Review: Everything really is alright in the End
by ELMER GUARDADO
“Sorry guys, I didn’t realize that I needed you so much/I thought I’d get a new audience, I forgot that disco sucks/I ended up with nobody and I started feeling dumb/Maybe I should play the lead guitar and Pat should play the drums…”
Although it is unorthodox for a band to start the campaign for their new album release with an apology, the first verse (above) in Weezer’s first released single, “Back to the Shack,” from their new album, Everything will be Alright in the End, does just that.
After spending much of the last decade appealing to the masses with albums like Raditude and Make Believe, collaborations with B.O.B. and Lil Wayne and events like their self-titled cruise tour, Weezer reaches back into their ‘90s and early 2000 roots to create a masterful album that showcases their metal, punk, grunge, pop and alternative influences.
Front-man, singer, songwriter and lead guitarist Rivers Cuomo, known for his nerdy and down-to-earth charm, creates a 13-track set list. He tells a self-aware tale, starting with “Ain’t Got Nobody” and the aforementioned “Back to the Shack,” which directly reflect the bands regret with drifting away from the core audience that first put them in the spotlight. As the album progresses into songs like “Eulogy for a Rock Band” and “I’ve had it up to Here,” Cuomo and company touch on topics such as dealing with closure and realizing that nothing lasts forever. The album concludes and climaxes with a largely instrumental three-part suite composed of flamboyant solos, a children’s choir and sugary pop-punk harmonies titled “The Futurescope Trilogy.”
The album is solid as a whole and, like their first couple of records, lends its self to a sequential and full listen through. Everything will be Alright in the End does not transcend the perfection created in The Blue Album, The Green Album or Pinkerton, but it has definitely become a Weezer staple, easily described as “something only Weezer could make,” because it produces the iconic and unique “Weezer” vibe.
For diehard fans, it will be easy to fall in love with this album, but to newcomers, the occasional moments that fans describe as just “Weezer being Weezer” can come off as confusing.
Everything will be Alright in the End is a return to Weezer’s core values both lyrically and musically, creating a sense of deep nostalgia for a pivotal, nerdy voice in music that only Weezer could create. The album is available via physical purchase or digital download as of Sept. 30.