Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace is the sixth studio album by Foo Fighters, released in September 2007 on RCA Records and produced by Gil Norton. It is a return to the sonic approach of The Colour and the Shape with Norton's production, combining the band's hard rock foundation with the more reflective acoustic material that had characterized the second disc of In Your Honor. Grohl wrote all material; 'The Pretender' opened the album as the lead single and spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, becoming one of the band's most commercially successful singles; 'Long Road to Ruin,' 'Let It Die,' and the acoustic closer 'Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners' were among the other principal tracks. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and won the Grammy for Best Rock Album, the band's fifth win in the category; it has been certified double platinum in the United States. The album's sonic range, from the opening urgency of 'The Pretender' to the hushed string-accompanied closer, reflects the tonal ambition that Norton's production had consistently brought to the band's studio work. The album's Grammy win for Best Rock Album represented the second consecutive Grammy in the category for the band and confirmed their commercial and critical position as the most consistently recognized mainstream rock act of the decade, a designation that depended equally on Grohl's prolific creative output and his band's ability to sustain commercial execution across successive album cycles.