Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright in the End

Everything Will Be Alright in the End, 20 years on from the The Blue Album, seems stuck in a timewarp where innuendo-filled movie soundtracks, house parties and mixtapes reigned. A nice place to visit, once in a while, but not somewhere you still want to be.

But, while there is a lot of looking in the wrong direction on this record - not least and literally on “Back to the Shack” where the non-too cryptic lyrics give a meta-kick to the whole experience “I thought I’d get a new audience..” “…rocking out like it’s 94..”, there’s a lot for the purists too. The opening track “Ain’t Got Nobody” has a shades of a more classic era and later “Lonely Girl” does what no other band but Weezer can, and showcase all that they still have.

This is a record set in tracks, to type, in formula, but missing something somehow. It makes all the right noises but it never quite feels the same as before.

After sitting in a groove for four songs, the fifth brings a welcome change of pace and signals a stronger second half. “Go Away”, which features Beth Cosentino from Best Coast filling in the better half, is the first moment that really chimes, and “Cleopatra” is refreshing in its difference and feels like the stretch the record needs.

Overall this record feels like a pocket in time and the breeze of nostalgia is welcome in parts but is wholly unsatisfying . The formula still works, to some extent, and it’s still fun, it still cushions the blow – but we’re all older now, with more wrinkles.

It’s all still girls, bands, being sent to your room and bullshit. Stuff that has been lining the inside of record sleeves for decades, but there’s no challenge here. Not least to all they’ve created before with Ocasek. The sort of subtly and texture found on Blue and Green on songs like” Say It Aint’s So”, “My Name Is Jonas” and “Photograph” is lacking – “Go Away” is the closest it gets to the best of what once was.

It may leave echoes in your head for days, but the play button untouched