Album Review: Foo Fighters – Medicine at Midnight
8th February 2021
Copyright: RCA
Foo Fighters is one of the bands I grew up listing to. My Dad would constantly have it blasting in the kitchen as he cooked. It’s the type of band where I could listen to their songs over and over!
The band released their tenth studio album last Friday. Medicine at Midnight releases two months after their single, Shame Shame, was released. The album feels a lot different from other albums Foo Fighters have released, and personally, I find a lot of the songs to be quite mellow compared to singles like The Pretender and Learn To Fly.
That being said, there are a few songs in the album that do have a similar sound to their previous work, such as No Son of Mine, Love Dies Young and Holding Poison.
I also enjoy the song Waiting On A War, one of my favourite songs on the album. Starting off quite mellow, with Dave Grohl singing in a soft melodic voice, and soft strums of the guitar. However, the song doesn’t remain mellow throughout. Halfway through the song, it slowly builds speed and becomes full rock. I enjoy the fact that it is a happy mix of both styles, pop-orientated and rock. It also seems that this song is where more rock orientated songs slide into the album. The change in tune in the middle of the song feels to be a little nod that they are going to have some songs quite similar to old music. As well as a signal that they are extremely talented at both genres of music.
The album kicks off with Making A Fire, and whilst it starts with some bass, it does turn out to be quite a pop-orientated song. Its hosts gospel-style singing in the background, which is unusual for a Foo Fighter song. This song is at the start of the album seems to be a wide-heard hint that the rest of the album is like nothing we have heard of from Foo Fighters.
The band then break out with No Son Of Mine, six songs into the album. It almost feels like we have been thrown back to old Foo songs. Like those seen in 2017s concrete and gold. It hosts the usual bass that is typical of a Foo Fighter song, and whilst it starts off fairly slow, with Grohl singing in his usual gruff voice. Within 20 seconds of the song starting, the drums and heavy vocals start, which is very reminiscent of old Foo Fighter songs; such as Best Of You from In Your Honor. These two songs have a very similar feel to them.
Medicine At Midnight is an album that I didn’t expect from the Foo Fighters. But it hits well, and despite being pop-orientated, the album still has that signature Foo Fighters feel to it. It feels like the soundtrack to a summer we all dream of. Could this whole album be a proposal that music released from here on out will not be solely rock-based? It’s a must-listen for any Rock lovers, and a definite love from me. My new music obsession.
