Album review: Foo Fighters, 'Wasting Light'
2 stars (out of 4)
The biggest surprise of Dave Grohl’s career as a songwriter and band leader came at the very start — when he demonstrated on the Foo Fighters’ 1995 debut that he was more than just one of rock’s best drummers but a decent singer and songwriter. Not great, decent. Ever since he’s been churning out workmanlike albums, brimming with boilerplate arena-rock songs.
On “Wasting Light” (RCA), the band’s first album since 2007, Grohl distills his formula to its leanest essence with the help of some old friends: Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and Husker Du guitarist Bob Mould put in cameos. More crucially, he’s reunited with producer Butch Vig (who, in case you forgot, produced Nirvana’s “Nevermind”). Vig and mixer Alan Moulder give Grohl’s songs a concise punch; each riff, drum fill and chorus is chiseled into a sharp weapon.
The hired guns help trim the fat, but not all the clichés. The songs come in three styles common to all Foo Fighters albums: hardcore punk screed (“White Limo”), streamlined rocker (“Bridge Burning”), melodramatic power ballad (“I Should Have Known”). It’s all competently done, but none of it matches the invention of Grohl’s drumming in the last decade with Queens of the Stone Age, Probot or Them Crooked Vultures. Grohl sings with appropriate desperation, like a man who knows he’s overachieved and is thankful for the opportunity to make the most of it. “I never wanna die,” he wails, but it’s difficult to imagine these songs achieving immortality.
greg@gregkot.com