In the past Papa Roach have been plagued by a slew of hit or miss albums after their juggernaut debut "Infest" and excellent sophomore record "LoveHateTragedy", somewhere along the line they left out the most important aspect of their song writting, the energy and the fun, of course they have had energetic and fun songs since, e.g ...To be loved, Hollyeood whore, Kick in the teeth, but those are far and few between, we never really got an album that screamed " WE HAD FUN MAKING THIS RECORD AND WE VENTURED INTO NEW TERRITORY" that is until now.
This is going to be a track by track review, so here we go.
Seeing how Engage is a 50 second intro and adds nothing to the album I'm going to combine it with Still Swingin. This is just such a fun song, I love the instrumental work here, the stutters add very little to the song but hearing Jacoby's spitfire rapping again is more than enough to make up for that, a catchy chorus to top it off and you have a great song, well done guys. 9/10
Where did the Angels go keeps the energy up and the record flowing, a hard hitter with good lyrics, a better use of synths than Still Swingin, hip hop style drums and bass and some good harsh vocals from Jacoby, very good song. 9/10
Silence is the enemy is up next, short and sweet, high energy and to the point, a filler track but a good filler track, worth a few listens. 7/10
Before I Die is the most sincere ballad I have heard from P-Roach in quite sometime, somewhat like Scars but fun and uplifting and a heart felt promise from Jacoby to "Live for you before I die", the stand out son on the album, fantastic, instant P-Roach classic. 10/10
Wish you never met me is about Jacoby helplessly watching the love of his life leave him after all his broken promises wishing they could start over, pretty generic lyrics and stock drumming, another filler track. 5/10
Give me back my life follows in the same direction of Lifeline but not as good, need i say more? 5/10
Breathe you in gets us back on track and gives us a fast paced rocker about feeling like you have been born again and have a new lease of life and just finding one's self worth and it's damn good to hear some optimism from these guys, everything about this track hits its mark, Jacoby hits some impressive highs for his range. 9/10
Leader of the broken hearts or should I say Before I die 2.0, it follows the winning formula of before I die, it hits its mark and is a damn good song. 9/10
Not that beautiful is about living in a toxic relationship, no matter how far away he gets he's always drawn back to it, average lyrics but the song is broken up nicely by a good rap verse near the end. 6/10
Walking dead is the weakest song on the album, lyrically and musically, lyrics about a break up and consumer culture, why those two were put together I'll never know. 3/10
Wont let up is Walking dead with Mike Shinoda-esque rapping, next. 3/10
As far as i remember is forgettable but that damn catchy chorus keeps me coming back, I'm not a fan of slow burners but I digress, average lyrics, stock instrumentals but it works on some level, I enjoyed Jacoby shouting "I'd rather die on my feet than live my life on my knees" comically out of place lyrics are always nice. decidedly average. 5/10
You gotta wan't it closes the album on a bang, the energy present here was sorely missed on the last few tracks and the harsh vocals by Jacoby are impressive by his standards, this song sums up P-Roach's mission statement, change is good and it's nice to see this breath of fresh air, this is a solid closer to a mostly solid album. 8/10
The Connection is Papa Roach trying something new and venturing into the new frontier of metal, adding synths etc and this works great for the likes of Enter Shikari and Crossfaith but Papa Roach haven't quite found their footing in the genre yet but it is very solid first shot.
Album Rating: 7.5/10
Recommended songs: Still Swingin, Before I die, Breathe you in and Where did the Angels go.
