Album Review: Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

"THESE ARE MY FAMOUS LAST WORDS!" screams Dave Grohl, opening Foo Fighters’ seventh studio album in spectacular style.

Ex-Nirvana man, Grohl, stated that Wasting Light would be Foo Fighters’“heaviest album yet”, and the band certainly deliver. ‘Bridge Burning’ kicks the album off with chunking guitars and machine-gun drums, which quickly evolve into an insanely catchy chorus.

After the furious opening, follows the lead single from Wasting Light, ‘Rope’, which is a much more radio-friendly rock number, with its sporadic, stop-start guitars. Although Wasting Light is heavier than Echoes, Silence, Patience, Grace, it remains a very accessible album.






‘Dear Rosemary’ demonstrates a softer side to the Foo’s, with Grohl pining for a lost love whilst layered guitars play cat-and-mouse around him, with a stellar contribution from Bob Mould on backing vocals. ‘White Limo’ is where things get interesting, with a 100 mile-an-hour guitar riff and Dave Grohl’s sinister, distorted and fury-drenched scream. This one will definitely be enjoyed by the mosh-piters who go to see Foo Fighters at one of their multiple headline performances this summer. ‘White Limo’ is also the best example of the raw power that abounds from Wasting Light, with Nevermind producer Butch Vig capturing the meaty sounds of an album recorded straight to analogue in the surroundings of Grohl’s very own garage. ‘Arlandria’ chugs along nicely before Taylor Hawkins’ drums kick in, building up to another one of those big, area-filling choruses, which is almost impossible to resist singing along to. Granted, the “Shame shame go away/ Come again another day” lyric is a tad infantile, but don’t let it detract from what is arguably the most addictive song on the album.

Foo Fighters slow things down with ‘These Days’, after a heady first half of the album. Beginning with just a melodic guitar and Grohl’s vocals, the song eventually kicks into life for yet another – yes, another – huge, soaring chorus. With a nearly flawless beginning to the album,Wasting Light had to drop in standard at some point. ‘Back And Forth’ and ‘Matter Of Time’ is that point. Neither is much to shout about – barring a muscular chorus on the latter – and would most likely be classed as album filler. However, after a couple of so-so songs, everything kicks off again with the twanging guitars and thumping chorus of ‘Miss The Misery’. The penultimate song on Wasting Light, ‘I Should Have Known’, features Nirvana co-founder and bassist, Krist Novoselic, and is one of the best songs Grohl has written in years. The beautifully emotive song is allegedly a lament for Grohl’s childhood friend and long-time roadie, Jimmy Swanson, who died from a drug overdose in 2008. However, the true appeal of the song is in its lyrical ambiguity; it could easily be applied to any relationship.



One of the main criticisms of the Foo’s previous album, Echoes, was that after a strong opening it petered out half way into a melodramatic, slushy mess. Wasting Light does not succumb to the same fate, and closing song ‘Walk’ testifies to this. The song builds slowly, before unfurling into full-on, good old rock number, which closes the album with Grohl screaming “I NEVER WANNA DIE!”, fittingly juxtaposing the opening line of the album. Wasting Light is one of the strongest, most consistent Foo Fighters albums since There Is Nothing Left To Loose. For the most part, it is a fun, burly, in-your-face rock record that was made to be played at full volume in front of hundreds of thousands of fans. Wasting Light is Foo Fighters’ loud, noisy statement that they are back, and perhaps more importantly, back on form.

4.5/5