As is the case with most everything Weezer has done since regrouping in 2000 after a nearly four-year hiatus, last year's odds and ends collection, (originally titled Odds and Ends) Death to False Metal is a bit of a mixed bag. There's some great songs here, along with some mediocre ones, and some really, really bad ones that drag the record down as a whole.

"I Don't Want Your Lovin'", originally a somber piano ballad on Songs from the Black Hole, retooled here as a pop-rock powerhouse, is an example of the good, and would have ranked among the better songs on The Green Album. "Turning Up the Radio" and "Blowin' My Stack" are decent enough; the lyrics are nowhere near the greatness of the Blue/Pinkerton era, but they sure beat the hell out of "Can't Stop Partying".

"Trampoline" is the high point of Death to False Metal, and shows that frontman Rivers Cuomo is still capable of writing a good song–he just chooses not to, which is best exemplified by the electronic-driven "Autopilot" and "Odd Couple". They sound like third-rate sequels to Styx's "Mr. Roboto" and, quite frankly, make "Beverly Hills" sound like "Only in Dreams". Also, covering Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart" was an absolutely terrible idea in the first place, but closing the record with it? Yeesh.

Death to False Metal came hot on the heels of Weezer's Epitaph debut, which, much like this record, had some great songs surrounded by a whole lot of filler. Hurley itself came out barely a year after its predecessor, Raditude, which came out a little more than a year after their self-titled Red Album affair. Among those four releases, there's a great album. Cuomo just needs to realize that not every idea deserves to be recorded, and that great albums take time. If he would actually take some time and put some thought into his craft, he could put out something worth listening to in its entirety again, but as Weezer already intend to have another studio album out this year, it appears that won't be the case. Oh well.