Okay, first of all, please note that I'm neither here praise nor criticize the production on the new album, which has obviously been a point of contention for a lot of fans. If you hate it, that's fine. If you love it, that's fine too. I'm not taking a side. I'm just saying that I think I finally understand it.
I feel like the production has sort of a "wall of sound" quality to it, where there's obviously a lot of noise and distortion, with the guitars just roaring at you in this all-out assault and the vocals fairly low in the mix. I've listened to the album all the way through a few times now, and on my most recent listen, I began to notice something: It sounds like a live show. And just to clarify, no, it doesn't sound like a live album. Rather, it sounds like you're standing in the pit, right in front of the stage, in a dark, sweaty club that only fits a few hundred people, with giant booming speakers like ten feet away.
Listen to it again with an open mind. Close your eyes and crank up the volume. Doesn't it feel like that? Doesn't it seem like you're right up front at that shitty club gig? Whether you love it or hate it, I kinda think that's the vibe that the band was really going for.
This is clearly an album the band made for themselves. In Dave's Apple Music interview, he mentions that they played some smaller club gigs to break in the new drummer, and they ended up doing a lot of older songs and deep cuts — not necessarily the "best" or most popular songs, but just the ones they love to play. And he said that was the attitude that inspired this album. So yeah, the songs are raw, gritty, and have kind of an underground punk rock vibe. As some other commenters have said, I do like that you can hear Nate and Rami so much more on this album, and Chris has a ton more solos than usual, which is pretty cool. Also, I have no problem with the short length, because with a sound this loud, fast, and relentless, a little goes a long way. Does it rank among my favorite Foo Fighters albums? Nah. But I do think that it's good, and that it's different, and that it's raucous, and that it will definitely rattle your windows.