Twenty-three years after Weezer released their critically-acclaimed debut title album, better known as the Blue Album, the Los Angeles alternative rock band has put out their most disappointing project to date, Pacific Daydream.

In the mid-1990s Weezer, consisting of lead singer Rivers Cuomo, drummer Patrick Wilson, guitarist Brian Bell and bassist Scott Shriner, grew to immense popularity after their first albums, 1994’s The Blue Album and 1996’s Pinkerton, became two of the most popular alternative rock albums of the decade. The band went on a three-year hiatus in 1997 and couldn’t seem to regain the magic they had with their first two LPs, putting out nine underwhelming albums from 2000-2014. The band seemingly fell off the music map.

  Pacific Daydream is the follow up to Weezer’s 2016’s successful “comeback album,” the White Album, but Pacific Daydream is another forgettable Weezer album that blends in with most of the mediocre albums put out by the band for over a decade.

The album opens with a slick and thumping Summer anthem called “Mexican Fender,” and it is the best track on the whole album. The lyrics are a call-back to the band’s first projects with the flare of their new music. This is a song most listeners will enjoy and the way it hits the ear is reminiscent of classic Weezer. The track is the first and only bright spot on the record.

The following track, “Beach Boys,” is the most pop-influenced song on the album with the sound obviously being heavily borrowed from The Beach Boys. It sounds like something that would be heard on a beach, but the song is the last worthwhile track on the album. The song is fun and its bright flowing sound really pulls it together, but the track feels like it’s missing something. It’s lively, but it just doesn’t pull you in.

The third track, “Feels Like Summer,” sounds closer to a cover of a Maroon 5 song rather than an original track. The song is so production heavy that Cuomo’s smooth vocals get lost in the obscure beat of the song. Just this song drives home the idea that the band has lost their identity completely.

Every track after “Feels Like Summer” sounds about the same. “Happy Hour” lacks energy, but isn’t mellow enough to be a real emotional track.

“Weekend Woman,” as the fifth track, should be the peak of the album, but this song falls flat. It’s bland, boring and blends into the rest of the album’s poor lineup.

At this point all hope that there would be another redeemable song on Pacific Daydream had been lost, but “QB Blitz” blindsides the listener. The track is a surprising gem with a clean flow, but still only seems as such when compared to the rest of the album.

The rest of the album is skippable. Pacific Daydream ends on a low note with the song “Any Friend of Diane’s” –another generic pop anthem to close on a really bad album.

Pacific Daydream is a disappointing follow up to one of the best Weezer records in some time. Everything sounds the same and despite a strong start, the album quickly mushes to the point where you don’t know where one song ends and where the other begins.

Weezer has put out really good records and some duds and Pacific Daydream just seems like another forgettable mistake. It just doesn’t meet the high standard that the band set for itself with their last album. 

2018’s highly-anticipated Black Album will be the deciding factor to cement Weezer’s comeback or if it will just be another mediocre entry to the dry side of the band’s discography. Maybe Weezer will bounce back and put out some more good albums in the future like they’ve proved they can do, but Pacific Daydream is not going to be the building block the band so desperately needed.