Dream Widow

I've been a Dave Grohl admirer for quite a while. His work with Nirvana and Foo Fighters has never been metal and I'm not a fan, but he's a genuinely curious and dedicated student of music in general. Watching him on his documentary series Sonic Highways, his interests run the gamut from chart rock like Cheap Trick and ZZ Top, to punk/hardcore acts such as Bad Brains, jazz and of course grunge from the Seattle scene. More than anyone else from the musical desert known as the 1990's, Grohl stands apart as a musician who transcends his own output. And metal is part of that.

On Dream Widow, Grohl's fondness for metal is put on display and the results are surprisingly good. This album is associated with the horror comedy film Studio 666 which features the Foo Fighters in acting roles as themselves and comes off as a sort of revival of Trick or Treat, a campy horror film from the 1980's. The movie is mixed at best, so feel free not to check it out since time is precious and you'll likely waste it.

But this LP is absolutely worth your time, partly because it is not entirely a soundtrack and partly because it's just good fun. You won't hear a set of groundbreaking songs, but you will hear some good riffs, solid production, and music that draws upon a wide range of metal influences with good energy throughout.

Anything from thrash to doom to more commercialized metal is covered here. “Encino” is a thrashy opener; quick and efficient. It gets right to the point, kicks some ass, and then it's on to the next song. “Cold” takes us through more commercialized territory, although there's a depraved aesthetic that keeps it metal and the riffage is groovy. “March of the Insane” is arguably the best song on here, containing an effective mix of old-school up-tempo thrash and screechy vox. And “Lacrimus dei Ebrius,” the one tune directly from the movie, is a doom-ish instrumental with some other styles thrown in for good measure. Grohl channels his inner Iommi for sure. If he wanted he could have thrown in some Ozzy crooning but chose not to go there.

Lyrically Dream Widow is about the various stages and flavors of possession, which does track with the movie's overall theme but it doesn't quite match up with the storyline. I'd call it partly a concept and partly an anthology. I like the economy of words here. Grohl isn't writing a book, he's spitting out quick lines of vile screeches and growls and then it's time to move on. A few melodies are featured as well, sounding to my ears like Stone Temple Pilots or Alice in Chains, but Grohl is careful to punctuate with some background screaming to keep the metal sensibility in place. I hate grunge with a passion so at first this put me off. I think Grohl sensed it would induce groans in the target audience, so he spiced it up a little. Good move. On “Come All Ye Unfaithful” there's some Rob Zombie happening but again, it's placed against a background of screeching and solidly metal riffage. “Encino” in particular is fun as hell in no small part because Grohl spends the song screeching madly, and he pulls it off.

It's interesting that the songs tend to get longer as the album progresses. “Encino” is a mere minute-and-a-half, while “Lacrimus dei Ebrius” clocks in at ten minutes. So Grohl draws the listener in with some quick tracks leading to bit more involved compositions later on. By the time the end comes it wears a little thin, but honestly most albums do. My understanding is Grohl had to throw this together quickly to match up with the movie's release timeline. It's difficult to put together 8 great songs in any case, but much less so when deadlines are short and for the most part it's a one-man effort. Given those challenges the results are solid. Some bands would probably write and obsess over an equal effort for a year or more as they bang out initial riffs, tweak arrangements, record and edit, and mix/master to a professional level. Sometimes a pressure cooker environment can yield better results and it appears that's the case here.

A subscription to a streaming service gets you in the door with no additional cost so check this out. It may not remain in your playlist forever, but there's a place in the metal universe for a semi-parody done right by a man with a ton of experience writing and recording music, and with the breadth of musical interest to pull off a convincing slab of metal with no apologies and certainly no embarrassment.