Probot | ||
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The album's cover art was created by Voivod drummer Michel Langevin.
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Studio album by Probot | ||
Released | February 10, 2004 | |
Recorded | 2000-2003 | |
Genre | Heavy metal, thrash metal, crossover thrash, doom metal | |
Length | 52:18 | |
Label | Southern Lord (SUNN30) | |
Singles from Probot | ||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | |
Blender | |
Entertainment Weekly | B− |
Pitchfork Media | 7.0/10 |
PopMatters | favorable |
Rolling Stone | |
Spin | |
Stylus Magazine | A |
Probot was a heavy metal side project of ex-Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters rhythm guitarist and lead-singer Dave Grohl. Described by Grohl as "a death metal Supernatural", the album mixes instrumentals recorded by Grohl himself with various metal singers which the musician admired. The album was released in February 2004 by Southern Lord Records. It featured one single entitled "Centuries of Sin"/"The Emerald Law".
After years of popularity in the alternative rock scene, Dave Grohl wanted to express the passion for heavy metal he bore since his youth. He mentioned the catalyst of the experience being during the first leg of the tour in support of the Foo Fighters album There Is Nothing Left to Lose, with the mellower songs making him think about the heavier bands he used to listen to. Thus after the tour was done, Grohl went to his house in Alexandria, Virginia, to record some heavier songs in his home studio Studio 606 Adam Kasper. Grohl would play with his Gibson Explorer as he watched TV with Kasper, and once he got a riff that interested him, he would bring Kasper along to the basement, recording a drum arrangement followed by bass and guitar. Each instrumental would take about 45 minutes to complete. Grohl said that he did not intend to make an album out of the recordings - "I didn’t even call them songs because they were bare instrumentals with no intention of putting vocals on them and no direction as an actual song". After four days of recording, Grohl and Kasper had done seven tracks, with Grohl making some copies out of the master tape before labeling it Probot to distinguish from the Foo Fighters work.