Issue date: 9/25/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Jocelyn McGregor Foo fighters gets five stars [Click to enlarge]

It seemed that the only thing the Foo Fighters have been fighting against over the past decade was fading into obscurity. Their most recent releases, including 2005's double CD "In Your Honor," failed to live up to the media hype. By far, the best songs on those albums were the songs that were released as singles.

For their sixth album, "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace," the Foo Fighters have once again teamed up with producer Gil Norton, whom they last worked with on their groundbreaking album, 1997's "The Colour and the Shape." Perhaps this reunion was just what the Foo Fighters needed to successfully return to form.

As the Foo Fighters demonstrate on their latest musical effort, they are still capable of writing music that adolescents and adults alike can enjoy and relate to, despite the fact that the members - guitarist and vocalist Dave Grohl, guitarist Chris Shiflett, bassist Nate Mendel and drummer Taylor Hawkins - are all rapidly approaching the age of 40.

"Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" is the most eclectic collection of Foo Fighters songs to date but, unlike previous records, it maintains a comfortable and sensible flow from high-energy, head-banging rock to emotional, cathartic ballads. And best of all, it doesn't take them two albums to get their point across.

The first single off the album is "The Pretender," a rip-roaring rocker of a tune that should be played loud enough to piss off your neighbors in order to achieve full effect.

The guitar solos on this album have reached new levels for the Foo Fighters. "Long Road to Ruin" feels like a classic rock song from the 1970s and features the best guitar solo of the album to boot. At a close second best, "Stranger Things Have Happened" is a simplistic acoustic song that starts off feeling like a blues song. Here, Grohl sings and plays along with Shiflett to the beat of a metronome. This song will have you mesmerized from start to finish.

If you are looking for Grohl to make some kind of poignant statement in his lyrics, don't be fooled by the title of "Cheer Up Boys (Your Makeup is Running)." It may seem like Grohl's message to the "emo" scene, but it really has nothing to do with that.

This poignant statement you desire can be found on "Let It Die." The song starts off slow with acoustics but eventually bursts into a wave of heavy drums, blaring guitars, and Grohl's emphatic screams. Though he has kept mum about the true meaning of the song, Grohl seems to have used it as a means of finally making a statement about the tragic death of former Nirvana band mate Kurt Cobain, with the following lyrics:

"A simple man and his blushing bride / Intravenous, intertwined / Hearts gone cold, your hands were tied / In too deep and out of time / Why'd you have to go and let it die?"

This is one of the most interesting tracks on the album just for its sheer significance to the history of rock music as a song about Cobain, written by his former band mate and friend. Even more interesting is that "Let It Die" sounds eerily like an acoustic Nirvana song.

Other gems on "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" include the classic rock-sounding "Statues," the energetic, acoustic "But Honestly," and the piano ballad "Home," which features some of Grohl's most emotional lyrics on the entire album.

If anything negative can be said about this album it is that a few of the songs feature the same tired, worn-out song structure that the Foo Fighters have used on their past few albums; the song starts off slow and builds until it is rolling on all cylinders by the end. In the past, this format might have led listeners to push the "next" button before hearing the best part of the song. Although that is not the case here (the slow build actually makes those songs better), I would rather see the Foo Fighters put out more non-stop rock hits like "Monkey Wrench" than slow-building songs like "Best of You."

"The Colour and the Shape" was a huge hit for the Foo Fighters in 1997. The follow-up of "There Is Nothing Left to Lose" two years later was just OK. Everything since then was just a disappointment which is why I expected "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" to be equally disappointing. However, this album is a pleasant surprise. If you have been waiting for another "The Colour and the Shape," this is about as close as you will get.

"Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" has a classic feel about it. It is definitely one of those albums that you can listen to in its entirety, and it doesn't require that you listen to it multiple times before deciding if you like it or not. Instead, it is one of those rare albums that you listen to and quickly learn to love. It's one of those albums that you know you will listen to a year from now and reminisce about what was going on in your life when you first heard it. It's one of those albums that it is so rare today, that you are better off owning every song, and not just downloading the single from iTunes.

It seems that the Foos have finally learned that it's better to burn out than to fade away.

Brandon Fleshman can be reached at bfleshman@statehornet.com

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