Weezer - Hurley

3.0

0.0 (0)

You know something's up with cover art down at the label marketing department when they have to take a picture of the CD jewel case with the cover art to sell that it's an album and not some famous dude's face. Welcome to Weezer's new album Hurley.

Yep, that's TV-series Lost character 'Hurley' (played by actor Jorge Garcia) on the front.

Less than 9 months after their last, very ordinary, release, Raditude, which itself capped off a glorious run of not-too-inspiring albums on the Geffen/Interscope label since the famous 'Weezer (green)' album, Rivers Cuomo's Weezer have released their latest long-player, Hurley on new independent label Epitaph. A bold move for both band and label as Epitaph is known for it's harder edge rock music, and perhaps that's influenced Weezer to eek out of their era of mediocrity with a solid, and unexpected here for us here at triplew.me, return to some quality.

While it's no Pinkerton or Blue, it's a solid, chugging, lyrically-clever offering from Cuomo and friends. Kicking off with the raucous 'Memories', the album dips and dives in traditional Weezer 'get-it-done quick, but clever' style, through the rolling Ruling Me which sounds like it could've been lifted off the Green album.

Lyrically, Cuomo is back on form as well, with songs such as the rocky Trainwrecks and Unspoken remind us of the simple wit, charm and observational qualities that Weezer are capable of. By far, the highlight on the album is Run Away, co-written by Ryan Adams. Brave New World is another standout.

Although it's a marked improvement on anything Weezer has produced for a long time, it's still lacking in something, and maybe that's just the selfish nostalgia of this reviewer. It is good, and if you're a Weezer fan, you'll love it. If you've not been in Weezer-world before, listen to Pinkerton or Blue and start from there. Or at the very least, get this one and ignore the last few years.

WEEZER - 'MEMORIES'

Editor review

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