Two years ago marked the release of the Foo Fighters’ fifth album In Your Honor. Ringleader Dave Grohl said in a past band biography that he hoped it would be the group’s equivalent to Led Zeppelin’s double album Physical Graffiti, released 30 years before. While it didn’t quite measure up to that standard, In Your Honor, was quite possibly the band’s magnum opus at the time.
Despite the fact that it, too, was a double album, it had very little in terms of filler, a characteristic that had plagued previous releases. Grohl re-established himself as a true rock performer on the first disc and proved his consistency as a songwriter and arranger on the mellower, more stripped-down second portion. For the most part, all was well in the land of Foo. The band was at the top of its game, the fanbase was ever-growing and the critics had little to critique.
To top that, Grohl and the gang have quickly resurfaced two years later with album number six, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, and acclaimed producer Gil Norton makes a return appearance behind the controls. Norton, who previously worked with Foo Fighters on their sophomore effort The Colour and the Shape, has also produced Counting Crows and Pixies, among other talented groups.
But here lies the $1 million question: Did they spend enough time on the follow-up to such an acclaimed effort?
Lead-off track “The Pretender” (Have these guys ever heard of Jackson Browne?) is incredibly typical of past Foo album openers and shows the group on auto-pilot.
There’s a quiet, generic guitar melody sans any other instrument with Grohl singing cleanly. Then Taylor Hawkins hits the snare drum four times, and everyone else is off to the races.
It’s harmless enough, and hardcore fans will find the album’s first single pleasing because it sounds like so many other songs the band has recorded. Same tempo, same old song and dance, but it isn’t bad. It’s just another radio-friendly offering from Grohl.
The first two minutes of “Let It Die” are very strong. While the tempo is a little slower on this track, its first few moments begin similarly to “The Pretender,” but this time the melody isn’t so much generic as it is pleasant and refreshing. Even when all the other instruments kick in and the intensity is suddenly raised, the song is easy to get into.
But alas, the plane makes a crash landing as Grohl trades his clean vocals for growls and gruffs in the tune’s closing moments, culminating into an abrupt halt and ending with Grohl screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Oh no, don’t talk about it/ No, please don’t talk about it/ Oh no don’t talk about it/ Not one more word about it/ Oh no, don’t think about it/ No please, don’t think about it/ Oh, please don’t think about it,” Grohl howls in the fairly weak third track “Erase/Replace.” Along with Grohl’s gradually irritating vocals, the melody and chorus are repetitive and not at all different from much of the mediocre material displayed on One By One, the group’s 2002 release.
Fortunately, Grohl calms down a little on “Long Road to Ruin,” but he still has those rough edges in his tone, and it sounds like he’s trying a little too hard to sound tough. Still, the subtle harmonies in the chorus are striking, and this is among the most consistent of the songs found on the Foos’ latest outing.
The skip button comes into play at this point; “Come Alive” sounds like a B-side from the second disc of In Your Honor, “Stranger Things Have Happened” overstays its welcome, and “Summer’s End” sounds like a throwaway from One By One, an already weak album.
Sandwiched between the boredom is “Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make-up is Running).” This is one of the strongest tracks on the album, as guitarist Chris Shifflett and Grohl combine to create nice, sophisticated rhythm guitar work. This is a refreshing rest stop in the middle of a chain of plodding and repetitive Foo schtick.
Let’s give the group a free pass and pretend “The Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners” doesn’t even exist. While this instrumental contains intricate and difficult guitar work, it feels like a last-minute filler. It doesn’t belong with anything else on the album.
Grohl’s piano work comes to the forefront on “Statues,” and the result is one of the strongest songs on the album. We get to hear some tasteful small string arrangements, and the composition overall is very strong. Grohl’s vocals aren’t overly powerful, and everything blends together well.
The remainder of the album is decent enough, but nothing to write home about. “But, Honestly” continues in the same vein as “Let It Die,” only not as strong, while “Home” closes the record on a somber note. It’s a simple little ballad; Grohl is back on the piano, this time with a full string section backing him up. The basic arrangement and instrument selection is reminiscent of “Wake Up Time,” the last track on Tom Petty’s second solo album Wildflowers. Overall, while hardly original, “Home,” is a pleasant and strong closer to an average Foo Fighters record.
Although lacking in consistency in strength, Grohl’s hit-making creation continues to flourish. Die-hard Foo fans should be extremely pleased with Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, but casual fans and unbiased listeners will find little to rave about.
Grohl & Co. have done the responsible and safe thing in catering to their established audience and giving them what they expect, but they’ve done next to nothing in terms of breaking new ground.
Still, they’ve never recorded a bad album up to this point, and this one isn’t any different. If nothing else, there’s just enough strength here to keep the Foo faithful at bay and satisfied for another few years, but it’s unlikely at this rate that their heroes will bother to take many risks in the future.