It must have been an interesting journey, rising from the ashes of one of the biggest ever rock bands and reinventing oneself in order to get one's own group together. After all, you can't front a band from behind a drumkit. No, don't listen to anything Phil Collins tells you.

Anyway, Dave Grohl's little outfit has been active for well over a decade now, a pretty great shelf life for a top-tier rock band in today's world. Most of the credit has to be given to Grohl's prolific nature and the fact that, at the end of the day, he's a pretty good songwriter. And judging by their latest output, it looks like his skills haven't lost their edge over time.

ESP&G is stuffed full of catchy no.1 singles, with the occasional contemplative pause in between. There's heady aggression, upbeat driving tunes and slow-tempo crooners, all well rounded and finely produced. This sounds like a band that's been together for a while, and instinctively know how best to complement each other. Grohl also knows to use his voice so that they lead the tunes without getting too monotonous or too strained. Special mention to the 'The Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners', a short acoustic passage in the middle, which is a bit reminiscent of 'Silk and Steel' from 'Gutter Ballet'. A nice touch, and not really something I was expecting.

In all, it's great to see a band hitting the big time and not stagnating. Despite the dismal pop/rock racket out there, it's good not be so overly elitist that you overlook releases like this. While this isn't the biggest album Grohl has been involved in, it's probably one of the best.



Year of release: 2007
Label: RCA