Weezer Van Weezer LP

Van Weezer, the band's fifteenth studio album, is produced by Suzy Shinn (Panic! At The Disco, Fall Out Boy). The inspiration for this album derives from the deepest roots of Weezer - metal! What has metal got to do with Weezer, you ask? In his earliest years, Rivers was a huge KISS fan; Brian was a big Black Sabbath fan; Pat worshipped at the altar of Van Halen and Rush; Scott loved Slayer and Metallica. The last time this vein of harder rock was mined by Weezer was on their much-loved 2002 album Maladroit; Van Weezer is primed to take that album's sonics many steps further.

The album includes the tracks "The End Of The Game", "Hero", and "Beginning Of The End" from the movie Bill & Ted Face The Music.

Weezer doesn't use the early Van Halen albums as a blueprint so much as they treat the band as their spirit animal, attempting to infuse Weezer's power pop with a dose of reckless abandon. Rivers smartly doesn't attempt to mimic the gonzo showmanship of David Lee Roth; he sticks to his geeky persona, an image that is enhanced, not contradicted, by the overdriven roar of the amplifiers....It also helps that this neo-nostalgia project helps focus Cuomo's songwriting. Working with a rotating cast of collaborators, he remains focused on big hooks, melody, and clever turns of phrases that never are anchored to the past even when they play upon memories. It's a trick that Van Weezer pulls off as a whole: any of its retro origins are washed away by big, dumb sounds that keep the record grounded in the eternal now, an aesthetic choice that also helps the album be a rousing good time.