Foo Fighters review: But Here We Are finds a band working through grief

For immoderate reason, songs astir antheral relationship and fraternal emotion are astir wholly absent from stone and popular music.

Maybe it's a machismo happening - a fearfulness of looking soft, an outdated exemplary of manhood - but determination are astir nary antheral equivalents to songs similar The Spice Girls' Wannabe, oregon Taylor Swift's I'm Only Me When I'm With You, written astir her BFF Abigail Anderson

Rock music, successful particular, has ever been much acrophobic with sex, love, presumption and powerfulness than camaraderie oregon platonic relationships.

So erstwhile Dave Grohl sings astir Taylor Hawkins connected Foo Fighters' caller album, But Here We Are, it hits you similar a truck.

"I had a idiosyncratic I loved and, conscionable similar that, I was near to unrecorded without him."

Hawkins died abruptly successful his edifice country past twelvemonth astatine the property of 50, conscionable hours earlier Foo Fighters were owed to execute astatine a festival successful Colombia.

It was a devastating loss. Hawkins was much than conscionable the band's drummer. He was Grohl's sidekick, confidante and member successful arms.

"Upon archetypal meeting, our enslaved was contiguous and we grew person with each day, each song, each enactment that we ever played together," the instrumentalist wrote successful his 2021 memoir, The Storyteller.

"We are perfectly meant to beryllium and I americium grateful that we recovered each different successful this lifetime," helium added, calling him, "my member from different mother, my champion friend, a antheral from whom I would instrumentality a bullet".

Soon aft Hawkins died, Grohl besides mislaid his mother, Virginia - who had raised him arsenic a azygous genitor successful Washington, DC, and allowed him to driblet retired of schoolhouse to prosecute music.

So it's nary astonishment that grief looms ample implicit this album. Grohl describes himself arsenic walking successful circles, haunted by voices, waiting for storms to pass.

Time is moving guardant for everyone but him; and he's plagued by thoughts of his ain mortality.

"I deliberation I'm getting implicit it," helium sings connected Under You. "But, there's nary getting implicit it."

It each comes to a caput connected The Teacher, an epic, shape-shifting stone opus that moves done each 5 stages of mourning successful 10 minutes.

Seemingly directed towards his mother, a nationalist schoolhouse teacher for astir of her life, it is sombre and susceptible 1 minute, and scorching with choler the next; with a dark, detuned guitar riff that threatens to choke the song's much uplifting chorus.

"You showed maine however to breathe, but you ne'er showed maine however to accidental goodbye," Grohl laments, and the opus grows successful intensity, arsenic though he's trying to physique a operation to heaven. When helium reaches the summit, there's a cathartic shriek of "goodbye" earlier the euphony collapses successful a bit-crushed fuzz of integer distortion.

It's a stunning effect to the symptom of past year... As is the remainder of the album, which hums with an strength and absorption that Foo Fighters' much caller outings person lacked.

Musically, it's backmost to basics. Muscular chords and melodic riffs are the bid of the day, arsenic the set powerfulness done their sadness.

Under You has a fizzing popular melody that's among Grohl's finest. The rubric way is similar drinking razor blades from a insubstantial cupful - each sawtooth guitars and primal shriek vocals. Grohl sounds similar he's disintegrating arsenic helium howls: "I gave you my heart, but present we are".

By contrast, Show Me How is simply a tender, reflective duet with his girl Violet. Over a gauzy twilight groove, they tentatively program for the future, begetter and girl offering adjacent reassurance to 1 another: "I'll instrumentality attraction of everything from present on".

The gorgeous soft ballad Beyond Me besides probes astatine the anticipation of mean beingness resuming, adjacent if Grohl can't contemplate what that would look like. "You indispensable merchandise what you clasp dear," helium sings, "or truthful I fear."

In achromatic and achromatic it mightiness dependable heavy-going, but there's an urgency to these 10 songs that balances retired the pain. With their nerves burned raw, the set dependable revitalised, defiantly alive, determined to honour Hawkins' spirit.

Making their unrecorded instrumentality successful Washington DC earlier this week, with seasoned league drummer Josh Fresse down the kit, Grohl said arsenic much.

"Getting up and playing shows again has been weird," helium said. "Not a time goes by wherever we don't deliberation astir him oregon speech astir him. So this one's for T."

It's a reminder that, though the set continues, Hawkins volition ever beryllium with them.

And possibly Grohl's honesty and vulnerability astir his nonaccomplishment volition animate different writers to tackle the taxable of antheral friendship.

It's notable that, erstwhile men bash sermon those bonds, it's astir ever excessively late: Diddy's I'll Be Missing You is simply a tear-stained tribute to the rapper Notorious B.I.G.; Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here describes the nonaccomplishment of Syd Barrett to intelligence illness; Ed Sheeran's Eyes Closed is astir the void Jamal Edwards' decease near successful his life.

But with TV shows similar Ted Lasso opening up the treatment astir platonic emotion and brotherly affection, determination could beryllium a affluent caller lyrical seam for musicians to explore.

For Hawkins, what a bequest that would be.