Every cloud has a silver lining. Cobain's death meant we got the Foo Fighters, and after a about 18 months of silence, they've come back.

Taking no prisoners, Stacked Actors storms out of your stereo and makes you want to jump up and down like a funky thing from start to finish. Followed by forthcoming single Breakout, and current single Learn to Fly, it soon becomes apparent that the Foo's are the best heavy rock band around these days.

No trick is left unused through an album that comfortably serves up ballads, power pop, and tunes in the key of mosh, and Grohl's latest toy is the epitomy of 80's cheese, the voice box. Making Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer sound every bit as poo as it is, Generator is how cheese was meant to work, being combined with another groovy chorus. Riff rock and power chord mania are the order of the day, and if you discount Next Year, which sounds like a collaboration with Sixpence None the Effing Richer, you find yourself wondering just how you survived without them. Even this turgid track can't detract from the wonderous whole, though, and as M.I.A ends, you'll be scrambling for the Repeat button faster then a very fast thing with a special reason to be fast. Contender for album of the year?

You bet your bottom it is.

9/10

Moomin Jr

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