A little over a year after the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins, the Seattle, Washington native band, The Foo Fighters released their 13th studio album and first since the passing of Hawkins.

“But Here We Are” is such a great record name, it perfectly sums up the band in the aftermath of the tragedy that was the unexpected death of Hawkins who was best friends with lead singer and guitarist, Dave Grohl. Something about the record title just sends chills up and down my spine. The art, although faint and hard to see, also perfectly fits with the album’s name.

“But Here We Are” clocks in at 48 minutes and contains 10 songs of pure emotion and energy from start to finish.

As someone who actively listens to music you can tell when bands have help on songs and when they have another person help with lyrics. I really appreciate that the songwriting credit on this entire record is credited to the band since no one can capture the emotions of the whole band quite like the actual band themselves.

The first track “Rescued” contains lyrics like “rescue me tonight” and kicks off the mood of the record. The mood is a sort of memorial for Hawkins as on this record, it’s the band saying farewell to their long-time friend and band member and trekking forward with the music.

Track two, “Under You,” carries a little more energy and speed than the track before it. It contains a catchy guitar riff but, don’t let this song fool you from the very direct message on this song.

With lyrics containing “part of me just can’t believe it’s true, pictures of us sharing songs and cigarettes, this is how I’ll always picture you.” At times fans can read too deeply into lyrics and look for hidden messages but without a doubt, this is Grohl’s song to Hawkins. It’s his way of dealing with the grief and pain.

Tracks three, four, and six, “Hearing Voices,” the title track, and “Nothing At All,” are classic Foo Fighters songs that you would find on any of their records. Whether that be 1997’s “Color and the Shape” or 2014’s “Sonic Highway,” they’re just songs that contain their signature sound of post-grunge, modern rock.

There are two softer, ballad-like songs on the record with the first one being “The Glass.” If you look a little further down the record you’ll find track seven, “Show Me How.”

“Show Me How” features Violet Grohl as they harmonize beautifully on the almost five-minute track. If there was one song to take away from this record in terms of adding it to a playlist or just simply remembering, it would be this song.

The harmonies are just beautiful between Dave and Violet and I love the giant family feel that is within the band as they all mourned the death of Hawkins and have individually spoken about his death. What I love most is the family vibe as literally reached out to Grohl’s family and he got his daughter involved in this record.

The last three songs on the record, “Beyond Me,” “Rest,” and the 10-minute track, “The Teacher,” which was released before the entire record was released put a bow on the record and wraps up arguably the band’s most powerful record that they’ve ever released.

There is not one band thing I have to say about this record other than I personally do not like long songs like “The Teacher,” but that is me personally. All in all, this is such a strong record from start to finish.

Grohl ends the record with chilling words to his best friend as it is not the end, but a simple “see you later.”

“Waking up, had another dream of us. In the warm Virginia sun, there I will meet you.”

Without further wait, it’s time for The Singer’s Thoughts:

1. Other bands should take note of the pure emotion on this record and use it as an example of how to make a great record and make it stand out from others
2. The Foo Fighters are quite literally one of the only bands I can think of that can follow a tragedy with an amazing record and it just goes to show how strong they are as a band
3. Dave Grohl as a person has been through so much, first losing Kurt Cobain while they were in Nirvana together and now Hawkins, it just goes to show that he is a living, breathing soldier of Rock and Roll music

Overall Grade: 8.5/10