Papa Roach
Album: Who Do You Trust?
Label: Eleven Seven
Release Date: January 18, 2019
Trust Us…
Written by Silas Valentino
The pride of Vacaville, California return with their tenth album – the rhetorically questionable: Who Do You Trust? However pertinent this query may be in the era of fake news and social media wool pulls, Papa Roach aren’t here to stir debate. They’re here to pump you full of distorted guitars, cymbal crashing drums and screaming hooks. 22 years since their debut album, Papa Roach are still finding new reasons to avoid that last resort.
Rage Against the Machine. Where would we be without the only rock and roll band to properly blend hard rock, funk and masterful MCing? They burned bright, then burned out, but now Rage burns with everlasting influence through Papa Roach’s “Renegade.” This song sounds as if “Killing in the Name Of” had a kid who spent its whole life trying to avoid becoming its parent but ended up sounding a whole lot like ‘em instead.
“Are you ready for some new shit?/Stand up, this is renegade music,” singer Jacoby Shaddix howls in complete earnest. It’s hard not to smirk at this claim of “new shit” when hearing a song that even ends with the same growling “motherfuckkerrr” that concludes Rage’s signature tune. Washy guitar chords and all! It’s just funny, you know? There’s nothing wrong with cribbing from the best but why make the chorus about making something new when clearly it’s a song attached to the past? Why not – and I’m speaking directly to you, Papa Roach – why not make a song about cherishing the artists who inspire us and then giving them writing credits when it’s this blatantly ripped off?
Who Do You Trust? came together unexpectedly. The band had intended to tour with Of Mice and Men last year but when that band’s singer came down with a sickness, Papa Roach decided to capitalize on this freed space and head into the studio. Speaking to Rock Sound in 2018, Shaddix explained how it all came together: “So we went in and created five or six songs. Then we went back in June and July and took another stab at it. We have 12 songs – there’s bangers in there.” We’ll let you be the judge of what’s a banger and the implied plurality.
The album’s title track continues to pay homage to Rage with a pulsating guitar lead and rambunctious chorus that deals with Molotov cocktails and roaches. The target of this songs appears to be the bourgeoisie (no irony is acknowledged for how Papa Roach have sold millions of albums certifying them as rock’s One Percent) but regardless, Shaddix lays into his invisible character of wealth, an almost Monopoly Man caricature: “Are you people savage?/Pull the knife out from my back/In the company of rich/I’ll take loyalty over royalty.”
The rest of Who Do You Trust? relies on familiar methods; “Problems” is an obvious ballad about, well, dealing with personal issues and right on cue, the third to last song is a three-chord punk smash “I Suffer Well” that’s loud, punishing and wildly incoherent.
Papa Roach leave us with “Better Than Life” that’s hard rock and hard goth and features Shaddix pining for his lover to tear him up in some sadomasochist fantasy. “Break me into pieces/Take away the breath I’m barely breathing/I can feel you running through my blood, the adrenaline rush/Hits my heart like a drug, lift me up.” He also begins with the phrase “Fuck me like you mean it” and honestly, it sounds like he does mean it.
For all their rested laurels and Rage Against the (copy) Machine songs, Papa Roach have crafted an album for 2019 and anybody who scoffs at that can’t appreciate the simple showmanship from Vacaville, California’s greatest hard rock quartet.