4/10
As one of the most successful rock bands of the last two decades, Foo Fighters have managed to maintain and grow a devout fanbase throughout their entire existence. While for the most part, delivering high-octane and memorable rock anthems on each release, this new work seems to fall short of their usual output as this, their eighth studio release, lacks a lot of what has kept them afloat all these years.
While 'Sonic Highways' is very much a Foo-Fighters-by-numbers release with its emotionally led album tracks and big choruses, most of the record is easily forgotten once its over. The album's lead track 'Something From Nothing' has a small amount of promise but after that, much of it is just background filler that seems so incredibly distant from their heyday ten years ago. They now play like a band just going through the motions, desperately scraping together inspiration in order to form a full body of work.
Dedicated Foo Fighters fans will probably still find something to enjoy in this record, but for those that have been losing interest of late, this will be the final nail in the coffin for them. It is missing so much of the raw passion we have heard from them all these years and just doesn't deliver anything interesting.