After a four-year hiatus, the longest in the band's 16-year career, the Foo Fighters are back. Their seventh album, entitled "Wasting Light," is full of hard- rocking, head-banging, typical -Foo-Fighters-sounding anthems that highlight the sounds of past albums.
Not only was the album recorded in lead singer Dave Grohl's garage using only analog equipment, "Wasting Light" marks the first time since Nirvana's 1991 breakthrough album "Nevermind" that Grohl and famed record producer Butch Vig have worked together.
Also, guitarist Pat Smear is listed as an official member of the band in the liner notes of the album for the first time since the Foos' 1997 release, "The Colour and the Shape."
The album opens with heavy, distorted guitars, followed by an epic signature Grohl scream that marks the beginning of "Bridge Burning." This song sets the mood of the rest of the tracks on the album. It is the loud, in-your-face rock music that every Foos enthusiast has missed.
"Rope," the first single off of "Wasting Light," has been atop both the Billboard rock and alternative rock charts for six weeks. The song is the perfect radio single; it has one of the catchier hooks on the album, and drummer Taylor Hawkins shows off his drumming skills with a forceful solo halfway through.
The sixth track on the album, "These Days," stands out most, having qualities, both musically and lyrically, that would fit in perfectly on an older Foo Fighters album such as "The Colour and the Shape." The anthem-like chorus is the largest out of any song on the album.
"A Matter of Time," one of the heavier songs on the album, sounds like it would fit so perfectly on the band's 2005 release "In Your Honor" that it would be shocking if it was not written earlier in the bands career and is just now making an appearance two albums later.
The album's title comes from the chorus of the eighth track, "Miss the Misery." Behind the crunchy, dueling guitar chords of Chris Shiflett and Smear, Grohl yells "Don't waste your time / you're wasting light" in the chorus, marking the album's climax. This track will be the favorite for enthusiast of very early Foos material.
Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic makes an appearance on the track "I Should Have Known." Although Grohl has consistently denied speculations that many Foos songs are about his past experiences in Nirvana, in particular his friendship with Kurt Cobain, the lyrics in "I Should Have Known" can be interpreted in exactly that way, with Grohl singing "I should have known that it would end this way / I should have known there was no other way" in the closest thing to a ballad on the album.
"Wasting Light" ends powerfully with the song "Walk." The band played it recently on Saturday Night Live, which may be a sign that it will be the next single off of the album. This track and "These Days" have similar minor key guitar parts.
The perfect ending to a perfect album that declares the return of one of the biggest rock bands in the world makes its mark as Grohl declares, "Forever and ever I never wanna die" in this masterpiece's closing minutes.
"Wasting Light" album is second only to "The Colour and the Shape" as the Foo's best work. After a long break, Grohl and the gang have returned to their roots, with a heavier sound and more energy than ever.
Nicholas Parco can be reached at nicholas.parco@student.shu.edu.
