Weezer have had an insane couple of years. Their return to hyper-relevancy was low-key unexpected, but nonetheless fascinating to watch.

Their maintenance of this return to the spotlight feels meticulously designed and a little crass: After a petition-inspired “Africa” cover became their biggest hit in years, they recruited “Weird Al” Yankovic to parody their own “Undone” video, dropped a surprise covers album called The Teal Album, released another video starring Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard as a young Rivers Cuomo, and recently shared yet another video parodying Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. In an era where rock nostalgia and memes reign supreme, Cuomo and company have been successful at merging those currents, sometimes at the apparent cost of whatever dignity they have left.

Now to find out if they can maintain similar public interest with their own songs. Weezer swivel back to original material today with The Black Album, the latest in their long-running series of color-themed LPs (and the latest in a long history of artists releasing albums called The Black Album).

As indicated by the array of advance singles, the new album is unmistakably Weezer yet offers a new palette of sounds. A blend of pillar-sized guitars with synths and other previously unexplored avenues adds up to a weirdly exploratory record. We’ve heard the first four tracks on the album already, along with the head-scratching EDM-laced “California Snow” from the Spell soundtrack. The rest of the album also embraces this bizarre jauntiness. For example, “Byzantine” sounds like a classic elevator tune, but harks back to some of that spicy mariachi flavor found on the album’s opener, “Can’t Stop The Hustle.” It’s weird, and honestly feels like a less self-aware version of the self-parody they’ve been serving up lately.

Cuomo started hyping up The Black Album three years ago, and I can’t say for certain whether it’s lived up to those high expectations. Weezer is just one of those bands — they’re so debatable that SNL did a whole sketch a few months ago about the quality of their post-Pinkerton discography. Hear the The Black Album below, then hit the comments section to discuss whether it’s exciting or terrifying that they already have two more new albums in the works.

Weezer (The Black Album) is out now on Crush Music/Atlantic Records.