Seven albums in and the Foo Fighters juggernaut shows no signs of slowing down. Nor, for that matter, does Dave Grohl’s stratospheric rise into the highest echelons of legendary frontmen. So much so, that the building anticipation surrounding ‘Wasting Light’ has meant the usual album release schedule has been discarded in favour of two 30-second ‘teasers’, a full single and a video for ‘White Limo’ starring Motörhead’s Lemmy. All this means Foo fans will be familiar with the scratchy-riff brilliance of album opener ‘Bridge Burning’. It’s epic punk rock, and as rumbling guitars smash through Grohl’s harmonies, it’s Foo Fighters at their very best. That said, it’s on ‘Dear Rosemary’ that the band slide into their signature sound with soaraway choruses swept along by the thundering drums you’d expect from Nirvana’s sticksman. ‘White Limo’ thumps the ears as ‘Wasting Light’’s jittering, rampaging fuck-you track – all distorted screeches and angst-ridden riffs – and for that reason alone it’s an unexpectedly exhilarating album high-point. That’s despite a historic reunion of one of rock’s greatest rhythm sections as Krist Novoselic takes bass duties not on the Nirvanaesque ‘Arlandria,’ but on the inexplicably 60s-tinged lovein of ‘I Should Have Known’. ‘Wasting Light won’t catch anybody by surprise, but don’t expect to hear the screeching of brakes for some time yet.

Matt Glass