Review Summary: Identity crisis personified
At this point, who knows what Weezer wants to be anymore❓ They've gone back and forth between rock and straight-forward pop so much that it almost feels like Rivers and company are welcoming some sort of mid-life identity crisis. While
The White Album was a glimmer of more hope after the near-return to form that was
Everything Will Be Alright In The End, which came after nearly a decade of mediocrity (such as
The Red Album) or garbage (
Ratitude, they decided to throw most of it out the window and unleashed
Pacific Daydream upon the world. Is this a problem, you may ask❓
The primary issue is not that
The Black Album is a pop album—the primary issue here is that everything feels so rushed out. Songs such as "Living in LA" give off the impression that they were on the drawing board until they looked good at first glance, while others, such as album opener "Can't Knock The Hustle", sound like they were created in impromptu jam sessions that happened to have been recorded by studio equipment. Rivers' lyrics continue to take a serious decline in quality, which has been an issue affecting the band since
Make Believe:
Stayed up reading Mary Poppins
Overwhelmed by Netflix options
Boy found brains he never knew he had
-"Too Many Thoughts Inside My Head"
She cut me like a piece of cake
Oh, it can drive a man insane
She ate me up
-"Piece of Cake"
Fortunately, for every "Can't Knock The Hustle" there's songs like "California Snow" and "The Prince Who Wanted Everything", which show that there are moments that Weezer did somewhat try with this album; there are good ideas sprinkled about and the
poppy feel just gives them that extra shine that allows them to be the highlights of the album.
By far the standout of
Black is Dave Sitek's production; nothing on the album doesn't feel shiny and processed into oblivion while the instruments are allowed comfortable space to breathe while the mixing does a good job of ensuring that all of them can be heard. Normally, that would probably describe "overproduced", but for the type of album that this is, it's really a better way to execute things in the long run.
That said,
The Black Album, while it does have its moments, generally feels like a rushed product—as if they scrapped whatever they had been working on prior following the surprise success of their cover of "Africa" in an attempt to capitalize on what made said cover so successful. Between this +
Pacific Daydream and
Everything Will Be Alright In The End +
The White Album, Weezer has brought us the sonic representation of an identity crisis. They seem to have no idea what they want to be anymore, but if they're 100% sure want to go in what can basically be described as a straight up electro-pop direction they really need to iron out the kinks seen here, otherwise the hope that
White and
Everything Will Be Alright In The End brought us will vanish, and we'll be back at square one of the root of
Ratitude.
