Do you think that it irks Dave Grohl even just a little bit that Probot, his long awaited death metal side project was released on the same day as the new Courtney Love album? Just a little food for thought I figured I'd throw out there for digestion. As mentioned before, Probot is Dave Grohl's new baby. Eleven new tracks, all fleshed out musically by Grohl (he played almost all guitar and all of the drums), but all vocals were sung by death metal veterans that Grohl has grown up worshiping. Grohl worshiping death metal? Mr. Foo Fighter? It's true, before Grohl was slamming skins for Nirvana, he first played in a death metal band called Scream. Now, after all these years, Grohl gives back by enlisting just about all the great death metal vocalists from the 80's to scream and yowl for old time's sake.

Now, if the concept for Probot sounds like an extremely cheesy affair, don't fear, you're not the only one. I thought the same thing before listening. But now that I have, I can say that if you consider yourself a fan of the death metal sound, you will not be disappointed. Unfortunately however, the beginning of this album starts off a little rough. First track "Centuries of Sin" sung by the legendary Cronos from Venom is surprisingly terrible, and next song "Red War" sung by the most overrated voice in metal, Max Cavalera formerly of Sepultura and Soulfly sucks hardcore. Even fans I know of those bands have admitted to me that the song is crap. But after that, this album is great trip back into the past. Lemmy from Motorhead doesn't disappoint on "Shake Your Blood," and Kurt Brecht from D.R.I. is as great as ever on "Silent Spring." And even singers that I've never been fans of won me over like Mike Dean from Corrosion of Conformity on Access Babylon and Tom G. Warrior from Celtic Frost on "Big Sky." Even King Diamond sounds great on final track "Sweet Dreams," and there's even a Kim Thayil sighting on guitar on that song as well. (See Soundgarden fans, he really is still alive!) But the greatest praise that Grohl recieves from me personally as a music fan is having Wino, formerly of The Obsessed, and one of the greatest heavy metal voices of all tme appear on the greatest song of this set "The Emerald Law." Even Wino's guitar playing is still as blistering as ever. God bless you Dave Grohl. You've made a pretty great album in a genere that's pretty much been a running joke for years.