New Dose of Foo
Foo Fighters released an amazing album in 2017’s Concrete & Gold. The anticipation for a follow-up album has been ever-growing throughout their past few years of touring. Now that touring is out of the situation, fans received new music through Medicine At Midnight. The band’s tenth studio album is satisfying, but not to its full potential.
Track Reviews
“Making A Fire”
“Making A Fire” lacks the energy of previous opening tracks. It’s not on the level of “This Is A Call”, “All My Life” and “Bridge Burning”. Those set the bar for their respective albums with adrenaline-filled riffs. “Making A Fire” did not deliver like such. Once the “na-na’s” started, the song lost some of its potential.
“Shame Shame”
The eerie instrumentals put the band in a new territory of sound. It’s a bit mopey for a Foo album but will make its way up the charts. This was made purely for political commentary and is not a fitting style for the Foo.
“Cloudspotter”
Where was this song the entire time? “Cloudspotter” is the track that should have opened the album. It has the familiarity to Concrete & Gold’s track “Make It Right”.
“Waiting On A War”
It’s a softer and upbeat song. It’s an attempt at another “Times Like These” or “Best Of You”, but it does not live up to those classics. Yet it will be the album’s leading radio hit. However, the last minute is a nice surprise of built-up rock. It’s reminiscent of “Walk” but with an acoustic guitar.
“Medicine At Midnight”
The titular track feels like an homage to David Bowie seasoned with Eric Clapton. This isn’t the first time the Foo have thrown it back; they also paid homage to Pink Floyd in the psychedelic track “Concrete & Gold”. The echoes of guitar chords and backup vocals are filled with classic rock vibes. The guitar solo is the cherry on top. It’s a different style of rock that suits them surprisingly well. An entire album with this vibe would be a great opportunity for them in the future.
“No Son Of Mine”
“No Son Of Mine” is the best example of the band’s chemistry. This is quintessential Foo Fighters. Counting the notes for the verse is a challenge itself, nevermind how fast they play it. Also, Grohl is a better vocalist when he is not trying to be a good one. In this case, he’s just having fun screaming into the mic and it works. It sounds like it was left on the cutting board of Wasting Light but finally made its way to the public three albums too late.
Read our full review of the track here.
“Holding Poison”
Again, another track that was lost in the archives of Wasting Light. This song progressively gets better and will be an amazing jam live.
“Chasing Birds”
Foo slows down the pace with this mellow, unplugged track. It’s the calm after the rock storm. The lyrics are quite poetic but it could have been a minute shorter. Unfortunately, it fails to live up to previous lighter tracks like “Walking After You” and “Dirty Water”.
“Love Dies Young”
This is heavily influenced by glam-rock. It’s not the best way to end the album.
Overall Review
6/10
Medicine At Midnight experiments with a shift of tone that doesn’t fit the Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl and Co. embody the dad-rock of our generation and it sounds awkward. The tracks that try to replicate the glam-rock genre are unsettling. Meanwhile, the tracks where they return to their roots are enjoyable. Songs like “Cloudspotter” and “No Son Of Mine” prove that age is just a number. They can still jam better than most younger bands. Even the pleasant surprise of “Medicine At Midnight” should receive some respect. It’s an album that has hints of The Colour And The Shape and Wasting Light, but overall feels like an underwhelming delivery in the vein of In Your Honor.
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