Foo FightersConcrete and Gold

There isn’t a lot to be said about Grohl & Co. that hasn’t already. Their fervent passion for rock is admirable in a landscape that often favours those who break down its foundations and repurpose its ethos—let’s face it, a band with the clout and legacy of the Foo Fighters don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

Concrete and Gold is simply a showcase of the best use of the band’s many resources, skill, and ability to craft solid rock tunes that pay respect to those who’ve come before them. With a collaborative roster including Paul McCartney, Justin Timberlake and Allison Mosshart, the album is rock’s elite showing the young guns how it’s done. Whether the kids want to listen is another story—Dave Grohl will continue to yell, riff, and croon.

Flooding the album are markers towards the bands heroes and contemporaries, with each track proving worthy additions to their expansive discography. Lead single, Run is a blistering punk marathon that erupts into a mess of dizzying screams and fuzzed-out power chord mayhem, similarly to the Budweiser soaked La Dee Da.

Concrete and Gold is an album that’ll see the band continue to assume headlining positions and stadium sellouts

Arrows will prove an interchangeable fixture in their setlist amongst the band’s older tracks, with stadium sized hooks that really don’t come as much of a surprise. The Sky Is A Neighbourhood is a blues rock fest that’ll have Dads pleased and subdued on road trips as their kids beg to listen to Kendrick Lamar. “This is real music kids”.

Happy Ever After (Zero Hour) sees Grohl enter full-Dad mode—the acoustic ditty teeters on the edge of a total cringefest. However, lush harmonies and A grade instrumentation balance out a sappy movie montage vibe.

The Foo Fighters are the only existing band who can get away with releasing an album that showcases a total disregard for any awareness of current rock trend. Concrete and Gold is an album that’ll see the band continue to assume headlining positions and stadium sellouts, firmly planting contemporaries like Royal Blood and Death From Above in opener positions for the foreseeable future.

STANDOUT TRACKS: The Sky Is A Neighbourhood, Run, La Dee Da
STICK THIS NEXT TO (do we really need to tell you what to stick the Foo Fighters next to? Oh well): Queens Of The Stone Age, Pearl Jam & Kings of Leon