Review: Sonic Highways by Foo Fighters

Sonic Highways by Foo Fighters. First things first, general impressions, you can definitely tell they’re aging. The album feels older, Something from Nothing gives me vaguely Motorhead vibes. 

However this is definitively Foo Fighters, they’re consistently putting out great new musical ideas but without losing sight of who they are. 

The album opens very strong with the trio of Something from Nothing, the Feast and the Famine, and Congregation, and following the classic Foo Fighters album format, it goes from edgy, energetic and crunchy to a mellower, smoother sound. 

What Did I Do/God as my Witness seems out of place, it’s a closer with a fade-out (which you don’t hear too often anymore) in the exact center of the album, but a great song nonetheless. 

Here I noticed we seem to be moving backwards in time in Foo Fighters Albums, going from a “Wasting Light” sound in The Feast and the Famine, “Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace” in Congregation, to a general “Nothing Left to Lose” vibe in the second half of the album. 

Outside is fun, but definitely seems like a filler, and In the Clear reminded me why I love Dave Grohl so much. Throughout the whole album his lyrics are on point.

I also noticed, they’re also getting that “grand” sound, that the Black Keys, Fall Out Boy and OK Go suffer from, but unlike those three, Foo Fighters made it work, they didn't change their entire sound, they supplemented it. 

I loved Subterranean, and how it faded into I Am a River. I Am a River is a fantastic, if a bit repetitive, closer and again, I love how they mixed it up with the subtle guitar picking and chords, something I don’t remember ever hearing from Foo Fighters. 

The album as a whole has a very transcendental progression, starting from gritty, grounded themes, to an abstract, grand biblical ascension, and, surprisingly, the end of the album reminded me a lot of Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible album. My final rating is 9.3/10, with a footnote that says “Foo Fighters is a river, constantly changing and flowing, but still the same river.”