I have never been a Foo Fighters fan, but like most, I was sad when I heard their drummer, Taylor Hawkins, had passed away at 50 years old in 2022. As little as I knew about the band, I always had a tremendous amount of respect for them for a few reasons, one of them being frontman Dave Grohl.

I love Nirvana, and I think Grohl helped shape the sound of that band greatly. Anything else he produces has my attention. Also, he just seems like a nice dude. For instance, he drummed for “Killing Joke” as a repayment for Nirvana’s use of the riff from their song “Eighties” for the single “Come As You Are.” So, when the Foo Fighters announced a new album without their longtime drummer, I was definitely interested in how it would sound — especially considering that Grohl himself would be doing the drumming.

I do have to admit, prior to listening to “But Here We Are,” my knowledge of the Foo Fighters was limited to “Everlong” and “My Hero,” two of their most popular songs.

‘But Here We Are’

“But Here We Are” is very much what I had imagined Foo Fighters would sound like in a 2023 album, with or without Hawkins. It was a fairly straightforward rock album, with lyrics and themes heavily dealing with death, sorrow, grief and acceptance. Dealing with the death of not only a band member but a close friend must be difficult. My heart goes out to Grohl, the other members of Foo Fighters and Hawkins’ family.

Even with those recent struggles, the band has managed to conjure a fairly good album. During my listen, I enjoyed most of the songs, but I did not really remember them after they ended. There were a few exceptions, like the intro song, “Rescued,” the title track “But Here We Are” and the ten-minute-long “The Teacher.” This was the main draw of the album for me. I immediately get excited anytime I see a long song, not necessarily because I think I will enjoy it, but because it is so different from the norm. I love seeing artists do things that they haven’t yet.

“The Teacher” is by far my favorite song on the album. It goes through different sounds that are similar enough to feel like one song, but different enough to keep me interested the entire time. Plus, they incorporate strings into the song. Any rock song that has any sort of orchestral instrumental gets me incredibly excited — see Danny Elfman’s “Big Mess” and Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s “F♯ A♯ ∞” for more examples.

Verdict

All in all, I think “But Here We Are” is an album that needed to be made in order for the band to move on, and I think fans of Foo Fighters will have a lot to like here. As for me, I did enjoy the album from beginning to end, but it is not something I will be coming back to. It just was not memorable enough. The songs all sounded different, but not different enough for me to remember them from any of the others before or after it. I might put “The Teacher” on in the car every once in a while, but I will probably just stick to “Everlong.”

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@EthanBlume07