…have I ever done a video on this band before? I feel like I may have mentioned this band once or twice in passing…
Welp, here’s a Black Album review then. Enjoy!
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The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic
Jessica Hopper's music criticism has earned her a reputation as a firebrand, a keen observer and fearless critic not just of music but the culture around it. With this volume spanning from her punk fanzine roots to her landmark piece o... (as of June 25, 2019 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
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Should’ve been titled the grey album tbh
It’s a fine album. I’d probably give it a 7-7.5/10. The only problem I can think of off the top of my head is that most of the songs are too similar. I only listened to it once, the day it came out, so that may effect may thoughts. All the songs that weren’t singles kinda blended to me. I hadn’t even heard California Snow before listening to the black album, so it’s not because of my familiarity with the singles. The only single I listened to before black multiple times was Can’t Knock The Hustle. The California Snow was pretty good in my opinion, which isn’t something you usually hear from people who’ve heard it once. Other than that, it’s pretty solid. I wouldn’t be surprised if I listened to it again. I’m happy I heard it.
So this album is Hurley 2: Revenge of the Meh?
The only review that matters
Piece of Cake is the best song on the album
Very low 3/10 such a big let down for Weezer
Their last 2 albums have felt like deluxe EPs
They are also working on an album that is focused on orchestral elements and it’s called Okay Human, that scares me, I have PTSD from Trė
How does this man not have at least 500k subs.. quality in this videos are top tier
Great review, I actually quite enjoyed it (Compared to whatever the fuck Pacific Daydream was) some songs were pretty good like High As A Kite and Zombie Bastards.
what’s your intro song btw?
Fans crucify rock stars for not being rock enough anymore. Cuomo was probably feeling that when he made that statement.
Yeah, this album was way too poppy to be quote unqoute “dark”. Byzantine is still my favourite song tho
Some article said Pacific Daydream was better than Hurley
my god
6.5 for me
I agree that this is most comparable to Hurley. I think that album’s highs were higher and its lows were lower, while Black stays at a consistent “ok” to me, besides High as a Kite… and Zombie Bastards I guess, which despite having completely ridiculous lyrics I still like for having a nice melody.
For me personally, I do prefer Pacific Daydream to this. I think it was a lot more successful in terms of mainstream pandering radio pop-rock.. which is funny to me, considering Pacific Daydream was made up of songs that were rejected from the Black album.
It makes me sad that Rivers has essentially gone back to his mid-to-late 2000s mindset of shoving out an album a year, when he realized only a few years ago that that was why his material was suffering, and worked for a few years on an album that most of their fans loved.
aw that’s a shame, oh well…
*goes back to listening to Blue, Pinkerton and The White Album 100 more times until the next weezer album drops*
I listened to this album the day it came out. Then I forgot it existed. There’s my review.
I have to disagree on one point. This is tonally consistent with early Weezer. Much more so than Hurley or Raditude. It’s got that slack SoCal, slightly morose beach bum vibe that has often eluded the band. In that way, it works for me. I just wish the songs were a little better 😛
It’s like, how much more black could it be? And the answer is none
Hurley is vastly superior to this hunk. Im guaranteeing Weez’s next release will be White-esque. Rivers knows a certain legion will hate this record. He’s doing this shit on purpose at this point.
Fuck Weezer
And what the fuck is wrong with Laura Jane Grace these days? She throws half her band under the bus, starts a boring as fuck side project, replaces the best bassist AM! has ever had with the douche who quit because she came out as trans, and then writes fucking Byzantine? Get help Laura!
imma like it.
It’s seems less like a “rise and fall,” and more like a “tepid nosedive and middling levitation to shallow air.”
I didn’t think you knew about Sundara Karma they were a band that I was hyped for that gave me something that was really good this year same with Badflower and actually Bring Me The Horizon did the opposite of disappointing me same with Weezer i thought amo and the black album were gonna be bad but I’d say they are both a 3.5/5 and speaking of bands that did the opposite of disappointing me there’s my most played album from last month that I thought was gonna be bad because i hated the lead single and title track when I heard it but it grew on me a few minutes into my second listen and I was really digging it and that album is Berkley’s On Fire by SWMRS and busted also didn’t disappoint me with their album i now have 4 potential best of the year albums and 2 potential worst or mediocre albums
I thought it was good. Just good though. Like “this is disappointing but I still like it” good. It’s definitely upper-mid tier Weezer for me but Blue and White are still my favorites. I think some critics are tearing it apart needlessly but you pretty much summarized my feelings pretty well in this video. Kudos Crash.
