Death to False Metal

Background and recording

Originally known as Odds and Ends, the album was first mentioned by guitarist Brian Bell during the summer of 2008. Vocalist and guitarist Rivers Cuomo states that the tracks are "great songs, great recordings, but for some reason they didn't make the final cut for a record. And like the Alone record, they span a vast period of time from the very beginning of our career in the early '90s right up to the present day."

Frontman Rivers Cuomo considers Death to False Metal to be Weezer's ninth studio album. Band webmaster and historian Karl Koch describes the release differently as "a special album, [...] sort of like Weezer's version of Rivers' Alone records."

The version of "Mykel & Carli" on the iTunes version of the album differs from the previously released version on the "Undone – The Sweater Song" single in 1994 and later the deluxe edition of the band's self-titled 1994 debut. It has been speculated by fans that it is the original 1993 recording of the song from The Blue Album sessions, with the more common previously released version known to have been recorded in the summer of 1994.

The opening track "Turning Up the Radio" is the product of Rivers Cuomo's YouTube songwriting project Let's Write a Sawng.

The cover art for the album mimics that of a religious tract from the Jehovah's Witnesses featuring an artist's impression of a perfect planet Earth.

Reception

According to Metacritic, Death to False Metal has received mixed reviews, receiving an average score of 56/100.

Allmusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying "It's a wonder why a few of these cuts didn't pop up before this, but as a collection of outtakes, they hold together better than some of the band's proper albums." Drowned in Sound gave it a 4 out of 10, calling it "lineage of dumbed down music to even more dumb lyrics", citing songs such as "Blowin' My Stack" and "Trampoline". IGN gave it a 7.5 out of 10, citing "...the album feels a lot more cohesive than similar rarities sets, though a little more diversity would have made for a more interesting listen."

Track listing

All songs written by Rivers Cuomo, except where noted.

1. "Turning Up the Radio" – 3:37 (Rivers Cuomo, Alfredo Robert Carballo, Paul Dutton, Patrick Gannon, Joshua Godinez, Daniel James Kelsch, Reshad Malik, Cameron L. Maris, Sam Mitchell, Taylor Morden, Daniel Powell, Lauren Sonder, Nishant Thakur, Justin Vail, Mike Danger, Kingsly Vanata & Ryan Wiesbrock)
2. "I Don't Want Your Loving" – 3:03
3. "Blowin' My Stack" – 3:44 (Rivers Cuomo, Brian Bell & Scott Shriner)
4. "Losing My Mind" – 4:02
5. "Everyone" – 2:49
6. "I'm a Robot" – 2:31
7. "Trampoline" – 2:45
8. "The Odd Couple" – 3:07
9. "Autopilot" – 2:57
10. "Unbreak My Heart" (originally performed by Toni Braxton) – 4:11 (Diane Warren)

11. "Yellow Camaro" – 1:54 (Brian Bell) [Japan only]
12. "Outta Here" – 2:34

13. "Mykel & Carli" – 3:14 (Previously unused version from the The Blue Album recording sessions)

Personnel

Credits