Your Favorite Toy
Foo Fighters have decided to get on with it. Your Favorite Toy is a short, noisy record with very little interest in explaining itself. The songs move quickly, Dave Grohl spends plenty of time shouting, and the band sound more interested in the next chorus than the next grand concept. That's a pretty good starting point.
Caught In The Echo gets the volume up immediately. It's a forceful opener, followed by the even more impatient Of All People. There is a roughness to these songs that suits the band. The guitars don't need elaborate arrangements to make their point, and the rhythm section gives everything a firm push. New drummer Ilan Rubin fits in without making the record feel like an audition.
The title track is especially catchy beneath Grohl's distorted vocal. It's slightly grubby, slightly silly and very easy to imagine being shouted back at a stage. Spit Shine keeps that fast, punky approach moving. These are the moments where the decision to keep things simple pays off most clearly.
That doesn't mean everything has to be played at full speed. Unconditional has a straighter beat and a more open melody, giving the album a welcome change in colour. If You Only Knew also makes use of the familiar contrast between a softer voice and a heavier attack. The band still know how to do that well, even when you can see the change coming.
The main drawback is the sound itself. With so much pushed forward, the impact can become tiring, and a few songs have more force than character. A little extra space would have helped the strongest riffs stand apart. The album's short running time is sensible under the circumstances.
Asking For A Friend gives the ending more room. It builds towards the sort of large finish the band have always enjoyed, and it earns that extra attention. Your Favorite Toy isn't their most varied record, but the direct approach gives it purpose. There are good songs here, and enough energy behind them to make another Foo Fighters album feel like something worth having.
