Papa Roach
'Infest '
4 out of 5 Meerkats
Dave Garrison and Neil Freese, March 2000
Watching Papa Roach evolve from conception, we have seen them slowly grow out of Vacaville to national attention with their new release, Infest. Papa Roach has gone from a small local band playing free shows at the community center for rabid junior highers, to a headlining act that can easily sell shows out and energize a large venue filled with rabid junior highers. In all seriousness they have become one of the country’s largest underground bands and are ready to strike it big with this hard hitting dynamic release.
We were wary of this album before hearing it in the fear that they would follow the path to the dark side. Fame leads so many acts to trade in their musical credibility for mainstream success and a quick buck, neglecting any sense of artistry they might have had. Fortunately this wasn’t the case for Papa Roach. Papa Roach has panache and does not disappoint, giving us an album that we could truly sink our teeth into.
Infest is solid all around. Re-recording many older tracks such as Revenge (in Japanese), Binge, Snakes, and Thrown Away, they display maturity and have added creative improvements. However not every addition works. For instance, a DJ was used in the new version of Snakes. The first version of Snakes had a very Punk Rock feel and the faux hip-hop element added by the turntables doesn’t mesh well with the song. On the other hand the turntables in Revenge work, and when combined with the new layered guitar effect in the intro, the song moves itself to an entirely new level.
The album starts off with an explosion of energy with the first two tracks Infest and Last Resort. Infest brings with it the intensity of their live show which is a rare quality for a recoding to have. Last Resort, the first single, is destined to be both a radio and MTV hit, due to its high-strung guitars, thumping rhythm section and frenetic vocal delivery. Dead Cell, being the hardest track on the album, reaches new highs with the heavily distorted guitar riffs accompanying Jacoby’s spastic screams. Other new songs such as Broken Home and Between Angels and Insects glean with production quality and the traditional melodic thrash-rock P-Roach style. But for those experiencing Papa Roach for the first time all of the songs will have a new edge that they can rock out to.
While bands such as Korn and Limp Bizkit have become parodies of themselves, people will latch onto Papa Roach’s unique sound. It is important to note that they have been around as long as anyone else in the genre and while they might not be able to shake the unfair comparisons, true fans can be rest assured that P-Roach did not sell out. Infest marks Papa Roach’s entry into the upper echelons of the mainstream music world, and despite a few blemishes it shines. Get ready America, for the P-Roach infestation.