Out Now: Foo Fighters Throw a Few Surprises into the Mix with New Album ‘Medicine at Midnight’ (Listen)

After a relentless promotional push that saw the Foo Fighters especially visible the past few months, Dave Grohl and the guys have unleashed Medicine at Midnight, their anticipated new studio album.

Back in May 2020, Grohl characterized his band’s new material as “our David Bowie Let’s Dance record,” also peppering in words like “groove” and suggesting that “It’s kind of like a dance record.” These were provocative concepts from the Foo Fighters, one of the foremost authorities on mainstream alt/rock for much of the past two-plus decades.

For the most part, Medicine at Midnight follows through on the promise of something new — click here for our full Rock Cellar album review. The record has a few “traditional” Foo Fighters-sounding songs, and some of the stylistic departures retain that FF familiarity, but overall it’s creative and inspired enough to stand out from the previous handful of Foo Fighters records.

Click here to pre-order Medicine at Midnight on CD from our Rock Cellar Store
Click here to pre-order Medicine at Midnight on LP from our Rock Cellar Store

It’s a focused, and at times daring, listen from the Foo Fighters. They could have made another earnest album of standard, radio-ready rock songs, but where’s the fun in that? Where’s the spark? They set out with a specific focus with this one, and despite a few moments of overwrought indulgences (“Chasing Birds,” perhaps, and also maybe some of the choral flourishes), the surprises on most of the record ought to leave enough there to warrant repeat listens for fans.

Give it a listen below.