Probot: Probot

By REBECCA BARRY

(Herald rating: * * *)


Whoever said blondes have more fun obviously forgot about brunette metalheads. Dave Grohl - a once-blonde very famous metalhead - sounds like a kid in a candy store on Probot, an album that pays tribute to his hardcore punk and thrash-heavy record collection.

The Foo Fighter frontman, ex-Nirvana drummer and one-time Queens of the Stone Age member, took to his heaviest project four years ago, enlisting the help of his favourite singers - Motorhead's anti-stud Lemmy, Sepultura's boulder-voiced Max Cavalera and former Venom howler Cronos, whom Grohl once proudly watched eating raw red meat. Vocalists from underground metal bands Trouble, Mercyful Fate and Napalm Death also agreed to join Grohl as he set to work as a one-man band, playing all instruments on most of the tracks.

Occasionally the result is as searing as Cronos' growling line, "Survivooooorrrr. Warrior prince! Psychopaaaath!" on opening number Centuries of Sin.

Elsewhere it's just plain funny, particularly on the bad-taste hidden track with Jack Black, the over-the-top retro metal of Sweet Dreams with King Diamond and Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, and the Danzig-style fuzz-rock of The Emerald Law with ex-Spirit Caravan, the Obsessed singer Wino. You've got to love lyrics about cosmic rings and falcons.

Unfortunately, Grohl's unbridled enthusiasm sometimes overlooks skill, and while his drumming is superb as always, he would have done better hiring someone capable of more virtuosic guitar playing and a knack for writing riskier melodies, as some of the tracks get swamped by progressive, Foo-ey chords and uninspired riffs. It's certainly not ground-breaking stuff, but then it was probably never meant to be. True metal fans will still get a kick.


Label: Shiny Records