There’s no disputing that Foo Fighters are one of, if not, the biggest bands in the world these days. From their beginnings as a side project of the former Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl has steered the good ship Foo Fighters into the rich and deep waters of astounding commercial success. And their new offering – Medicine At Midnight – is certainly an economical record, coming in at a very streamlined nine tracks.

Over the years, as the Foo Fighters have grown from the lo-fi sound of their one-man self-titled debut into the world-conquering rock-meets-pop outfit we have today, they’ve had to deal with the same challenge all bands who complete such a journey face. Keeping things fresh when you’re as big as Grohl and co are can’t be easy. For their tenth studio album they took the decision to record in a haunted house in Los Angeles, and ended up with their poppiest album in years, a record that Grohl himself has compared to David Bowie’s Let’s Dance. Go figure.

Making A Fire is a head-banging, riff-dispensing opener that has you settle in for just over half an hour (it really is a very short album) of the same, only for Shame Shame to come along and pull the rug out from under your feet. It’s a strange, twisting, unpredictable track littered with dramatic string flourishes that, every time you think Grohl is about to drop drums and distortion-heavy guitars all over, he doesn’t.

Current single Waiting On A War is a soft-rock classic in the making, with it’s schmaltzy acoustic intro it goes through the gears and ends up as a stadium-packing, fist-pumping, t-shirt-selling monster, while the album’s title track is where those pop influences Grohl mentioned for the record feel strongest. On the other side of the coin, Cloudspotter and No Son Of Mine feel like the kind of growling Foos tracks designed for the Reading or Lollapalooza main stage. Medicine At Midnight then is an eclectic affair that offers a little bit of everything while still staying firmly on brand, as they say. Hopefully the Foo Fighters will be able to bring their show on the road and to a stadium near you soon because, as with so much of their recent work, it’s at its most energetic and rewarding when experienced live.

Medicine At Midnight track list:

1. Making A Fire

2. Shame Shame

3. Cloudspotter

4. Waiting On A War

5. Medicine At Midnight

6. No Son Of Mine

7. Holding Poison

8. Chasing Birds

9. Love Dies Young

Watch the official video for Waiting On A War below:

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.