Album review: Foo Fighters – Concrete And Gold

PUBLISHED: 10:30 03 October 2017 | UPDATED: 10:30 03 October 2017

Stephen Moore

Foo Fighters - Concrete and Gold

Archant

Dave Grohl & Co’s storming Glasto set this year already feels like a distant memory as the autumnal chill sets into our collective bones – so can Concrete And Gold blast the blues away?

The likelihood is you’ll have already heard The Line’s uninspired, widescreen pop-rock, heavy voice-shredder The Sky Is A Neighbourhood, or Run’s industrial grind of a headbanger.

The latter’s a fair indicator of the best of the rest on Concrete And Gold, which strings out a handful of memorable motifs, melodies and Motörhead homages.

Its beating, bloodied heart starts with Make It Right’s riot of guitars and fractious, pin-sharp drums placed up-front. After The Sky Is A Neighbourhood comes the turbocharged industrial motorik of La Dee Da.

Grohl’s usually accessible angst only really connects on Arrows, a Foos’ cookie-cutter classic of muscular power-pop, semi-poetic lyrics, molten-lead guitar and thumping drums.

It’s hard to get excited about the rest, from the sluggish Sunday Rain to Dirty Water’s hapless, quiet-to-loud, synths-and-acoustic mess. Ho-hum.

Rating: 2/5