Foo Fighters - ‘Wasting Light’ Review

The music publications online and on glossy paper have built this up as far as they can, but is it just Wasting Money?

It’s fair to say that Foo Fighters are one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Amongst the steaming piles of shitty chart music these days, an absolutely colossal release has been thrust upon us ‘good’ music fans (ooof, how horribly narrow minded of me…though face it, if you disagree, you can run off right now and carry on sucking the dicks of your favourite ‘superstars’ such as Tinie Tempah and that other black guy that can’t sing but sounds okay auto-tuned and is somehow able to get away with essentially releasing the same song 3 times, or that other guy like that but is part of a group, or that blonde woman who does the exact same thing) for us to marvel at and thank the gods of all things rock music for. The hype surrounding this album has been pretty immense; once Dave Grohl picked up NME’s Godlike Genius award, the hype train just kept on speeding up. Perfect then, because he’s not only an incredible musician, but also a damn good bloke to boot. Lovely stuff. For a band with seven albums to their name, they’ve not actually been around for as long as you may expect but with Wasting Light, Dave Grohl’s men produce a record with a sound that befits an older, relic of a band from a previous era. A band that’s not decrepit, limp and past its best on stage though, no no no – a band that seriously knows how to rock the fuck out of an arena, stadium, or…garage? In fact, this is almost certainly Foo Fighters’s heaviest outing yet. The energy is near constant, and you probably won’t be disappointed to hear that none of the tracks found on Wasting Light will be anything near the style of music found on disc 2 of In Your Honor. Not that it was bad, but 95% of Foo Fighters fans would tell you that the band are at their best when they’re loud, so it’s quite fitting then that this may very well be their best record yet, as well as their heaviest. Though in terms of songwriting Wasting Light may be standard fare, without any real concept or intent immediately screaming out at the listener other than ‘FUCKING LISTEN TO THIS, BITCH’, there seems to have been a rather refreshing change in direction for Foo Fighters. It’s not particularly drastic, but it really suits them. The entire album was recorded and mixed in Dave Grohl’s home, with studios and hi-tech touching up effects mostly snubbed. It’s all been done in good old analogue cassette based fashion. Wonderful. It still sounds just like an album that you’d expect from Foo Fighters, but there’s now something very wholesome and…traditional about it all. This record feels like an offering to the gods of rock. If you’ve opened your eyes you’ll also have found that the cover art seems to mirror this trend. How ‘70s is that?! Let’s focus on the music itself though, and not the pretty, Kaleidoscope-esque colours.

Worth the wait? Categorically YES.

‘Bridge Burning’ opens the album, and you may very well recognise it. It’s the song that was used as a 30 second long teaser for Wasting Light a while back, and from talking to people at the time, it certainly made a good impression (‘THESE ARE MY FAMOUS LAST WOOOOOORDS!’). This lyric is in fact the very first line of the song, and I can’t help but hope that after hearing ‘Bridge Burning’ (and the other 10 songs on Wasting Light) they will in fact not be Grohl’s last words spearheading Foo Fighters. I can taste a little bit of Them Crooked Vultures in the verses, and a lot of the Foo Fighters flavour that you know and love in the chorus (as well as the verses). This song shouldn’t be described – it should be listened to several times and appreciated. It seriously rocks. It takes a lot to say that, knowing how cringeworthy it sounds, so that shows just how good this opening track really is. It’s got an excellent riff, sing-along vocals, quick drumming, classic Foo Fighters style chords and harmonies and a great structure with a great intro and a decent ending. No other song will be analysed in as much depth as Bridge Burning, because personally, I think it’s the standout track of the album. Don’t be downhearted though, reader! The rest of the album is (mostly) excellent.

