Dave Grohl's Metal EP Is Better in Theory Than in Practice

Published Mar 25, 2022

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Dream Widow is the latest wacky brainchild of Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, who performed most of the instruments on this debut EP himself, along with Jim Rota of Fireball Ministry fame. It's a spinoff of the Foos' recent horror film Studio 666, in which a fictional metal band called Dream Widow are brutally murdered while trying to record an album in a haunted house.

This isn't the first time Grohl has delved into heavy metal. In 2004, he recorded and released an album from a project known only as Probot. That album included appearances by Lemmy and King Diamond.

Grohl's devotion to all things metal is evident from the opener, "Encino," which slides effortlessly from lightning-fast thrash to the kind of drumming and chanting found on Sepultura's more adventurous releases in the '90s. In a quick but filling 98 seconds, it establishes just what kind of ride listeners are in for. Another highlight is the equally thrash-y pre-release single "March of the Insane."

However, there are times when Grohl's pop instincts betray him, and not always for the better, as the insistent riff of "The Sweet Abyss" gives way to the kind of bland chorus usually found on a Foo Fighter's B-side.

The harmonized guitars that show up during the intro of "Angel with Severed Wings" are an interesting and welcome change in sound, but beside that, the song doesn't really go anywhere. The closing tracks, "Becoming" and "Lacrimus dei Ebrius," sound like they were constructed haphazardly from leftover riffs — which is at least partly what happened. In an interview with Exclaim!, Grohl said, "I had all of these heavy riffs that I'd banked over the years on my computer, and I just put, like, nine of them together to make this 15-minute-long song. And that's what you hear in the film."

Despite many of the songs not building on the promise of the opening track, there is a sense of playfulness to the proceedings. You can practically hear Grohl grinning throughout as he indulges in some thrash metal cosplay. Unfortunately, it sounds like Dream Widow was more fun to record than it is to listen to. (Roswell)