Foo Fighters’ But Here We Are is Their Best LP in Years: Review

In certainly one of Foo Fighters’ biggest creations, “Occasions Like These,” Dave Grohl wrote in regards to the band’s jagged and unsure future. At its core is a message of acceptance, that our darkest moments can someway be paired with grace, and the dangerous issues that occur to us may give our lives that means.

On However Right here We Are, Foo Fighters’ eleventh album and their first after the 2022 dying of Taylor Hawkins, Grohl is actively wrestling with this concept. Possibly it doesn’t matter that we study to reside and love once more within the face of consuming ache. Possibly none of it issues.

Not solely has the band been very publicly mourning the dying of Hawkins, Grohl has been quietly mourning the dying of his mom, Virgina Grohl, and whereas there was no official announcement, However Right here We Are arrives with a heartfelt dedication to each his bandmate and his mother. All through the album, Grohl ruminates on grief and the messages we inform ourselves — the storm will go, nothing good lasts without end, every part we love will develop previous — however none of it appears to stay.

So Grohl turns towards his bandmates and his household. He doesn’t have any solutions and even any quotable nuggets of knowledge. He’s ceaselessly mired within the trauma of’ dying and the aftermath. The band doesn’t overcompensate with synths or dance beats or a trio of bluesy backing vocalists. They huddle shut collectively and play, they play loudly, with anger and fervour and confusion and desperation. It’s one of the best Foo Fighters album for the reason that flip of the millennium.

Earlier than Hawkins’ dying, Foo Fighters weren’t fairly operating out of steam, however their total creativity was stretching skinny. 2017’s Concrete and Gold and 2021’s Medication At Midnight discovered the band caught within the center, increasing their sound solely in ways in which nonetheless felt snug and secure, by no means actually difficult what a Foo Fighters tune could possibly be. It was the sound of a band who knew that their devoted fanbase wouldn’t bat an eye fixed. They’d nonetheless promote out arenas and garner radio play, their legacy cemented and unchallenged.

Clearly, they’re now a special band. The stakes have modified, the mission altered. However Right here We Are is partly a eulogy for these they’ve misplaced, nevertheless it’s additionally a reminder of this group’s potential. Lots of the songs hearken again to Foo Fighters’ second and third albums, 1997’s The Color and Form and 1999’s There Is Nothing Left To Lose with bitter, grungy guitar chords, extra ambiance within the manufacturing, and a rigidity between Grohl sounding deflated and impassioned.