Next up is ‘Rope’, the lead single from the album. I’m not going to lie, when I first listened to ‘Rope’ I wasn’t very impressed. I certainly never thought it was anywhere near bad, but it did very little for me. A bit average. I can now since change that opinion, and drastically so. After being given a few repeats, ‘Rope’ hits me. It’s a fantastic track, and as I sit here writing about it I may even turn my back on a previous statement and tell you that it’s the strongest song on the album…maybe. The chorus is to die for, it really is. The Bonham-esque drum fills found towards the end of the track before the shrill guitar solo certainly go down well too. If this isn’t stadium rock at its finest, then I don’t know what is. This song simply deserves to be played loud and in front of thousands of people. Perhaps Foo Fighters played Wembley too soon? (Fret not, Muse have gigged the stadium twice; in 2007 and 2010). ‘Rope’ is a brilliant single, and its UK Chart peak of #22 does not do it any justice at all. I really can’t get enough of this song.

The third track of the album is a cover of Steady As Sh-…is called ‘Dear Rosemary’, and it owns a beat that has definitely already been made familiar by The Raconteurs. I guess it’s difficult to plagiarise a drum beat, and if anyone can be let off a small crime like this it’d have to be Foo Fighters (even if it’s of course Taylor Hawkins and not Dave Grohl rocking the sticks). ‘Anthemic’ would probably be the best way to describe this song. It doesn’t do anything different from what you’d expect the Foo Fighters to do, but yet again you’ll find yourself thinking that the song is perfectly suited to the stadium environment – which is why I’m scared of the prospect of several American garages being completely blown apart by the untetherable sound of the Foo’s decibel hogging amplified sound waves. The fact that it’s a duet with Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü and Sugar) is a nice touch too.

Picking the pace up again is ‘White Limo’, which rolls in with churning intent. It’s not screamo as such, but the vocals are distorted and are perhaps screamed a little bit from time to time… ‘White Limo’ looks better than it sounds. Not that it sounds bad, but it just has a rather good video. A very good one. Imagine the members of the band being driven around in a white limo by none other than Motorhead’s Lemmy. Enough said. Unfortunately though, without the video to accompany it ‘White Limo’ does fall down a little bit. It’s gives you the hook (a nice dirty riff at that) and never really does anything with it, forcing you to bear the repetition for what approaches 3 and a half minutes. A weak point for the album.

Mmmmm, here comes a good one. ‘Arlandria’ slows down the tempo a little bit again, but not the volume. Wearing its big intro with pride, it will march through your ears into the specific section of your mind which saves sections of songs and recites them over and over again until you begin to sing along in public, regardless of where you are or what the time is. I think what I’m trying to say is that ‘Arlandria’ is catchy as hell. It’s certainly a suitable contender for the second single from Wasting Light, if the radio stations are lucky enough to get one. For reasons I’m as yet unsure of, the lyric “shame shame go away” struck me as a good one, and if “you and what army? Arlandria” doesn’t creep into your mind and loop itself round and round, drilling into the core, I’m not sure what will. That little ‘cha cha cha’ drum section gets my hand moving every time too – not like that though, despicable-minded reader! I only use my ears to appreciate the music. I love this song. Period. How American of me! Full stop.

‘These Days’ is the next to enter the fray, and I find that there’s very little to say about it. It’s a little more melodic than previous tracks on the album (certainly the scruffy ‘White Limo’). I just can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu with this song. It’s way too familiar for my liking, but I just can’t quite pinpoint which Foo Fighters songs it sounds similar to. If anyone thinks they know, I’d love to hear from you. Not a bad song, but from the start I’ve had ‘These Days’ marked down as utterly missable. A bit of a dip in form for Wasting Light.

