Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (CD)

Having commemorated their tenth anniversary with a year-plus run commencing with In Your Honor (a double album the new york times called an unexpected magnum opus), sold out rock arena shows and a toned down intimate theater trek, and a headlining gig at London's Hyde Park for a crowd of 85,000, the question looms larger than any in the Foo Fighters' career to date: what do they do for an encore?!? The answer comes in the form of sixth studio album Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace. Produced by Gil Norton, who last worked with the band on 1997's double-platinum The Colour and the Shape, Dave Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, drummer Taylor Hawkins and guitarist Chris Shiflett have crafted a 12-track milestone that showcases and reconciles the band's every strength and sensibility in the most complex and confident Foo Fighters album to date.