Papa Roach
Lovehatetragedy

THE REVIEW

This is my first review, so please don't be too harsh in your judgments.

Two years after the excellent "Infest," the major debut that brought the group great notoriety, Papa Roach tries again with "Lovehatetragedy." Right from the start, you notice a significant departure from the rap-metal sounds that characterized their debut; the band, in fact, this time opts for a more rock sound with darker tones, and singer Jacoby Shaddix, except for "She Loves Me Not", no longer raps, favoring melody and screamed parts, the latter more present compared to the previous album.

The result is a work that can be defined as only partially nu-metal, given the substantial doses of punk and grunge noticeable during the listening. However, the mix is not effective in all the tracks, and while pieces like "M-80 (Explosive Energy Movement)" (the most "punk" piece of the entire album), "She Loves Me Not", "Life Is A Bullet", and "Time And Time Again" are quite convincing, others do not measure up to the just mentioned ones, though remaining mostly quite pleasant, creating some drops in tone. There is also space for slower rhythms, as in the beautiful "Decompression Period". Overall, "Lovehatetragedy" can be defined as a transitional album, with which Papa Roach attempts to give themselves a new identity, with all the understandable uncertainties of the case. A round of applause, however, must be given to the group, for having nonetheless tried to distance themselves from the suffocating nu-metal scenario, trying to create their own style.

The premises for succeeding are all there, also judging from their following work after "Lovehatetragedy", "Getting Away With Murder", from 2004, which continues the band's maturation process. Soon, their brand-new album, "The Paramour Sessions", will also be released, for which the author of this review holds great hopes.