Crowbarred's Mellow Mix Volume 1: MM Vol 1 - 032

Saturday, October 20, 2007

MM Vol 1 - 032 - Papa Roach

MM Vol 1 #032
Papa Roach
"Broken Home"
(2000)

Genre:Nu Metal

pic by 5pianos

Papa Roach is one of those bands that i cant understand why i like. Ever since "Infest" in 2000 i have to listen to any new material that has come out ever since, waiting and hoping for that great track that i seem to think they have in them. I keep on harping on how music is like clothing, if your old faded jeans dies of a holy death and don't cut the mustard no more, you go out and get something else. So maybe Papa Roach are like Levi Jeans, no matter what happens you can always rely on replacing them with an identical pair. Guess i better stop waiting for that stupendous song. Bet i don't.

Papa Roach's debut album Infest quietly became a Top 20 hit in the first half of 2000, slipping underneath the radar of most pop critics and fans. It's easy to see why the pop elite passed them by, since the quartet just isn't hip, and since they are pushing an amalgam of every heavy sound that was popular in the late '90s. Basically, Infest is pitched somewhere between the classic grunge/industrial of the early '90s with hints of late-'90s behemoths like Korn and Limp Bizkit

. There's singing, but it's balanced by rapping, and the heavy riffs are run through effects boxes that give it the controlled distortion common to alt-metal; it's loud, but you can hear each note being articulated. Lyrically, there's a lot of angst here, directed at everyone from parents and society to themselves.

Strangely, each member thanks their families and God in the liner notes, but that's sort of beside the point, since this has the form and feeling of angst-ridden, post-grunge, rap-riddled alt-metal. Is it good? Well, if you're not into this stuff, this won't change your mind, but the band does work up some energy, sounds pretty muscular on most of the album, and has some good hooks, even if they tend to overplay their hand by throwing too many hooks into the riffs or screaming just a bit to much. Still, that's par for the course with alt-metal. So, it winds up that Papa Roach doesn't really distinguish itself from the pack in terms of sound, but they do stand out in terms of capability and consistency. Infest is a pretty solid alt-metal record, circa 2000, both for better and worse. It's a little generic, yes, but as far as the genre goes, it's not bad. ~ [Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide]

This song has a crowbarred rating of 61.1 out of 108 pts