as a whole – and now with EWBAITE out I think we all feel that the old Weezer is back. As a snapshot of this, here is a collection of comments from the users of /mu/ on 4chan:

If you aren’t a Weezer fan, you may not get some of the references, but I think it captures very well the feeling of the majority of fans. I think that there is a very pleasant mix of relief, nostalgia, and happiness, especially from those that have followed the band from the start.

I have said many times that Weezer has been the soundtrack to my life, and as you can see from some of the comments above, many others feel the same. Fans who are my age, and that have followed them from the start will have been teenagers when Blue and Pinkerton came out, and been able to relate to the heartfelt lyrics. Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer (and lyricist) was a nerdy outsider, and many of us could relate to that as we struggled to find our way through this thing called life. We didn’t have money, computers, or iPods. We had to buy or borrow CDs and tapes in those days.

The band matured with us as we grew up. Green and Maladroit were great albums, a bit more polished than the first two albums, just as we were – out of school and working now trying to make a living. After that, Make Believe was…different. Not radically, there were some cool songs on it, but sometimes listening to Blue and Make Believe it sounded like two similar sounding bands rather than the same band, but we still loved them, our old friends.

Time progressed and we grew into adults. Red again had some great songs on it, some catchy tunes but I remember when I bought the album on our our first trip to Melbourne in 2008, I listened to it and thought “this is quite different” but it grew on me. Then Raditude came out and I remember sitting in my car listening to it for the first time and again, while there were some good songs on there (that have grown on me over time) I was horrified to not only hear Lil’ Wayne feature but to hear him drop an F bomb. It rattled me and I may have dropped an F bomb of my own in response. Things were much the same with Hurley and Death to False Metal where there were a couple of good songs that grew on me over time, but nothing really blew me away.

A few months ago Weezer released a YouTube video that seemed to show them in the studio again, the first time in 4 years. Did this mean that a new album was on the way? Would it carry on in the vein of Hurley and Death to False Metal? The video had a short guitar sample in it, and it sounded like the old Weezer growl. Could they be making an album that sounded like the earlier part of their catalogue? Maybe.

More teaser videos came out each week, and the intrigue grew. There was a definite growl present. And then a video was uploaded by someone who went on the Weezer cruise, and it showed the band playing a new song called Back to the Shack. The first time I heard it I thought that it had that old Weezer sound, and not only that, it was very self aware in that the lyrics spoke of the old days (“the strat with the lightning strap” “rockin’ out like its ’94”). And each teaser video that came out afterward hinted at the old sound.

Then the audio of Back to the Shack was released, all bets were off, it was a great song with those neat singalong parts, some of that old style craziness, and that weird feeling of “This is different to recent releases. Different in a good way.” As the teasers kept coming, and more officla audio was released it was confirmed that this album would sound very different from recent albums, and might, just might, be what we have all been hoping would turn up again one day.

That’s how I remember it anyway.

Now the album is out there, we can hear it, we can make a few clicks on our computer and there it is. The album rules. The guitar crushes. The drums clash. The lyrics have meaning and in true Weezer style sometimes don’t. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but when I listen to this new album I get that ridiculous Weezer smile on my face. The same smile I had on my face after hearing them live for the first time:

I think the smile comes from a fantastic balance of old sound and new style on the album. There is enough of the old stuff to get your motor running, and enough of the new stuff to make you keen for more.

In my book, Weezer is back, and long may they continue to make kick ass music and influence and inspire people everywhere.

=W=