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Your Favorite Toy Review: The Foo Fighters have never been a band that takes the safe route. After everything they’ve endured in the past few years, that principle has become almost defiant. Your Favorite Toy arrives on April 24th as their twelfth record and possibly their most uncompromising work yet, a lean, loud, deliberately messy 36 minutes that feels less like a grand statement and more like a band deciding to burn some energy and move forward.
Dave Grohl’s been in therapy twice a week since early 2024. The band lost their longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins in 2022. Their guitarist’s house went up in flames during the California fires. Their replacement drummer was let go after just one album. These aren’t metaphors or artistic conceits. This album exists in the shadow of real upheaval, which might explain why Grohl and company chose to make something so deliberately raw and disinterested in polish.
The Singles Show the Direction Clearly (Your Favorite Toy Review)
The first real taste came with “Your Favorite Toy” itself back in February. It’s maybe three minutes long, built on jagged guitar work that sounds more like Queens of the Stone Age than anything in the Foo Fighters catalogue. The production is intentionally blown out, compressed to hell, almost suffocating in how much it leans into distortion. If you’re expecting the band that made “Everlong,” this will throw you. The lyrics are strange too, something about someone’s favorite toy getting thrown away, delivered with this manic energy that suggests Grohl’s been genuinely unsettled by whatever he’s working through in those therapy sessions.
Then came “Caught in the Echo” in March, which opens the album with even more intensity. Post-hardcore dynamics, a rhythm that feels slightly unmoored, vocals that lean more toward intensity than melody. The hook circles around the idea of broken communication, hallucinations, system failure. It’s a song that feels more interested in capturing a feeling than delivering a chorus you’ll remember.
“Of All People” dropped more recently and extends the palette without softening anything. The band clearly knew what they wanted and stuck to it. There’s no attempt to make any of this palatable or radio-friendly. Whether that’s brave or misguided probably depends on who you ask.
Production Choices That Divide (Your Favorite Toy Review)
The new drummer is Ilan Rubin, who came from Nine Inch Nails and Angels & Airwaves. Pat Smear broke his leg in some ridiculous gardening accident on New Year’s Day, so Jason Falkner has been filling in live. The chemistry in the room seems different—Smear mentioned to someone that seeing Grohl genuinely happy for the first time in a year once Rubin joined was striking. That energy clearly made it onto tape.
What didn’t make it onto tape was any kind of sonic refinement. The production is intentionally loose and blown out, referencing the hardcore records Grohl grew up with rather than anything contemporary. There’s no click track on the rhythm sections. The distortion and compression are heavy enough that some people online are calling it nearly unlistenable. Others see it as intentional and vital—the sonic equivalent of not caring what anyone thinks.
This is where the record will split listeners. Some will hear a band that finally sounds like they’re not overthinking everything. Others will hear a band that chose to bury whatever’s interesting about the songs under layers of noise. It’s possible both things are true.
Therapy, Loss, and Moving Forward (Your Favorite Toy Review)
Grohl’s been relatively open about needing to stop and sit with himself for a while. Not fully open, he’s still keeping most of the detail private, which makes sense. But you can hear something shifted in how he approaches these songs. They’re not trying to process grief the way the last album did. They’re not reaching for epics or narrative arcs. They’re just short, sharp bursts of frustration and defiance.
“Your Favorite Toy” as a title suggests something about disposability, about feeling thrown away, about things ending whether you want them to or not. That tracks with where Grohl’s head has been. The lyrics mention dopamine and glitter and candy, these kind of hollow pleasures, alongside images of things breaking and being cast aside. It’s not subtle, but it doesn’t try to be.
The rest of the tracklist includes songs called “Window,” “If You Only Knew,” “Spit Shine,” “Unconditional,” “Child Actor,” “Amen, Caveman,” and “Asking for a Friend.” Most are under four minutes. All of them apparently follow the same aesthetic logic, direct, energetic, loud, and not interested in softening any edges.
What This Means Going Forward (Your Favorite Toy Review)
At 36 minutes across ten tracks, this isn’t a record that’s trying to be all things to all people. It’s too short, too loud, too rough around the edges. The band’s clearly made something they wanted to make rather than something they thought they should make. After everything that’s happened, there’s something almost refreshing about that.
The Take Cover World Tour launches at the end of April with arena shows and festival slots. Queens of the Stone Age are supporting most dates. That pairing alone tells you something about where the Foo Fighters are headed creatively—less stadium rock institution, more just a rock band making noise with people they respect.
Your Favorite Toy might be the best thing they’ve done in years. It might be a mistake. It definitely won’t appeal to everyone. But for a band that could have easily played it safe and relied on nostalgia, the fact that they chose to make something this unpolished and direct matters. It suggests they’re not finished, not coasting, and not interested in your approval. In 2026, that feels almost radical.
Listen to “Your Favorite Toy” by Foo Fighters (Your Favorite Toy Review)
He discovered the gem when he was 12 years old and still has it now, claiming it to be why he fell in love with music. He likes to play disc golf when he's not writing about music. He is a one-of-a-kind individual who is always the first to bust out his air guitar on the dance-floor.
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