One year and one day after they launched their last album, let's talk about Papa Roach - Part 1

One year and a day ago Papa Roach launched their latest album, "The Connection". I intend to review it, but I think "The Connection" is better understood if given a little backstory. Not that it isn't a bad album in itself, just that it is better understood.

Papa Roach started around the 90's Nu Metal Era, so naturally most of their EP's and their first album "Infest" were heavily influenced by the trend.

"Infest" came out in 2000 and, as I said, it came with the trend. Linkin Park, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit and P.O.D. (for a while now, at the time) were doing it, so Papa Roach became "one more". It wasn't original, no. But hell, it had soul. You could hear it in every riff, every word. That shifty, crazy character, Jacoby, screaming at the world not to sell music, but to be heard. To get a message passed on.

The album has two concepts: In one of the concepts the band shouts at the world, tries to wake it up, tries to get people to see what's wrong. Those I will refer to as the "revolution songs". Then there is the concept of self-hatred, not being able to cope with pain. Those will be the "suffering songs".

At the time, "suffering songs" were the mainstream, so that was a plus for them. I'm not saying that the other bands did it for the songs or for the money, but something about most of "Infest" 's "suffering songs" was special. Maybe because it was more raw, more like "Here, this happened and I'm screaming about it to a mic. Guys, you know the story too, put together some riffs to go along and we're good.". "Last Resort" is like a fucking anthem and it's just Jacoby doing a big man's voice, Jerry with a great riff and then it all explodes into awesome towards the end. "Broken Home", too, I bet many kids crying during the year of 2000 while listening to that song and saying "this is me, this is me".

The "revolution songs" are great. I mean, who the fuck are "Papa Roach" to come here and tell people to wake up? But they didn't care, they did it anyway. And so "Infest" and "Between Angels and Insects" came along, with some of the most powerful lyrics to the day. They were ready to make the change, they had it planned on their heads. "My name's Coby Dick / Mr. Dick if you're nasty / Rock a mic with a voice that's grapsy / 'Cause I'm poetic in my operations / My God given talent is to rock all the nations". I mean common! They were ready for it.

The young face of crazy revolution

So yeah, "Infest" was a fucking great album. Only one slow song (and it still rocks) and even has an hidden track, which I think it's awesome (and you don't have to wait 7 fucking minutes for it like with "Slipknot" to hear "Eyegore" after "Scisors"), both the idea of a hidden track and the track itself, "Tightrope". I like the original better, but hey.

This album introduced us P Roach, La Cucaracha and their mottos, "suffering" and "revolution". We'll get deeper into that afterwards. For today we stick with "Infest".

Me out.

PS: Come to Portugal, for fuck's sake, it's the third time you've come to Europe IN ONE YEAR and you haven't passed by. I'll keep bugging you with this.