The heaviness picks itself back up again for ‘Back & Forth’ and its obvious sexual themes. I mean, seriously? Doesn’t bother me though, sex goes pretty damn well with rock. Just ask Anthony Kiedis, or read his autobiography… ‘Back & Forth’ regurgitates some of catchiness of ‘Arlandria’, because my God is this song fun to listen to – especially in the chorus. It even comes packaged with a neat little guitar solo too, which works very well. Definitely a highlight of the album, and will probably be one of the tracks with the highest play counts a few months after you first listen to the album in full. We don’t know who Mr Grohl is looking for “back and forth” with, but judging by the infectious vocals we can probably guess the ending of this particular tale…

‘A Matter Of Time’ is the 8th track on the album, and it returns to the slightly more melodic side of the sound that Foo Fighters have presented on Wasting Light. It isn’t a special song, but on the other hand it also does very little wrong. It’s far from filler, but at the same time you can’t imagine that the most thought was put into ‘A Matter Of Time’ over other tracks. And that’s fine, because without seemingly very much attention it’s still a good song. Quite catchy, quite pacy, quite melodic but also quite loud. Personally though, it’s one of my least favourite songs on the album, but because I can’t find a good enough reason why, I must recommend this song.

‘Miss The Misery’ is a real stonker of a track. Not a stinker, as my finger may so very easily have slipped to make me say, but a stonker. It’s probably one of Dave Grohl’s favourites too – considering that it contains the title lyric of the album “you’re wasting light” and was used as a second 30 second teaser trailer to precede the albums release on their official website. Of all the tracks, this is possibly the best one to play to a several thousand strong audience, arms aloft and cheering. Not because they heard it on the radio, or because it was featured in Guitar Hero or Rock Band, but because it’s the most bombastic track to be found on the disc. Or download file, depending on how you purchased this album. I’m assuming you spent your hard earned cash on this, and that you’re not one of the many million pirates out there… (I can’t blame you if you are). Another catchy track, and I’m sure it’ll become a firm fan favourite.

Ex-Nirvana man Kirst Novoselic teams up with Dave Grohl for an emotional reunion on ‘I Should Have Known’, with good results. Like the rest of the album, it does fit in with the traditional Foo Fighters sound, but it strikes me as the most different sounding song on the album. It’s touching – not in a teary eyed way, or a paedophilic way…but it is. There’s something very old fashioned sounding about ‘I Should Have Known’, and I mean this in the best way possible (I mean, compare the good music in days of yonder to nowadays! This century is laughable). It’s a great piece of the Wasting Light puzzle to have – more so because it offers a neat diversion from the pounding drums and roaring guitars. One of the album’s highlights.

And so here’s the closer, ‘Walk’. Here the band learns to walk again, weirdly having  learnt to fly several years ago… It demands that you look back on the entire album with fond memories, and it’s bound to get what it wants. After hearing the first chorus for the first time, I had a feeling it would really work the next couple of times around, and it definitely does. A really strong end to the album and another highlight. When you hear Dave Grohl desperately scream “I never want to die!” several times, you believe him, and you understand exactly why. The man’s at the top of his game. He’s been belting out song after song and album after album for many years of his life now, and his marvellous career has covered plenty of top notch drum work too. Finally people have fully realised this, and he, along with the other members of the band deserver any critical acclaim they receive. Grohl never wants to die because he loves his job. A job he does so well, with such unrivalled power and passion in the music industry, and he’s having so much fun in the process. The 5 year wait between Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace and this new record, Wasting Light has certainly been worth it. This album stands a good chance of being remembered as a classic in several years’ time - something which the band certainly deserves. After 6 good albums, and plenty of great songs, Foo Fighters may have finally peaked – and of all the peaks to be atop of, it’s this one I want to be. Picture a mountain, with nothing on it but a massive stadium. Inside this is Dave Grohl and his merry men, doing what they were born to do. They’re making noise, and they’re making it damn well. In “learning to walk again”, they also happen to be teaching us common folk, or mere mortals if you like, how to rock again. Dave Grohl might just be the saviour of the genre, and I can’t thank him enough for this excellent record. In recording and producing this album, no light, energy, sound, money or anything has been wasted. It’s all been worth every penny, as was my £8.97 purchase from a Welsh Asda. If you had any decency you’d go out and, buy this album NOW!

8.5/10

Stream the album online for free, in its entirety, here: http://wastinglight.foofighters.com/