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Nirvana drummer-turned-frontman Dave Grohl and his platinum-selling Foo Fighters collective have spent the past 25-plus years ascending the alt-rock pantheon. Thirty years onward from Nirvana’s game-changing Nevermind, the Foos’ tenth studio album, Medicine at Midnight, reinforces their signature heavy-yet-melodic song template but also embeds some additional compositional colors amidst a firmly entrenched sonic palette. “Shame Shame” sets the transitional tone with a kinetic live-in-the-room vibe fueled by powerhouse drummer Taylor Hawkins’ hi-hat accents, plinking strings, and Grohl’s yearning lead vocals. The title track slinks along with some sleek back-alley funk, while the strings-laden acoustic lookback lament “Waiting on a War” shifts into overdrive in its final minute to earn a full-bore metallic payoff. The plaintive “Chasing Birds” could double as a long-lost mid-period Wings track, and a pair of festival-friendly fist-pumpers—the skyburnt groove of “Cloudspotter” and the defiantly propulsive “No Son of Mine”—bump chests together at the headbanger’s ball. Crank two amps and call me in the morning—though it breezes by at an economical 36 minutes, Medicine is just what the aural doctor ordered for the Foos to continue dominating the alt-rock playing field.
By Mike Mettler
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