An eighty-minute album recorded over just two months would be a tremendous feat if it were to sound any good. Foo Fighters were not struggling because of the length of In Your Honour, though, that was an ongoing problem with material. Far from what quality Dave Grohl had offered on the self-titled debut, where it was just the ex-Nirvana drummer in the studio, hammering away at every instrument there is. What an experience that was, and how quickly it all changed for the band is fascinating. Gone were the hits and in was a loose sense of following along to the alternative rock genre they had helped establish at the start of the century. Five years is a long while in music, and you can hear that difference on In Your Honour. But hold on, there’s a sound of real interest here. Grohl’s vocals are given centre stage in a slow-burning, instrumental rise that rivals their best work. A promising start, but we all know where this goes for Foo Fighters, don’t we?
Not this time. Foo Fighters’ steadfast sound, that rock and roll energy they bring with an occasional punchiness, is cemented well. Not well enough to cause those on the fence to fall into their favour, but certainly enough for them to sway back and forth. A title track of real surprise, a follow-up song, No Way Back, which is too instrumentally similar to My Hero to have any impact of its own. Songs of fighting, honour, and soft studies of violence for the sake of love. It’s all very macho but means at least Grohl is fighting for the right values. Or was, anyway. Best of You is the clear standout. Foo Fighters could at least throw in a song that’d be remembered above all. It feels a tad arbitrary, though, it says nothing that hadn’t been said on their previous albums. Thematically identical works are all well and good, but In Your Honour never wants to glimpse at what lies beyond grief.
Best of You doesn’t stand out, nor does DOA, they’re plodding but solid and comfortable rock songs. Expecting anything more from Foo Fighters would suggest Grohl has headed back into the experimental flourishes of their first album, or is keen to openly grieve as he was on But Here We Are. There is a decades-long midsection of relatively enjoyable but ridiculously light and plain, anthemic-like music. Hollow anthems are no use, though. In Your Honour has twenty of those. That’s not to say In Your Honour doesn’t have any standout moments. Free Me is the first sign of real, exciting life from the album. It doesn’t last, but at least it’s there as an example of what the band can do with a more nuanced lyrical flourish and an instrumental style that isn’t a copy of what precedes it. Floaty follow-up Resolve is promisingly soft, a break from the stiff rock to follow.
Through volume alone, Foo Fighters find some consistency. Enough here to enjoy, not enough to return to. Moments of surprise in the latter half of the album, namely Still and What If I Do? two shockingly strong, sentimentally genuine songs. There are thrills to be had with In Your Honour if you’re willing to slog through a rather lengthy collection of rock fodder. These latter parts of In Your Honour range from staggering to overly sentimental, the inevitable string section coming through on Over and Out, but used well enough. Grohl walks a fine line between sincerity and excessively sentimental here. When he veers into the latter, the band manages to correct him rather quickly, but they wouldn’t be as successful as they are here on other efforts.
