PAPA ROACH | Who Do You Trust | Album Review

Papa Roach has had the longevity and career success that is unheard of, especially coming from the nu-metal days. Part of the reason may be adapting and several stylistic shifts in their sound over the years making Papa Roach an identifiable name to any rock fan and even abroad. With several followers on Spotify and several albums charting among the Top 20 on the Billboard 200, Papa Roach have definitely done something right with listeners and have seemed to consistently put out new music at the drop of a hat. On the band's tenth studio album "Who Do You Trust", the band is seeming to do something interesting stylistically with their noticeable  sound. To prove the point that Papa Roach are consistent in making music, this album started production even before the band's last studio album "Crooked Teeth" was even released, with the band citing the cancellation of their tour with Of Mice And Men being put to a halt. This album is also said to be a continuation of some of the styles from that aforementioned album. As someone who has been in and out of Papa Roach's fan circle for years and have probably outgrown them a little bit, it is nice to see that a big name like Papa Roach aren't simply just making the same exact album for the rest of eternity. They haven't had the best track record and many of the band's albums have grown off of me after their initial release, but to see them in this point in their career doing basically anything they feel like doing is admirable. 

The first two tracks on the album give off a heavier vibe which feels somewhat familiar to the rock style that fans old and new are accustomed to. The opening track, ironically titled "The Ending", is a solid introduction to the album and although it isn't going to end up on many lists in the future as one of the best songs ever recorded, it has an infectious flow to it and a very solid main guitar riff that works well to give the song its appeal. The songwriting doesn't do a bad job either and even though Jacoby Shaddix doesn't give a particularly great performance, there is still effort on his end. That continues into the next track, "Renegade Music", one of four cuts to get prereleased before the album's unveiling (the title track, "Elevate", and "Not The Only One" are the three others). There has been a good amount of listeners that have compared this song to Rage Against The Machine and I can see where they're coming from as the vocals are mostly shouted/rapped by Jacoby Shaddix as the guitarwork and overall instrumental of the track mirrors Rage Against The Machine in a solid way, especially in the chorus. Obviously, there are differences with some of the subtle electronic sounds used as a divider for each verse and chorus, but the song works. These two songs may be the most focused out of the entire album, because to be quite honest, this album doesn't nearly leave as much of an impact after this point.

Now, to give this album some credit, this album doesn't get awful after this point and remains that way. There are good parts to this album, but much of this feels generic and even when it branches out, it doesn't feel like THAT much of a deviation from the rest of the project but instead it feels like the band is simply copying other styles and pulling it off themselves like a copy machine printing out the same document repeatedly. "Elevate" is the biggest example of this as it feels like a reject Imagine Dragons song and it does NOT work at all. It's probably my least favorite song on the entire album, especially since it begins with terrible millennial whoop styled vocals which is something I dislike greatly. Other tracks like the title track, "Maniac", "Problems", and even "Come Around" are either stuff heard previously or sort of cringy to get through. "Not The Only One" is severely disjointed with verses sounding like it was tailor made and marketed to be on a kid's movie soundtrack and a more intimidating ending. So, yeah, this album doesn't do very much for how much they're passing it as one of their more diverse albums. There are definitely highlights here. "Top Of The World" and "Better Than Life" definitely have good grooves to them that can keep you coming back for repeat listens and "Feel Like Home" has a different and more honest approach sound and lyricwise, but other than that, this album doesn't resonate that much in the mind. 

It's desirable for a band to be around for over 20 years and still making music and attempting to traverse different waters with your style, but even in Papa Roach's case there are albums that have done that a lot better. Even "Crooked Teeth", which admittedly has not aged that well since its initial release had better material on it than this. "Who Do You Trust" really isn't the worst album that this band has put out as there are definitely forgettable albums like "F.E.A.R." and even some elements of "The Paramour Sessions" that REALLY don't work, but it's another album from Papa Roach that will not resonate well after future listens aside from a select few songs. That's a preemptive statement as well as Papa Roach are good at delivering music to their fans and are overall good to those fans at concerts and stuff like that, but the music they actually do deliver isn't great or good. It's perfectly serviceable with bumps that do detract from the experience and the occasional moment of bliss. It's not necessarily a bad thing since Papa Roach are this far into their career and are, to an extent, in their own league. But, there is a desire left for Papa Roach to try a little bit harder to make a disc that's more memorable like "Infest" and "Getting Away With Murder", and even those aren't perfect albums. Overall, rock fans that like hearing Papa Roach on the air will enjoy this album as it does have solid production and a few standout moments that make it worth a purchase, but past that, there really isn't much on 'Who Do You Trust" that hasn't infested the airwaves before. 

RATING: 6/10 

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