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In keeping with his punk-rock past Dave Grohl welcomes you to the new record with a stiff upper-cut and a knee to the cobblers; first track and current single The Pretender is as close to pure rock precision as the Fooeys have come since 1997’s The Colour and the Shape. For so long now Foo Fighter fans have hung on for dear life, sure the albums have come but there was little meat on them thar bones, thankfully the pot bellied fans can swipe away the flies and tuck into what must surely be the band’s most focused effort since the heady days of the late nineties.

It’s this focus that has finally allowed Grohl to achieve the symbiosis of sounds he has hinted at over the last few records, from the tongue in cheek glam of Long Road to Ruin to the schizophrenic journey of Let it Die.

Another poignant touch, for Australian Foo fans especially is the inclusion of The Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners, a meandering track penned by Grohl after having met Brant Webb, one of the Beaconsfield mining disaster survivors.

Initially, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace simply sounds like another good Foo Fighters record (don’t they all), but every now and then Grohl and his offsiders sneak in a little something extra and it’s on the subsequent listens that this record comes into it’s own. Very rarely will a band recapture the magic and introspection that exists during any projects formative years, and while Foo Fighters have not topped their best, they have created their strongest record in close to a decade.