“AIR-GUITARING WITH YOUR HEADPHONES ON!”

On the new Weezer album – knowingly titled Van Weezer – the alt-rock stars are channelling classic Van Halen, working the whammy bar and recycling riffs from Crazy Train and Enter Sandman. As TG’s Grant Moon notes: “They’re turning the gain up full here...”

- Grant Moon

Led by singer/ guitarist Rivers Cuomo, alt-rockers Weezer first made their mark with their 1994 self-titled album and college radio hits such as Buddy Holly, Say It Ain’t So and, later, Island In The Sun. Theirs is a glossy, crunchy and highly listenable hybrid of pop and rock, with Cuomo a naturally talented performer and songsmith. And yet, for all their indie-cool, Weezer are an eclectic bunch. Their proud affection for the harder rock they grew up with is there in the fuzzy tones of 2002 LP Maladroit, and their irony-free versions of Toto’s Africa and Black Sabbath’s Paranoid on their 2019 covers album, titled simply Weezer but better known as ‘The Teal Album’. And while the band’s first new album of 2021, OK Human, is a beautiful and mellow masterclass packed with strings and piano, they’re turning the gain up full here on Van Weezer.

Despite its title, this album is not simply homage to Van Halen– more a celebration of the strand of 80s rock that Eddie and the boys ignited. Cuomo, co-guitarist Brian Bell, bassist Scott Shriner and drummer Patrick Wilson still sound like Weezer, but pump up their work with some 80s guitar tone, heft, and attitude. That said, the opener definitely does channel VH themselves: