Weezer - Death to False Metal

Weezer are a band that often split opinion. For some, who were won over by their hook-heavy guitar pop and endearing awkwardness in 1994, they can do no wrong. The early fans think they peaked with Pinkerton and should have left it there. Then there are those that really hate them, like James Burns, who attempted to raise $10million in order to convince the band to call it a day. So the news that Weezer are releasing a rarities album along with a deluxe re-issue of Pinkerton will no doubt be met with both cries of joy and misery. Death to False Metal, unlike most 'rarities' albums, is not just a collection of b-sides and dodgy demos. With nine never-before-heard original tracks and one cover, it's a stand alone album, but, like Weezer's career, it has some awesome highs amid a lot of odd and awkward lows.

The album opens with 'Turning Up the Radio', the result of Cuomo's 2008 YouTube project 'Let's Write a Sawng'. Fifteen people were eventually part of the writing process and I'm afraid it's definitely a case of too many cooks and not a good start for Death to False Metal. It's everything that people hate about Weezer post 2002 and sounds like all those god-awful emo-poppers which Weezer spawned. Luckily, it's followed by 'I Don't Want Your Loving', a classic Weezer-by-numbers track which fans of Maladroit should love.

'Losing My Mind' is an overly emotional song which features some unwelcome violins and makes for a bizarre follow up to the juvenile 'Blowin' My Stack'. 'Everyone' has a strong post-Nirvana feel to it and gets me chanting its repetitive lyrics. Unfortunately, it's then followed by 'I'm a Robot', a song which sounds like Rivers' rejected contribution to a Glee soundtrack. But then comes 'Trampolines' by far the best track on the album and one which could easily have been a hidden track on Pinkerton. 'Odd Couple' opens with the line: "I got a PC/ You got a Mac" and was written and rejected for the awful 2005 album Make Believe - enough said. 'Auto Pilot', with its electronic bleeps and pop-rock guitars, is a song only a truly blinded Weezer fan could love, and then there's the cover of Toni Braxton's 1996 hit 'Un-Break My Heart' which is um… fun?

Let's be honest, as an album this is an un-cohesive mess but it kind of encapsulates Weezer, a band which has given us moments of brilliance and then followed them up with moments of pure agony. Buy it, like it, don't like it… Whatever, because (listen up Burns) Weezer are here to stay. Reliably erratic.