As another wave of Kurt Cobain nostalgia came over us recently, it’s interesting to note just how little store was placed on the post-Nirvana future coming from behind the drum kit. If anyone was going to continue the band’s legacy then surely it would be Cobain’s soul mate and co-founder, bassist Krist Novoselic? Yet here we are, some years later, and that hairy drummer bloke finds his band on the verge of releasing their fourth album and seeing their stock shoot through the proverbial roof. If anything is certain in this life, it’s that One By One is going to be very big indeed. But is it any good?
Well, sort of. Not that you’d know it from the opening three tracks, which flail around with much huffing and puffing without real effect. The man/band of the people image that Dave Grohl and the Foos have perfected over recent years may be a trump card but it has also resulted in an album that, while eschewing showy hysterics, is also a little light on dynamics. The four simply tend to throw everything they have at each track, swamping any melody in a wash of thrashing drums and frantic riffs.
When it works, as on ‘Times Like These’, it’s an exhilarating experience. When it fails, it’s not really good enough. The other problem is that One By One doesn’t really manage to put any clear blue water between the band and their rivals – ‘Disenchanted Lullaby’ could be Nickelback for chrissakes – sounding a bit too much an old fashioned classic rock band in the process.
‘Tired Of You’ abandons the bombast for a moment (replacing it with Brian May of all people) ushering in a second half that sees the band hitting a richer vein of form. ‘Halo’, ‘Lonely As You’ and ‘Overdrive’ don’t particularly tamper with the formula but are simply better songs, while the closing track ‘Come Back’ sees them stretch themselves like never before, building to a deft yet powerful instrumental coda.
Now they’ve proved that they can step beyond their own limitations maybe they’ll try it more often. For the moment, however, One By One is an unassuming – and sadly at times uninspiring – record.