Foo Fighters - In Your Honor
By: Patrick Vu | Category: Album Archive | 07/21/05 | 08:32 AM
Disk One, a collection of fast paced heart pounding music, has you wondering how much longer Dave Grohl can keep up his scratchy-vein-popping-yelps while instantly transitioning back and forth from that to his more temperate singing voice. At times he's belting out the lyrics as if his head is going to explode displaying a range that many can only wish for, and Grohl definitely takes full advantage.
The album(s) first and title track, "In Your Honor" comes with all guns blazing. The guitar riffs cut through your speakers like a buzz saw, and Dave does his best to make sure you can hear him miles away. Taylor Hawkins is a perfect match if not better as Foo's man behind the kit who gets the thundering tune rockin', if it hasn't so already.
Our first taste of the new material before the album's release was the single, "Best of You." It immediately grabs your attention with it's opening lines, "I've got a confession to make / I'm your fool / Everyone's got their chains to break / Holdin' you...Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?" Like most singles from the Foo Fighters, it's catchy enough to garner tons of rock airplay, but yet edgy enough to still be accepted by the pop music snob.
"DOA" is anything but as its pacing tempos build as the song continues. "DOA" actually brings added life to In Your Honor and ends up being one of the stronger tracks on the album.
For those that want to slow things down a bit, Disk 2 is everything you need. It's a big change in mood and spirit and one that may be difficult to listen to after getting pumped up by Disk 1. However, if it's a slower pace you are looking for, the Foo Fighters aim to please.
An all-acoustic set, Disk 2 is full of personal expressions of love had and love lost. It's sensitive Foo for the soul. Gems like "Miracle" and "Another Round" keep the sentiment of lasting love alive as we realize that Grohl and his cohorts are much more in touch with themselves than we give this hard rock band credit. It seems uncharacteristic of the Foo Fighters, but if you go back into their catalog, you'll find that it's indeed a recurring theme for these softies.
"Over and Out" and "On the Mend" soar over this collection of in-tuned personal awareness. It takes us from gushing love ballads to lost souls finding their way through life. These are more of what we had in mind for the Foo Fighters and strengthen the overall feel of the album.
The only problem with In Your Honor is that it's split up into two albums. When you lump songs together according to their pace, they tend to blend into each other making it hard for one track to stand apart from the next. In this reviewer's opinion, In Your Honor could have been more effective if it were just one super album of 20 songs that gave us breaks from one speed to the next. Typically, you want slower songs to break up the monotony of faster ones and vice versa.
As it stands, In Your Honor is a great celebration of 10 strong years of consistent music making, and thankfully there seems to be no end in site for the Foo Fighters. These guys are aware of their talent, focus on their strengths and aren't too set in their ways to try something new. After all, the band's talented leader did spring from a band that made its name by shunning conformity. Definitely pick this one up if you haven't already and be sure to set your play list to random for full effect.
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Grade: A- |
Genre: Rock
