If you had to summarize drummer
Dave Grohl's impact with only two words, they would be "grunge" and "alternative."
Grohl played alongside the late
Kurt Cobain in the grunge powerhouse
Nirvana -- whose impact was truly enormous -- and he continued in a grunge-minded direction after forming
the Foo Fighters in 1995. The word "metal," however, doesn't immediately come to mind when
Grohl's '90s contributions are discussed; while
Nirvana and
the Foo Fighters both had metal influences, they weren't metal bands in the strict sense -- they were more hard rock than metal. Of course, there has often been a fine line between metal and hard rock, which are closely related even though they aren't exactly the same -- and given
Grohl's fondness for metal, a straight-up metal project like
Probot was long overdue. This CD is neither grunge nor post-grunge; a definite departure from
Nirvana and
the Foo Fighters,
Probot is metal all the way and features well-known headbanger vocalists like
King Diamond,
Max Cavalera (of
Sepultura and
Soulfly fame), and
Motörhead's
Lemmy Kilmister.
Grohl's idea was to feature different metalheads he has long admired, and by doing so, he ends up traveling all over the metal map. The drummer's affection for thrash is evident when he joins forces with
Kilmister on "Shake Your Blood" and
Cronos (of
Venom fame) on "Centuries of Sin"; meanwhile,
Corrosion of Conformity icon
Mike Dean's inspired performance on "Access Babylon" takes the album into hardcore territory. Equally memorable are "Red War" (the ferocious,
Sepultura-like alt-metal offering that features
Cavalera) and "Sweet Dreams," which features
Diamond but is closer to the
Black Sabbath worship of stoner rock than the
Judas Priest-minded power metal that
Diamond was known for in his '80s/early-'90s heyday. And whatever the style of metal that he is embracing,
Grohl's drumming is passionate throughout this fine album, which is as rewarding as it is unpredictable.