In Your Honor

For the past 15 years, Dave Grohl has been one of the hardest-working – and hardest-rocking – men in music. As a singer-guitarist and frontman, he's put out a handful of chart-topping, critically lauded discs with Foo Fighters. As a drummer, he's backed everyone from Queens of the Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails to Killing Joke. Just for a lark, he collaborated with heavy metal icons like Lemmy in the side project Probot. And he used to drum for some little band you might remember called Nirvana. Grohl has seen and done it all – louder, faster and longer than plenty of his contemporaries. Like many a chest-beating rocker, however, he also has his softer side. But unlike most guys who make a living screaming at the top of their lungs, Grohl has a decent touch with a ballad. Foo Fighters decided to make a double album In Your Honor, one half of which is formed from their heaviest metal, the other is an acoustic disc so slight that it’s barely even there. Recorded over nine months in a giant warehouse studio the band built from scratch, this fifth disc from Foo Fighters is their most expansive work to date. But more importantly, with one part of blistering rock and another of acoustic sensitivity, it's a work that lets Dave Grohl stretch out and fully explore both sides of his personality.

Foo Fighters work very well with their peers on this album; and this enhances the quality of the outcome. Look for such greats as Norah Jones on both vocals and piano; Josh Homme and Joe Beebe helping out on guitar; John Paul Jones working the mandolin and the piano; Petra Haden playing violin; Danny Clinch on harmonica; Rami Jaffe on keyboards; and Nick Raskulinecz playing both double bass and bass guitar.

"Loud" part’s grooves are faster, the song structures and production lean a little more toward classic metal and punk than the shiny alt-rock of the band's hits. It's not that Grohl has abandoned all the qualities that made the Foo Fighters famous; it's just that on tracks like No Way Back, In Your Honor, DOA, Free Me, the Crazy-Horse-on-steroids End Over End and the two-minute Hell, he's cut away all the soft bits, cranked what's left to 10 and fed it all through a distortion pedal and a wall of Marshalls. Of course, Monsieur Grohl also knows how to do "not so loud" music. For the most part the second half's dreamy, unplugged vibe is perfect chill-out music and reaches a zenith in Over And Out, where Jaffee's keys add string-like texture and Grohl's voice is impressively mellifluous. Meanwhile, the more upbeat Cold Day In The Sun is also interesting as Grohl exchanges duties with drummer Taylor Hawkins, who exhibits a curiously Cobain-esque husk. Bittersweet melodies, melancholy lyrics, quiet arrangements, unhurried performances and dark textures are the main ingredients on these 10 acoustic cuts. The rock part overpowers the acoustic one. Yet among the quieter songs, there are enough supple melodies and hypnotic guitar patterns to suggest fine prospects for a follow-through album that would dare to mix plugged-in and unplugged.

In Your Honor shows that a tough as nails musical strike and skillful songwriting do not have to be separated in any way. The Foo Fighters brings us a generous album that once again proves their unique talent, versatility and brilliance. With In Your Honorr, the Foo Fighters have proven that they still rock, yet more loudly and more quietly than they have before.