Even though I may not know all the musical history behind the band, upon first listen I can say that their seventh album is easily one of the best of the year so far, a near flawless outing. It's the kind of Rock album that is diverse, mature and what some might call "all killer and no filler". The group goes from re-creating the sounds of their biggest musical successes of the past, to doing things that are totally new and fresh, from straining their vocal chords on hyped up rock cuts and softening it up on more acoustic leaning tracks. Still on the whole the album has a unified sound, and never tries too hard to be anything outside of who they are as a group. The album opens with a great one-two punch, "Bridges Burning" calls to mind the greatness of the Foo's past while first single "Rope" feels like a completely new and fresh sound for the group. Thankfully the energy never really dies on this album, with stadium sized anthems like "Matter of Time" "Back and Forth" and one of the easy stand outs "Arlandria". There are times when it feels like they are going to soften their sound, the intros to "These Days" (simple but really powerful lyrics here) and another stellar stand out "I Should Have Known" start with an acoustic subdued feel but end up amping it way up. The album isn't without it's minor faults though, "White Limo" is a little too loud for me. "Dear Rosemary" and "Miss the Misery" lack a little something that the other tracks have, but even than they are more than bearable to listen to. On the whole the album is pretty fantastic, the songs stay true to the bands Rock roots but also manage to be very catchy and memorable. Now will any of these songs be classics like "Everlong" or "Best of You"? Probably not (maybe "Rope"), but that doesn't seem to be their purpose on this outing. All in all it's just a fantastic Rock album, the kind that hasn't been heard in a long time.
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Best: Arlandria, Rope, I Should Have Known | 
