Probot, a project started in singer/drummer/guitarist Dave Grohl’s Virginia basement, is a veritable who’s who of underground metal. The main fighter of Foo enlisted a host of rockers to live out his childhood metal fantasies.

Courting the likes of Cronos from seminal death metalers Venom; Max Cavalera of Sepultura and Soufly; Lemmy of Motorhead; and King Diamond from Mercyful Fate among others; Probot, both the album and the band, is a teenage metalhead’s wet dream.

Some of the music is sketchy at best, and the album certainly isn’t for the average Foo Fighters fan, but “Probot” is an amazing tribute to metal and the childhood heroes for a generation that grew up on death and speed metal.

Kicking off the album is machine gun riffing “Centuries of Sin” featuring the aforementioned Cronos. The tune is followed by the Sepultura-lite “Red War” with Cavalera and the “Ace of Spades”-esque “Shake Your Blood” with Lemmy. These three songs not only set the tone for the rest of the album, but show the three basic genres of Probot: classic new wave of British heavy metal, grindcore and Motorhead-styled groove-stomp that exists somewhere between metal and hardcore punk.

Tunes like “Access Babylon,” with Mike Dean of Corrosion of Conformity, “The Emerald Law,” with Wino of The Obsessed and “Silent Spring” with Kurt Brecht of Dirty Rotten Imbeciles come off best on the album, as they rely heavily on Grohl’s hardcore and punk leanings. While much of the more metallic material may be Grohl’s admitted favorites, it becomes abundantly clear his expertise is in punk and not subgenres of metal.

Grohl may be trying his best on the haunting “Ice Cold Man” and the thundering Tom G. Warrior-fronted “Big Sky,” but heart and head never quite meet with the intensity these singers are capable of.

“Probot” is an intriguing release, showcasing genres of music the average pop music fan may never become familiar with. The problem is, despite his best intentions, Grohl can’t always pull it off despite multiple contributions from Wino and ex-Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil.

These shortcomings, not withstanding the low-fi recording aesthetics and raw power of the largely live recordings, lend credibility to the purity and minimalism Grohl is ultimately celebrating. He has had the Midas touch with Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age and Tenacious D. This has heightened the expectations for any project with which he becomes involved.

Probot may not always be on par with that level of quality, but the album is a loving testament to the groups Grohl grew up on that have gone largely ignored by a generation all too willing to swallow the shallow tripe of the likes of Britney Spears, countless boy bands and a slew of whiney, crybaby n metalheads.