“It got here in a flash — it got here outta nowhere,” Dave Grohl wails over heat-lightning guitars and pummeling drums on the outset of his band Foo Fighters’ eleventh album. Then, he sings a line marked by equal components amazement and remorse: “It occurred so quick/after which it was over,” Grohl yawps, his voice breaking on the ultimate phrase. This summation of life’s brevity and unpredictability is a becoming epigraph for However Right here We Are, the primary Foo Fighters report to be recorded within the wake of two losses Grohl skilled in 2022 — the band’s longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins died whereas the band was touring South America final March, and Grohl’s mom Virginia handed away over the summer season.
However Right here We Are, with its matter-of-fact title, depicts grief in rapid phrases, refusing to sofa the knotty net of emotions conjured by loss in easy-to-hear platitudes. “Somebody mentioned I’ll by no means see your face once more/A part of me simply can’t consider it’s true,” Grohl whisper-sings on “Underneath You,” which whipsaws from brooding thickets of guitar right into a psych-power-pop flashback, then veers into the type of anthemic refrain that the Foo Fighters have stuffed stadiums and pageant fields with for many years. Solely it has a troubling edge: “I’ve been listening to voices,” he sings time and again, earlier than breaking: “None of them are you,” he admits.
Since forming in 1995, Foo Fighters have develop into one among rock’s most dependable acts, commonly releasing albums that introduced the squalls of Nineties alt-rock into the brand new millennium whereas headlining large venues with blistering dwell units tempered by the type of playfulness that may solely come from being on the prime of 1’s sport. However Right here We Are flips the Foo Fighters script in a approach, sorting by the fallout of what occurs when issues get fully unpredictable — when the individuals who have been threads in your day-to-day’s cloth get pulled out all of the sudden and cruelly. It possesses a vitality that in a way is predicted given the occasions that transpired earlier than its launch, however its refusal to take the straightforward route round grief makes its drum fills (performed by Grohl in his first return behind the package on a Foos album since 2005) land with extra depth and its guitar slashes, a few of which recall Nineties left-of-the-dial darlings, hit tougher. Even the extra subdued tracks just like the swirling “Present Me How,” which is leavened by Grohl’s daughter Violet’s lilt, have an urgency to them that makes However Right here We Are an immersive pay attention.
The final two tracks are notably gripping. “The Trainer” is a 10-minute mini-epic that opens with gnarled riffs then steadily positive factors momentum right into a decided perpetual-motion machine of galloping drums and ringing guitar chords, taking a breath to survey what’s been misplaced earlier than launching itself again into heavy riffage, Grohl keening “goodbye” in a strangled voice because the music turns into an increasing number of distorted, the degrees maxing out. It stops abruptly and is, after a breath, adopted by “Relaxation,” an exquisite elegy that crests right into a soothing cacophony: “Relaxation, you possibly can relaxation now/ Relaxation, you can be protected now,” Grohl bellows because the chaos as soon as once more threatens to overhaul the audio system — till the noise cuts out, leaving Grohl alone along with his grief and love, envisioning his dreamlife’s hopes for seeing his family members once more.
Coping with loss has confounded philosophers and psychologists for eons. On However Right here We Are, Grohl has laid out one approach to take care of this advanced matrix of emotion: You snarl and thrash and bang towards no matter darkness might encroach upon you, drawing on the raw-nerve currents coursing by your veins to show simply how important life will be.
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