Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace

by Simon T Diplock

Grohl and co. remember how to rock

"These are songs that sound like they’re being played by men who’ve had enough of the soft stuff and want to be a balls-out rock’n’roll band again."

Foo Fighters have been lazy. Oh sure, they’ve made it sound like they were working hard - 02s ‘One By One’ threw up at least three killer tracks and 18 months ago, double-disc ‘In Your Honour’ combined quantity with quality, but one listen to the opening rally of songs here and it’s clear just how slack they’ve been, and for just how long.

Opener and first single ‘The Pretender’ adds guts and gusto to the Foos formula, loud and proud but still wrapped in a chart-safe security blanket. ‘Let It Die’ starts slow but has more fire in its belly than any group on their sixth studio album should and just try getting the call-and-response vocals and serpentine riffs of ‘Erase Replace’ off repeat in your brain. These are songs that will sound amazing in the live arena, songs that could eat turgid crap like ‘Learn To Fly’ for breakfast and songs that sound like they’re being played by men who’ve had enough of the soft stuff and want to be a balls-out rock’n’roll band again.

The big, stormy climaxes of ‘Come Alive’ and ‘Cheer Up Boys…’ keep the blood pumping, ‘Long Road To Ruin’ is a melodic riff-a-thon that’s bound to become a permanent part of the Foo’s live show and if you were expecting an album influenced by last year’s acoustic forays then the build and release of ‘But Honestly’ will send your brain into shock. In short, ‘Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace’ is the most consistently powerful thing this band have done in ten years.

It’s not all pedal to the metal stuff though. ‘Come Alive’ is a beautiful, catchy break after that thunderous introduction, ‘Home’ is a truly tender piano tune and Dave Grohl clearly snores better hooks and melodies than other bands pen in an entire career if he’s willing to let the duelling guitars of ‘The Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners’ fly by in two captivating minutes.

Okay, so a heavy dose of vitality and volume aside there are really no alarms and no surprises here. And yes, ‘Echoes…’ is just another Foo Fighters record - mostly killer, a little filler - but it doesn’t half sound hearty, healthy and even more alive than what’s come before. And it brilliantly captures a band on form, back on their toes, and remembering how to rock too. Wonderful.

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