Revisiting Rock N' Roll: Foo Fighters "Concrete and Gold" Album Review

Article by Miranda Woody Foo Fighters are back with their latest album, Concrete and Gold. This album is packed with diverse sounds, some familiar to the band and some not so much, and although it's only eleven tracks in length, there is a lot to unpack and enjoy on this latest release. The album opens with the track "T-Shirt", which is a relatively short track in its own right. Despite its length, though, it packs a surprising punch; what begins as an acoustic ballad of sorts explodes into a hard-rocking, anthemic track. Speaking of "anthemic", the next track on the album, titled "Run" follows suit, opening with an atmospheric sound and feel before climaxing into a heart-felt, rock power ballad in which the band's lead vocalist, Dave Grohl, belts: "hey girl, run for your life with me". The next track, "Make it Right" follows the more rock n' roll vibe of the previous tracks, with the only recognizable, signature "Foo Fighters" sound being Grohl's vocals. However, the following track titled "The Sky is a Neighborhood" opens with, once again, an atmospheric sound featuring layered vocals that would almost remind one of The Beatles' infamous track "Because". Like the tracks before, though, the song experiences a shift in tone early on and delivers almost bluesy riffs throughout the verses. "La Dee Da", the next track, is the definition of anthemic. With lyrics referencing cultist Jim Jones and The White House, this song could inspire a revolution (or at least rile up some football fans at the next Super Bowl). On the other hand, the track's follow-up (titled "Dirty Water") takes a more calm take, once again making use of atmospheric, layered vocals and groovy riffs. The following track, "Arrows", sounds a bit more like other, more familiar Foo Fighters tracks. In fact, it sounds almost eerily like a Foo Fighters song from any giver Foo Fighters album (although that's not necessarily a bad thing). "Happy Ever After (Zero Hour)" begins much like the album's opening track, with an acoustic guitar being played along with Grohl's vocals. The song, surprisingly, stays that way throughout (employing some new sounds toward the bridge). The track soon fades into "Sunday Rain", though, which revisits the bluesy vibe mentioned before. Grohl cooly sings, "say you can take it or leave it / you got your head in the ceiling / when are you gonna come down?" This track is perhaps my favorite, with the lyrics "don't leave me drowning in your Sunday rain" filling the song's super catchy hook. The album's final two tracks "The Line" and the titular "Concrete and Gold" are extremely different, with "The Line" being a bit more conventionally alt-rock than the latter "Concrete and Gold". These last two tracks offer completely different sounds, yet both of them are full of reasons to love Foo Fighters even more after all these years. Is this album the best Foo Fighters release yet? The worst? I'll leave that up to you, readers. Tell me what you think of this latest release! https://foofighters.com/ https://www.facebook.com/foofighters/ https://twitter.com/foofighters https://www.youtube.com/user/foofighters