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Mediocre melodies pervade Foo Fighters
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(U-WIRE) MANHATTAN, Kan. – Fluctuating between brilliant and boring, One by One finds the Foo Fighters manic as ever.
The hard-rocking track “All My Life” starts off with a simple palm-muted riff with a tension built by Dave Grohl’s nearly spoken lyrics before breaking in with loud guitars that lead to a soaring chorus.
It’s one of the better Foo Fighters songs ever written, but it unfortunately sets unreasonably high expectations for the rest of the material.
Tracks like the driving “Low” and the melodic “Disenchanted Lullaby” just slow down the album. “One by One” is rife with filler that brings down the album’s overall quality.
The slow-paced “Tired of You” features a slinking guitar part by Queen’s Brian May, but it doesn’t save the song – it only makes it slightly more interesting.
Since its debut in 1995, the band has made its reputation by releasing clean studio work that is both radio-friendly and edgy in that post-grunge way that still has roots with the Meat Puppets and the Vaselines. After all, who better to lead a post-grunge alt movement than Nirvana’s drummer?
So where does a post-grunge, alt-rock band fit into the 2002 soundscape? Seemingly nowhere. Lately, if you’re a credible rock band, you are working in garage revival, mainstream Creed-ish stuff, nu metal or indie.
Practically the only other bands working in this style that have any validity whatsoever are Bush and Stone Temple Pilots. The sound has virtually no credibility outside these core bands, a point that has been proven as clones trying to emulate the sound are panned by critics and never quite make it to the mainstream.
The thing that keeps these bands around is a loyal fan base. I hate to invalidate myself, but that means if you like other Foo Fighters albums, you’ll like “One by One.”
Besides, some of this music is sheer excellence. The album was recorded in 13 days to capture the energy of a live performance, Grohl said in an MTV interview. Some of the songs truly benefit from this energy.
“Halo,” “Lonely As You” and the single-worthy “Overdrive” all stand out and are back-to-back-to-back tracks that support the middle of the album very well.
J.J. Duncan, Kansas State Collegian