Foo Fighters — But Here We Are — Album Review
Rock
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For me, (and I imagine countless other around the same age of me), Foo Fighters were an incredibly significant part of the musical childhood I had. I might even go as far to say that they were essentially my introduction to rock music. With all of that said, I am clearly incredibly fond of their classic works.
To be more specific, I would count this as everything from their self-titled debut studio album all the way to 2011’s Wasting Light. After all, those collective albums saw the birth of many an iconic and classic rock tune that I was able to cherish live through the headlining Foo Fighters performance at the closing ceremony for the Invictus Games in 2014. I certainly remember that very live set as one of my fondest memories, especially in the case of live music that I have seen.
Following all of those great memories from the Foos, however, I would say that what they had released later on in the 2010’s, and what they had brought us before, certainly seemed split up by this very moment. To elaborate, I felt that the style of music that Foo Fighter brought us with subsequent albums, such as 2014’s Sonic Highways, and 2017’s Concrete and Gold felt much more stale and normalised by comparison. It felt like a steep slope that the band were descending to, into what I would call the dark pit of over-accessibility.
There was very little in the way of Foo Fighters spicing things up with these two albums, I felt. And when the band weren’t trying to streamline and narrow down their rock sound as much as possible, they would otherwise be leaning a bit too heavily on the bare-bones of what made their classic tunes so enjoyable.
Fast-forward to 2021, and Foo Fighters brought to us their tenth studio album. Titled Medicine at Midnight, this is an album that i still feel is quite criminally underrated. For me, it was this album where Foo Fighters were beginning to capture the depth and versatility of moods that made their classic material so iconic.
But unfortunately, this would be the last album we would ever get from Foo Fighters as we once knew them. The following year, the band and their fans would be struck by the grave news that drummer Taylor Hawkins had unfortunately passed away (and may he eternally rest in peace). While, for many people, this might’ve spelt the breakup for the band, those who truly know the Foos know that they are not the kind to quit without a fight.
That relent came in the form of their brand new album, titled But Here We Are. And while it was great to see that the band were still striving to be as much of a productive force as they can, I was both curious and apprehensive as to how the events preceding the album would affect the bands chemistry.
Thankfully, there was nothing for me to fear in that regard. The sound that Foo Fighters champions has not only remained, but I feel that it has changed for the better as well.
What this album feels like to me, is essentially a soft reboot of the bands musical approach. While they have a far more grandiose and anthemic approach as their earliest material (which has evolved as they have), there are many elements that suggested to me that the band wanted to really take things back to basics stylistically, with many of the tracks carrying a similar feel to their earlier albums.
As for the narrative of the album, it was pretty plain to see where they would go with it, even before the albums release. The album tells of how the band refuse to let grief get the better of them, and instead celebrate the life of their late drummer, using that positivity to propel themselves forward into a new chapter in their discography.
Favourite Tracks: Rescued | Under You | The Glass
Least Favourite Track: Beyond Me
Roswell Records
