After the weight of But Here We Are, Foo Fighters don’t linger in that space on Your Favorite Toy. The band’s 12th album moves quickly, says what it needs to say, and gets out in just over 30 minutes.

Recorded at Studio 606, the sessions leaned into immediacy. No click track, minimal second-guessing, and a clear push toward capturing a band playing together in real time. That shift is felt right away. The songs land tighter, sharper, and more direct than what the band has been building toward over the last few releases.

The lineup change matters here. With Ilan Rubin stepping in on drums, the feel opens up. Rubin doesn’t chase Taylor Hawkins’ swing or power. He plays it his own way, which gives these tracks a different kind of movement. It’s subtle, but it changes how the band breathes.

The title track set the direction early. Once that one clicked, the rest of the record followed its lead. Dave Grohl commented on it, “’Your Favorite Toy’ really was the key that unlocked the tone and energetic direction of the new album. We stumbled upon it after experimenting with different sounds and dynamics for over a year, and the day it took shape I knew that we had to follow its lead. It was the fuse to the powder keg of songs we wound up recording for this record. It feels new.”

Songs like “Caught in the Echo” and “Unconditional” keep things moving without overreaching, while “Amen, Caveman” leans into a rougher edge that feels closer to the band’s earlier instincts. “Asking for a Friend” closes things out on a more reflective note, but even that doesn’t drift. It stays grounded and to the point.

There’s a noticeable absence of excess. No long intros, no extended outros, no moments that feel like they’re trying to prove anything. The band isn’t revisiting the past, but they’re also not trying to create something new for the sake of it. This is a reset built on clarity. Write the song, play it right, move on.

Your Favorite Toy ends up being their shortest album, but it doesn’t feel slight. It feels intentional. A band that’s been through a lot, tightening the focus and trusting the core of what they do.