Papa Roach
Getting Away With Murder

THE REVIEW

Lately, I've been getting into these Papa Roach, I never paid attention to them before and now, for some reason, I'm really into them (maybe it's a phase)... and what better opportunity to review the new album?
Surely many of you will exclaim, "They're commercial! For heaven's sake!" and so the discussion could end there; certainly, that may be true, but in my opinion, there are worse things, and surely their music is not comparable to the generic and even more commercial nu-metal of other bands (e.g., Linkin Park) and so, looking beyond the usual prejudices, I quite like them.

It's the third attempt for Coby Dick (or Jacoby Shaddix) and his group, who are coming out this year with "Getting Away With Murder" after 2 years of silence. This album deviates a bit from its predecessor "Lovehatetragedy," a work that did not have much success in terms of sales and critical reception compared to their debut "Infest." In this third work, those experimentations, those melodies at times dark and sometimes even depressing that characterized LHT, which in my opinion is a great album, are notably missing; however, there's also no return, not even partial, to the nu-metal oriented sounds of "Infest"; by now Coby's rapped vocal performances have ended, giving way to a more rock style of singing. The album can be listened to without particular concerns, the songs are all quite catchy (I admit, they "caught" me a bit at first too) and I don't know if I'll like this in the future. Unfortunately, this time there are no songs in the style of "Decompression Period," maybe the only one that comes close is "Sometimes" with its acoustic first verse, but the atmosphere (even though I still like it) doesn't quite match up with the aforementioned track. There are interchangeable moments ("Blanket Of Fear," "Stop Looking," partly "Do Or Die" and "Done With You," a decent song but a bit banal) alongside very beautiful ones, such as the opening "Blood" (very beautiful and engaging), the aggressive "Be Free" (almost an anthem to shout at the top of your lungs!), the melodic "Scars" (oh yes, its chorus really captured me!) and the title track (and also the first single) "Getting Away With Murder," which I think is the best song on the entire album (those almost oppressive verses exploding in the chorus, I really like them a lot). The other tracks ("Not Listening," "Take Me," the aforementioned "Sometimes," and "Tyranny Of Normality") are a good middle ground between the two categories, and even these, in the end, aren't bad at all.

An album overall with engaging and quite convincing tones; maybe a bit easy, but not dull. It doesn't have any standout points that make you shout a miracle, but still, there's a certain evolution noticeable (even if minimal)... It could have been better, but I'm still satisfied.