Foo Fighters - ThePretender

Tue 2nd Oct, 2007 in Music Reviews

It’s been bit over two years since Dave Grohl and co unleashed the ambitious double album, In Your Honour. Over the years they have slid further and further into the category of dull mainstream rock, despite the frontman’s claims that come with each album that the new one will be the – œbest’ and – œmost rocking’ thing to come from the band.

The Pretender signals the first single from the latest full length, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and could well be considered the heaviest stuff the band has released in well over seven years. The explanation for this could lie in the fact that Gil Norton, producer on their second album The Colour and the Shape, was back producing all the new stuff.

Gently plucked guitar serves as the intro, sounding suspiciously like Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, followed up by drummer Taylor Hawkins rhythmically pounding out kicks and snares in synch. “What if I say I’m not like the others?/What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays?” Grohl defiantly growls, delivering it with a sincerity previously lacking on the last few efforts.

A lot of people seem to yearn for music more reminiscent of their early days, but 10 years on from TCATS this is probably the closest we are going to get. Having said that, it’s not a bad thing at all, it’s a new take on their old sound, and that’s gotta be a good thing.

The single is backed up by two extra tracks, one of which is a demo of Come Alive which isn’t actually all that different to the album version, aside from being a little more rough around the edges. It does, however, go to further prove the Foo still have what it takes, and is a great taste for anyone still yet to pick up the full length.

The other track is If Ever, a slow song that sounds a little ‘70s, a little country, and a little bit like the theme song to The Wonder Years. It really would not fit in with the album and is easy to see why it wound up as a b-side, but it’s definitely worth a listen.

And if that’s not enough value for money, they’ve even thrown in an enhanced CD component, a live cut of Monkey Wrench as performed at their show at Hyde Park in London.