The R Rated Revolution

Ah, Papa Roach. What do we actually know about them. Well actually they're not the most complex band to figure out. Their debut went 3x Platinum back in 2000 just like every other nu metal/rapcore act (NOTE: not implying that the two genres are synonymous) and of course by this time the scene had reached its commercial peak (Follow The Leader; Hybrid Theory; Chocolate Starfish etc) although significantly lost touch with its roots. Infest was considered a pure nu metal album, or at least it was fueled as thus by over exaggerated MTV rotation particularly of the lead single 'Last Resort' and fans could relate to that because it was a debut, and hadn't fallen for the nu metal sophomore curse yet - Limp Bizkit had a solid run but with 'Chocolate Starfish' (perhaps to an extent even in the 'Significant Other') they forgot what Jonathan Davis told them about BEING PISSED OFF and instead tried to attract some jocks into their fan base, this being the reason why 'Results May Vary' would have been a lot better released in fractions as b-sides during their 'well deserved hiatus' (bless System of a Down and their public relations ingenuity) .

Needless to say, by the time they released their sophomore effort Papa Roach became caught in the realm of forced hooks, cheesy rapping and unnecessary guitar effects. By the time 'Getting Away With Murder' came out the band experienced a form of resurgerence spawning several fan favourites although drastically changing their sound. With 'Paramour Sessions' there was a complete transformation, they had given to the new fad of melodic male oriented rock.

Now here we have 'Metamorphosis,' it is quite clear that vocalist Jacoby Shadix felt like the band was being alienated from the new scene so he gave his 'fellow' 'band mates' a complete makeover. They needed something that wouldn't make them a band nostalgic to the original emo genre but something that would appeal to the scene nevertheless. Metamorphosis depicts Papa Roach as a band that was Frankensteined in Sunset Strip California. The attitude, vast majority of the lyrics and of course the overall feel leads to the 80's Glam metal with a fused flair of modern alternative rock/metal. You can say that the band has matured to an extent, there are no more songs about incest and no more contradicting tracks like in the Paramour Sessions.' But they don't quite grasp the concept of how fun this genre is supposed to be despite it being the most progressively complex music to ever fully break into the mainstream. 'Metamorphosis' is a great record for a gig, but not quite to listen to because it gets tiring, and although they seemed to have found new uses for all of their stompboxes, the album is layered with clichés and sometimes has a hard time standing out seeing how almost half the album consists of unnecessary fillers that the band seemed to just have put that in effort to finish the album as soon as possible.

However, they may be a copy cat band but they're good one and you must appreciate the fact that after all these years Jacoby hasn't lost his fire. The Nu Metal fad might have been a dreadful musical oxymoron (as much as I appreciate experimentation, some bands over did it) it did kill album fillers (listen to Linkin Park's Nu Metal albums) and greatly boosted physical sales (along with teen pop).

Album Highlights: 'Hollywood Whore' 'Into The Light' 'I Almost Told You That I Loved You'

8.2/10

Legion