Foo Fighters – Medicine At Midnight
Rock – Released February 5, 2021 – 9 songs, 37 mins
REID’s album drop:
Although we’ve recently agreed on this band getting a little stale, I always try to give new music from legendary artists a shot. Released a month ago, my choice this week is Medicine at Midnight by Foo Fighters.
REID
Alrighty, new Foo, let’s goo.
Making A Fire is a solid track. I’m not big on the ‘Na-na-nas’ in the beginning but I think they fit near the end which is a little odd but that’s how I hear it. Shame Shame is their single and I’ve heard it quite often now. It has grown on me a little since its release but overall it’s still just ok. I’m not very high on Cloudspotter, I’ll leave it at that. Waiting on a War is my favourite on the album. I’ve always been a sucker for acoustic Foo Fighters, they do it so well. Medicine At Midnight is pretty good. It’s obvious they wanted to mix up the sound a little on this one. I enjoy the bluesy guitar at around 2:20. No Son of Mine is heavy and pretty fun. Holding Poison is interesting because the chorus is very classic Foo, while the rest is quite different. Chasing Birds effectively slows things down and Love Dies Young finishes things off in classic Foo fashion. Runner up for album favourite. Kind of reminds me of Overdrive from One by One (jam!).
I think they’ve put together a pretty tight 37-minute album but it lacks the WOW-factor. And that’s how I’ve felt with their three albums since Wasting Light (2011). Sonic Highways (2014), Concrete and Gold (2017) and now, Medicine at Midnight (2021) are good but not great. Foo Fighters have a loaded discography and when I’m in the mood, I have a hard time thinking I’ll choose this over any of their first seven albums. I imagine this is a common problem for artists with long histories of brilliance. At the end of the day, I’m happy they’re still together and making music.
Overall Rating – 7.7/10
Favourite Song – Waiting on a War
ROZ
I'll openly admit that I'm not the biggest fan of the Foo Fighters - I love their hits of course, as many do. With that being said, I feel as though their strong catalogue of radio hits combined with the band’s longevity makes it way too easy to put any new material under a magnifying glass. My lack of knowledge about the rock side of the production process also makes it hard for me to flesh out a detailed review that would stand up to, say, my review for Random Access Memories. Regardless, here is my short and sweet review of Medicine at Midnight.
I’m not sure if it’s me or if it’s just the current Foo Fighter sound, but this album seemed to be more filler than not. A lot of the tracks gave me a “generic rock’ sort of vibe and there weren't many that could elicit an emotional response from me. There were a few that I really enjoyed, one being Waiting on a War. Something about the tone of the song and Dave’s vocal cadence really had me grooving. Lyrically, I didn’t really understand what he was trying to portray – maybe I just find it hard to take a 50-year-old millionaire singing about war seriously, maybe I was looking for a bit more substance, I'm not really sure. This ended up being the case for a lot of tracks on this album actually.
The other song that I really enjoyed (and which ended up being my favorite of the album) was Chasing Birds. Right away I could feel a sort of David Bowie influence, notably with the reverb/spacey effects and processing of the vocals. I’m always down for Bowie vibes, and for that reason I had this one on repeat a good bit. I’m not sure if this was intentional on their part, but nevertheless the least-sounding Foo song ended up being the one I liked the most.
Did I enjoy the album? I mean it had its moments. I’m not gonna do the Foo dirty with a failing grade, because it’s not exactly a terrible album – it’s just kind of…there...existing? I just have a hard time getting behind super famous bands that are pumping out albums yet aren't experimenting with new sounds. Either way, keep on rocking boys! Nothing wrong with having fun and staying relevant.
Overall Rating – 5.0/10
Favourite Song – Chasing Birds
LUNDI
The Foo Fighters. Unquestionably one of my favourites of the late 90’s/early 2000’s. Grohl the absolute rock legend turned everything he touched to gold...oh how things have changed.
Medicine at Midnight is another flop in a string of flops for this band. Not since 2011’s Wasting Light have I actually enjoyed something they’ve put out. It’s odd to be critical of them but this review finally gave me a chance to sort out why they suck now.
Each and every album seems like they release it just to let everyone know rock music still exists. The thing is though Hawkins still kills the drums, the boys still shred guitars, and Dave’s voice hasn’t aged a bit. What I think is that Grohl’s life is too damn perfect to write a song. Each hook, verse and chorus seem emotionless. The angst that was once there just doesn’t follow through anymore.
MaM flows poorly. The songs all follow the same structure and it feels like they spit this out in a few days. I’m not sure how they fix it but I truest hope they stick to the old music whenever I eventually cross them off the bucket list.
Overall Rating – 3.6/10
Favourite Song – Waiting on a War