After three years of waiting for Foo Fighters to come out with a new album, fans may have been disappointed with the release of “Sonic Highways” this Monday.
Foo Fighters seemed to reach their peak after the 2007 release of “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace” which topped the charts in countries all over the world, but the success of their latest album doesn’t look as promising.
With eight new songs, the group brought nothing new to the table with this release. “Sonic Highways” portrays the same heavy, grungy feel that Dave Grohl learned from his days as the drummer for Nirvana. Compared to the last seven albums, it's like Foo Fighters deja-vu.
The strongest song on the new release is the album’s third track, “Congregation.” With upbeat guitar riffs and a strong melody, this track stands out against the others but there’s nothing extraordinary on this album. For Foo Fighters fans, it’s not a bad listen — but there’s a fine line between “not bad” and “boring.”
It’s a bit of a disappointment to know that a lot of thought went into this album, yet the group did absolutely nothing to explore new territory or break out of the monotonous sound they’ve spent the last 20 years creating.
Grohl told MTV in 2013 that the band had high expectations for this album, which bears the question — if this album was such a priority, how did it come out so mediocre? Regardless of what the group was aiming for with this album, they may have lost their creative touch after two decades and seven different albums.
HBO has adapted Grohl's vision for the album into the series “Sonic Highways." The ‘Rockumentary’ series travels from city to city and explores the music scene and the historical significance behind it.
In the second episode of the series, the group traveled to Washington, D.C. to give an in-depth background of the early punk scene, interviewing front man of Fugazi and Minor Threat Ian MacKaye and members of the influential reggae punk group Bad Brains.
There are not a lot of television programs dedicated to the history of music across diverse genres, making this a great addition to HBO. It’s surprising that such a mediocre release could inspire a television documentary, let alone a good one.
Foo Fighter’s “Sonic Highways” doubling as a television show embodies Grohl perfectly — he’s full of great ideas and lives an interesting life, but that isn’t portrayed well when it’s heard through a speaker.