Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Foo Fighters - Saint Cecilia EP Review

The title of “Biggest rock band in the world” is a precarious one. Any slight wavering, be that in terms of music, rock star lifestyle or what you say on twitter can have a dramatic impact on how the general public see you. 

The Foo Fighters however are a total subversion of this. They seem to dodge any sort of modern expectation of “the biggest band in the world.” Firstly on a music standpoint they will forever be overshadowed by Nirvana and in all honesty haven’t really released a track which could be considered an instant classic for eight years. The band are hardly traditional rock stars with again Nirvana being where a lot of the bands tearaway years reside. Lastly in terms of the near ubiquitous modern adage of spats the Foo Fighters remain totally neutral with Dave Grohl being deservedly one of the most loved people in music. None of this really screams biggest rock band in the world but there is still absolutely no doubt that the Foo Fighters are the owners of this title. Their tours sell to a ridiculous level and their music can be heard on both top 40 pop radio and places like Kerrang.
It is with this that the Foo Fighters can make a genuine, well intentioned message like is made on the Saint Cecilia EP. It must be said however that this is an EP that serves to raise awareness, support and money for the Paris tragedy. It is not an EP about the Paris tragedy.

The EP itself however is really hit and miss.

Saint Cecilia is the first track on this EP, it is a very multi layered track, has all the elements 
that are expected however I really wasn’t a fan of Grohl’s vocals. It is still a solid, good Foo’s record.
Sean comes next with the feeling of an utter filler track. There’s very little to complain about because there is very little here. The album would be better off without it really and I would guess that there was a feeling that there was a need to push for a five track EP rather than a four track.

Saviour Breath and Iron Rooster follow on and they are by far my least favourite on this EP. Saviour Breath has a great intro, from the start it seems like things are going pretty well with solid riffs but eventually the poor lyrics take hold and the entire song drags itself along with the verses being simply stopgaps between the choruses that are the only part of the song that the band has any interest in. Iron Rooster does a similar thing but with solos with the entire song being nothing more than a piece of music which allows the solos to exist within it. This is really lazy and wastes the two pretty good elements in these songs (the chorus and the solos) which could have been kept and used in a really good Foo Fighters song one day.

The real saviour of this record is “The Neverending Sigh.” This is without a doubt one of the best Foo Fighters songs I have heard in a long time. The song really drives with great riffs and vocals and it finishing the record is a real shock which proves that the Foo Fighters can still offer a lot.

This EP is nothing to get extremely excited about, it is not the glorious return to classic form that some early commenter's have spoken of but it does bring back a lot of elements of early Foo Fighters which is very good to see. 

With a couple pretty good tracks, a couple bad tracks and one really excellent track I can’t really recommend the EP totally. It is free however so I would recommend a free download.

Download the EP for free here : http://www.saintceciliaep.com/

Donate to the French Red Cross here : https://soutenir.croix-rouge.fr/

Dominic Allan

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