Grade: 71/100
Don’t get me wrong; I love what Dave Grohl has done for rock ‘n roll. I love it a lot. I’ve been a fan of his work since before his tenure as Nirvana’s drummer, when he was the drummer for the seminal Virginia hardcore punk band Scream in the the ‘80s.
Unfortunately, Grohl’s now 20-year-old band Foo Fighters has been unable to make a serious splash in music since 2001’s “One by One.” Even then, Grohl’s work sounded recycled and overworked. The same goes for his band’s latest release, “Sonic Highways.”
Though Foo Fighters has maintained a longtime following since 1996’s “The Colour and the Shape,” it would appear that on this album, the quintet wants to continue riding the wave that resulted from “Everlong.”
“Sonic Highways” reinforces my fear that Grohl, who has years of artistic potential both behind and ahead him, refuses to let go of his youth. This doesn’t necessarily mean that he should accept his older age as a limitation. Rather, it should signal a time for transformation.
It is extremely shocking for me to find “The Colour and the Shape,” an album that was released when Grohl was all of 28. There is no reason why Grohl should sound as stagnant as he does on this new album. Before “Sonic Highways” was released, Grohl heavily publicized a corresponding HBO documentary series of the same name that catalogs major American cities of musical influence.
Despite the series, one of the few redeeming qualities of “Sonic Highways” is the fact that the album is only eight songs long. Sadly, this is one of the unfortunate cases where a short album does not translate as a constructive restriction. On the contrary, “Sonic Highways” comes off as a glorified EP with little to no growth in the way of songwriting.
“Sonic Highways” falls flat on my ears. As a fan of Nirvana, Foo Fighters and Grohl himself, I can only hope that the artist, who is still quite young for his career’s length, can bounce back and reevaluate what it is he can actually do when behind the microphone.