Album Review: Foo Fighters Journey Across America with “Sonic Highways”

By: Daniel Melfi –

Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters have taken a journey so very route 66-esque with their new album Sonic Highways. However, their eighth album is more than just a musical recording.

Aimed at being a canvas, the album paints a picture of America through its eight tracks, each recorded in a different city in hopes that the vibes and emotion of each musical landscape will come to the surface in each track.

The album takes off with the opening track “Something From Nothing” in the sound of Chicago, with guest Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick stepping in on the guitar. Much of the lyrics throughout the album represent the history— at least here in a historical sense, of each city. The band takes a subtle turn into Washington D.C. with “The Feast and the Famine”, guest starring punk band Bad Brains, and the history of a nation through the eyes of the capital, “Yesterday and today, revolution is on its way.”

Country star Zac Brown brings Nashville’s southern hospitality to the more melodic “Congregation”, although melodic doesn’t mean that it lacks any of the rock roll spirit that Grohl so heavily contributes.

The band stops in Austin, Texas to record with Gary Clark Jr. on the fourth track “What did I do? / God As My Witness”; the two-part attempted rock anthem is half ballad and half Dave Grohl taking the liberty of extending his chorus far-longer than should be allowed.

The next two tracks, “Outside” and “In The Clear” were recorded in California and New Orleans respectively and immediately sounds like the Foo Fighters rather than the previous goal of rock-choir. Joe Walsh of the Eagles appears on guitar for “Outside” and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band take up their instruments on “In The Clear”. The anthem of New Orleans brings a breath of life into the city of jazz, “And if I should drown, may this be the sound, to wash me out.”

“Subterranean” is the second-last stop on the record and it sounds like the closest thing Grohl could get to an acoustic song. Recorded in Seattle, the chorus is almost whispered, “Nothing left within, I’ve been mined . . . I will start again, subterranean.” Grohl and co. feature Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard on vocals, which creates an effective build-up to the final track.

“I Am a River”, the seven-minute New York City rock ballad screams Grohl’s name and it does not take much to imagine the former Nirvana drummer standing affront thousands of people with nothing but a guitar and hyper-aggressive vocals. “Behind a SoHo door, There is a reason, I found a reason, beneath the subway floor,” exclaims Grohl in the final track of the album.

The record itself is a work of art and culture as much as it is a musical endeavour; produced by Butch Vig—long-time friend of Grohl and producer of Nirvana’s seminal debut album Nevermind, the album is also starring as an eight-episode HBO special of the same name.

As usual, the Foo Fighters have aimed high with this release, although this wasn’t recorded in Grohl’s garage as their previous album Wasting Light still maintains the spirit of rock that they have adamantly respected in the two decades since their inception.

Essential Tracks: “Something From Nothing, “I Am A River”, “Outside”