Album: Foo Fighters, Wasting Light (Roswell / RCA)

Back to basics time for the Foo Fighters. Well, kinda.

We're told, up front, that Wasting Light was recorded on analogue tape – computers were banned – in Dave Grohl's garage. It's safe to assume, however, that Grohl's garage is not the average council estate lock-up.

Oh, and the whole thing was produced by Butch Vig (with whom Grohl first worked on Nevermind), which isn't the only reunion: Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic plays on "I Should Have Known", while sometime Nirvana touring guitarist Pat Smear is now a full-time Foo Fighter. From opener "Bridge Burning" to finale "Walk", Wasting Light sees the Foos jealously guard their plectrum-shaped space at the middle of a rock/ punk/metal Venn diagram, a smart and highly lucrative piece of market positioning. And for all its faux-primitive origins, their seventh studio album is every bit as likely to ship platinum as the previous six.