Death to False Metal? Sounds good to me

Mixed-bag releases are notoriously rough in quality. Taking the odds and ends that didn't make official releases often opens up listeners to material that supports the initial decision not to release it.

Surprisingly enough, that isn't the case with Weezer.

Though fans have found just about every Weezer release since the group's debut to be a disappointment in some form or another (yes, even "Pinkerton" had its haters), the releases of the last few years have especially taken hard hits (starting with "Red," then moving on to "Raditude" and "Hurley").

While I really enjoyed "Red" and "Raditude," I was initially disappointed by "Hurley." I eventually warmed to the album, but I'm by no means an enthusiastic fan of that album.

So when "Death to False Metal" was announced, I was pretty skeptical. And there are moments on this album that definitely drag. By this point, I understand that Rivers Cuomo is nostalgic about the 1980s and 1990s (he's written a song about that feeling a few times now), so "Turn Up the Radio" walks on familiar ground. But it's the Youtube project that was going on around the time of "Red," so I guess it at least gives fans the final product of that venture.

The only other song that doesn't do much for me is "Trampoline." It's not a bad song, it's pretty inoffensive, it's just got very little to it.

The rest of the album I find myself enjoying quite a bit. My favorites are "Blowin' My Stack" (especially the "it makes me feel good" hook), "The Odd Couple" (with it's cool rhythm and backing vocal parts) and "Autopilot" (it has a heavy synth sound that works for it, and the amusing "it's pissin' me off" lyric).

The cover of Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart" is pretty enjoyable, provided that you aren't already a hater of the song. The Weezer arrangement is pretty faithful to the original, and Rivers provides a nice angsty vocal to compliment it.

I find that this disc has enough pleasant moments and fun spots to warrant repeat listens, and I've given it a spin a few times a week since its original release. With music ranging from the hiatus between "Pinkerton" and "Green" to right up to the modern Weezer era, the variety makes "Death to False Metal" a worthy addition to any fan's collection.

Rather than finding any fault with the variety or the quality, the album hangs together as a worthy release in its own right. It doesn't feel like a disjointed compilation of different sounds ... It's a fun disc, one that unbiased listeners who give it a chance will likely appreciate.