I liked all the singles but outside that I found the album to be really bland
Best bit of the album for me was when it ended, Spotify autoplayed Only In Dreams.
I legitimately do not get the hate for Pacific Daydream.. I absolutely love almost all of it to be honest!!
So where would you rank this album? I know it’d probably be around where Hurley and Red Album tank but would you say it’s better than both, worse than both, or better than Red but worse than Hurley? If I re-call you liked Hurley better than Red which is why I put it that way.
The thing is, Rivers want to try to recreate another Pinkerton, but you can’t pull of the raw and self deprecating sadness that came off that album when you don’t even feel how you did back then.
I’d be curious to know which is the laf of a better black album. 🙂
Even new In Flames new album is better than Black Album
Also, am i the only one seeing the joke in cuomo rapping, after they “complained” of hip hop culture on that beach boys song?
The Black Album has good singles but rest is kinda weak. I hate that I’m on fence on this album.
I love pacific daydream. Not really feeling the black album tho. :/
I dont know man, i kinda feel PDD’s lyrics (on my interpretation tho) and melodies.
That covers album is Teal as Hatsune Miku’s hair
Pacific Daydream is worse than Ratitude by a country mile. At least Ratitude is bad in an entertaining way
It’s “This Ain’t It Chief” not Fam.
Get your meme right Crash
I feel like another problem is that there was no real theme throughout the album. Only different states of depression smeared across lyrics.
I somewhat like this album, but honestly if it comes to dark themes, we recently had EWBAITE which felt way more sincere in that department: like Ain’t got nobody and Foolish Father. For the experimenting thing: it’s not that experimental at all. That shouldn’t matter, but they made it such a big selling point. I still enjoy this like I enjoyed Pacific Daydream: as a temporary distraction and completely forgetting about it several months later. Crash is completely right: this is another Hurley.
I actually really liked most of the tracks on here. Favorites being Can’t Knock The Hustle, Zombie Bastards, High as a Kite, I’m Just Being Honest, Byzantine, and California Snow. Other tracks I don’t even think are bad, just not standout stuff. Definitely needed some heavier, crunchy guitar tones and solos, and some of the lyrics suck, but I have been coming back to it quite often since it came out. It’s always fun for me seeing these guys experiment, so I’m looking forward to whatever comes next. 4/5 for me.
Hurley is waaaaaaay better than the Black Album.
To be honest, I want Weezer to split up. The last great album was EWBAITE. Nothing else has been really notable or good…
They are capable of writing good music, but it’s been a while since they write any. At least “Hurley” has “Trainwrecks.” (Thanks for showing off that song.)
With all due respect I disagree with you for the first time ever..Sorry but the Black album is garbage dude. Can’t knock the hustle and High as a kite are they the only songs worthy listening to in my opinion. It comes off very devoid to be honest. As a fan in my 40s who’s been a fan since day one i can’t approve of this or relate to this at all. It’s like Rivers is trying to appeal to high school kids trying to sound like Maroon 5 without the catchy hooks. Their bread and butter is power pop rock with drop D tuning an abundance of guitar, catchy as fuck choruses and beautiful vocal harmonies. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those weezer fans who say everything after Pinkerton is shit. I’ve been ride or die all the way up until the White album, and I have no problem with experimenting with new sounds but this is very synthetic computer generated sounding generic pop. At a time when rock is basically non existent a band like weezer should be carrying the rock banner! Think about it…Besides weezer, Green Day and the Foo Fighters all the great post grunge bands from the mid 90s are gone and basically forgotten. I would go as far to say I don’t wanna let you go from raditude, Haunt you every day from make believe, and the Angel and the one from Red have more emotion and soul and are better songs than anything on this album.
Who would have thought that a covers album and Red would be a lot better than Black and Pacific Daydream? Rivers really let everyone down with his affirmation that this was going be a hard rock album but it’s the same old same old from them. To me, Hurley and Raditude is also a whole lot better than Black and that’s saying something.
At least it’s not completely bad and inconsistent. And now they got that out of their system, maybe guys will write something more significant. I hope and I’ll wait. I still haven’t reached past the White album.