Score: 8.5

Rivers Cuomo and his band of grungy men have been in the fight for a long time, but since their stellar 1994 self-titled debut album and sophomore-slump-turned-underappreciated-classic “Pinkerton,” the group has done more falling into punches than rolling with them.

After landing at the top of the world with the 2001 smash hit “Island In The Sun,” Weezer has been engaged in a largely uphill battle against irrelevance. The clumsy 2005 single “Beverly Hills” and a failed grasp at attention in the form of 2008’s “Hurley” album, named after the “Lost” character whose mug is perplexingly featured on the cover, were likely the dying breaths of a veteran band tired of grasping at what they could no longer reach.

In 2012, it seemed Weezer was ready to pack their bags and sail off into the sunset, figuratively and literally, when they announced the Weezer Cruise, a small rock festival that took place aboard a Carnival cruise ship en route to Cozumel from Miami.

But here’s the thing: the lineup was actually good. The Antlers, Dinosaur Jr., Wavves and other culturally pertinent groups joined Weezer on the high seas. Could this mean that Weezer Cruise was more than a nautical greatest hits tour? Was Weezer trying to become relevant by association?

Possibly. They were playing new songs and… they were good. In the months leading up to their latest album, “Everything Will Be Alright In The End,” they released sneak peeks that, for the first time in a long time, made optimism an appropriate reaction to a new Weezer release.

Then the album was made available for free streaming about a week ago. People beyond “Blue Album” enthusiasts just coming to after being comatose since 1994 were excited. The record is a worthwhile addition to a lengthy discography, an awaited peak that caps off a long, deep valley.

They swallowed their pride. Instead of trying to break new ground and push artistic boundaries, they took another lap on a well-worn track and got back to a sweater-like comfort.

Cuomo did little to hide this mindset. In fact, lead single “Back To The Shack” is basically a mission statement, aesthetically and lyrically. Cuomo sings the opening lines: “Sorry guys, I didn’t realize that I needed you so much / I thought I’d get a new audience, I forgot that disco sucks / I ended up with nobody and I started feeling dumb / Maybe I should play the lead guitar and Pat should play the drums.”

In an age of ambiguous, vague lyricism, it’s not possible to be more direct than that. Except it is, as the first half of the chorus goes, “Take me back, back to the shack / Back to the start with the lightning strap / Kick in the door, more hardcore / Rockin’ out like it’s ’94.” Cuomo borrowed the doc’s DeLorean and went back to grab the sludgy guitars, anthemic solos, poppy hooks and youthful vibrancy that mid-20’s Rivers so readily flaunted.

Perhaps, though, Weezer isn’t going back to the future as much as they are going forward to the past. The three-part suite that closes the album, collectively known as “The Futurescape Trilogy,” is almost a direct tribute to the rousing and uplifting “Only in Dreams,” the closing track of their debut, with bits of the 2008 multi-movement adventure “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)” thrown in.

Together, “I. The Wasteland,” “II. Anonymous” and “III. Return to Ithaka” is Weezer at as creative, entertaining, and listenable a level as they’ve ever been, which is an accolade for a group with a career as filled with pinnacles as theirs has been, and a refreshing surprise for a band that hasn’t been worthy of praise this high in over a decade.

Weezer is back. They had to go back to come back, but it seems that, finally, time is once again on their side.