Released Sept. 25 2007
Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace marks the Foo Fighters’ sixth studio release. After 2005’s In Your Honor double-album, Dave Grohl and the gang take a different approach, only releasing 12 tracks. In Your Honor split the Foo Fighters’ normally melodic driving alternative rock sound and spread it across the two CD’s: Disc One boasted the hardest rocking, guitar-crunching scream-fests the band has ever mustered, while Disc Two was an all-acoustic affair featuring the likes of Norah Jones. Both discs had their own charm, but it was far from their best effort. Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace not only finds the return to the Foo’s memorable 90’s sound, but they often combine both elements of their last album into one song.
“The Pretender” is a take-no-prisoners assault on modern radio. It’s that classic Foo sound that Grohl has nearly perfected since the band begun in 1995. The album then takes an unexpected turn. “Let It Die” starts out with only an acoustic guitar and sounds like it would belong on Disc Two of In Your Honor. The song slowly builds and creeps up on the listener, until a wave of distortion comes out of nowhere. It’s about as unexpected as a full Van Halen reunion, but unlike a Van Halen reunion, it makes sense.
The Foo Fighters have found a way to fuse together the two sounds they seem to be in love with in a new and unique way that expands their sound and allows the band to further mature. “Come Alive” and “But, Honestly” are also slow-burners that start out mellow, but end with a wall of beautifully-constructed noise.
The Foo Fighters continue to travel into uncharted territory. “The Battle of the Beaconsfield Miners” is the first instrumental track to grace a Foo Fighters LP. This song is the result of Grohl having a knack for harmony, a love for acoustic guitars, and a guilty-pleasure of heavy metal. It features virtuoso Khaki King as a guest guitarist, and the song is a breath of fresh air in an already-crisp batch of tunes. The final barrier broken down is the addition of piano. The traditional bass-drums-guitars lineup is shaken up on songs like “Home” and “Statues,” a tune that easily stands-out.
The band, however, doesn’t abandon their staple sound all-together. “Erase/Replace” and “Long Road To Ruin” are a return to the sound that made the Foos famous, while “Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make-Up Is Running)” sounds like it could easily be found on any Foo Fighters album to date. The difference is the fact that guitarist Chris Shiftlett is finally featured and given the freedom to freak-out on the fingerboard. Since joining the band in 1999, Shiftlett has only now found his sound and place in the band. While “Summer’s End” and “But, Honestly” are spiced up with sensational solos, the entire album is littered with guitar licks not previously heard in the Foo Fighters’ catalog.
Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace is a very impressive album. It’s honest, it’s fresh, and it’s articulate. Dave Grohl leads the Foo Fighters into new musical directions, almost reinventing themselves while keeping in touch with the best parts of their past sound that they’ve so convincingly championed.
Like a good wine, the Foo Fighters are getting better with age.