The Foo Fighters’ new album, “Wasting Light” cannot be defined by a single genre.

The versatility of the band, specifically of singer/guitarist Dave Grohl, allows for this album to be defined by multiple genres including grunge, screamo, pop and alternative.

“Wasting Light” is a stellar rock album that provides the listener with loud, intense instrumentals.

This is the seventh Foo Fighters album, but the first with the new Foo Fighters’ lineup, which has three guitarists – Grohl, Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett – who accompany bassist Nate Mendel and drummer Taylor Hawkins.

Grohl, who was the drummer of the grunge band Nirvana, brought back some of his Nirvana ties to help out with this album. Butch Vig, who produced “Wasting Light,” also produced Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album, which was ranked as the 17th greatest album of all time, according to Rolling Stone Magazine.

Grohl also brought back Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic to play on the track “I Should Have Known,” a sad, grungy song about suicide that leaves the listener with thoughts of Grohl and Novoselic’s former band mate Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994.

“Wasting Light” was made in Grohl’s garage with analog equipment, rather than digital. This gives the album much more of a raw feel without taking away from the sharpness of the songs. This album sounds like it is made in a garage, but not in a bad way. It sounds like five friends playing music together. This album doesn’t rely on computers to make sure everything is timed right. It relies on the talent of each band member to time everything together.

The first single off this album, “Rope,” is a typical hard alternative rock song with awesome guitar solos and an unbelievable drum solo. It is accompanied by a plain, yet cool music video showing the band playing instruments in a room, with each instrument lighting the room.

“Dear Rosemary” shows the Foo Fighters’ soft side, walking the line between a rock song and a power ballad. On the other hand, “White Limo” is a loud metal song that walks the line between rock and screamo.

The common factor in all Foo Fighters’ songs is the emotion of all the instruments, including Grohl’s voice. As shown in the VH1 documentary about the band, “Back and Forth,” the group has been through a lot. It was founded because of a tragedy and lived through lineup changes, betrayal, and near deaths.

Unlike many bands that use instruments to make background noise, the Foo Fighters use the instruments to convey emotions to the listener.

The most underrated aspect of this band is the drumming by Hawkins. Hawkins provides top-of-the-line drumming on this album. His look and style while drumming on live videos of the songs, as well as theatrically directed music videos, adds a flare to the Foo Fighters.

Overall, the emotion and versatility of the band, combined with the amazing drumming of Hawkins makes this album well worth the $10 price on iTunes.

There is a deluxe version of this album available on iTunes, which includes an additional song, the music videos for “Rope” and “White Limo” and a Deadmau5 remix of “Rope.”

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.