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Rating:
Here we are, finally the much-anticipated new album from Papa Roach has arrived. I personally couldn’t wait, being a big fan and addicted to their music. The album is titled “The Paramour Sessions”, in honor of the Paramour Studios, in California, where the album was recorded. A very evocative location as shown in the cd booklet.
But let's start talking about this excellent new work from the four from Vacaville. The cd opens with the first single “To Be Loved”, a track that encapsulates the group’s typical sound, very powerful and catchy. It is followed without losing power by the extremely powerful “Alive” which opens with hard riffs accompanied by Shaddix’s gritty voice, enriching one of the most significant pieces of the album. Davi Buckner’s drums don’t let Jerry Horton’s aggressive strings escape even for a moment, giving them a driving rhythm. Then, “Crash” opens very darkly, with a dark-toned voice that then explodes into a powerful chorus, made up of shouted vocals and sharp riffs, with a flowing and edgy sound. “The world around you” slows the pace a bit but doesn’t quench the aggression, which is unleashed on the choruses. “Forever” is one of the most beautiful tracks on the album, characterized by a relaxing and reflective sound, which culminates in the chorus in a splendid vocal performance by Shaddix, melodic yet very rock at the same time. “I Devise My Own Demise”, a little curiosity, opens like “What Happened To Us” by Hoobastank, the drums start completely the same, then change direction and deliver another powerful and engaging track typical of the group. The excellent voice changes tone continuously with embarrassing ease and the rhythm of the percussion slows and then picks up from start to finish. “Time is Running Out” demonstrates the new mainstream influences Papa Roach are getting us used to, the song is very catchy and the sound suddenly detaches from that of the other tracks, without losing quality though. “What Do You Do” is the pure ballad of the album, with a sound that reminds of some Aerosmith pieces, in fact, at some points, it almost feels like hearing Steven Tyler’s voice and you can criticize but Shaddix has nothing to envy about Tyler’s voice. The raspy timbre accompanies the beautiful sound of the song which, despite moving away from the band’s Nu-Metal character, offers emotions.
“My Heart Is A Fist” has a somewhat anonymous character but still gives another demonstration of the frontman’s excellent vocal abilities and the quality of the group, who even in this episode manage to create a very clean and at the same time edgy sound. The rock soul leaves room in conclusion for a vocal solo accompanied by soft piano notes. “No more Secrets” breaks the reflective aura that had been created in the previous tracks, giving a new burst made of energetic riffs and galloping voice. “Reckless” is another ballad, that we are now used to, still a very pleasant sound like the piece as a whole. “The Fire” reminds us that something has changed, proposing a calmer character and a sound that is not very aggressive but still not to be scorned. “Roses On My Grave” is the last official track of the album and the penultimate track. It is a song that you may like or not, in the sense that it is very particular and I’ll explain why. Shaddix’s voice is accompanied throughout the piece by an orchestra, which produces a wonderful melody, made mostly of strings, which in the chorus leave room for Horton’s guitar. The result for me was goosebumps, what comes out is really original, even thinking about the change the group is undergoing. The song is a brief episode, yet it's one of those pieces you could listen to a thousand times, it relaxes and shakes and the words immediately stick in your mind. Metallica and their concert with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra came to mind. I realize the comparison is bold but the choice of sound is reminiscent of that concert.
The album concludes with the live version of “Scars”, recorded during the May 1, 2005 concert in Chicago, the location where the group’s first dvd “Live and Murderous in Chicago” was recorded. The song is performed excellently, as the quartet behaved throughout the live (I’m telling you this because I own the dvd). The only flaw is that this live version of Scars, is much slower than the cd one. Otherwise, all the live pieces are performed flawlessly but personally, I wouldn’t have chosen this as the last track of the new cd.
In conclusion, as far as I’m concerned, I believe that this new album deserves five stars, despite there being some flaws such as the aforementioned choice of the last track or one or two too forced ballads. But overall I believe the work is excellent, then it is debatable to think that a change of direction in sound can do a group good or not. In this case, I (and I emphasize I) believe that this change has given new quality to Papa Roach, who in this album offer aggressiveness and character but also reflection and melody. The quartet is growing, as can be understood from the quality of the lyrics, which at the beginning were completely “easy” and now show more maturity. After all, I like them like this. Then everyone sees it their own way.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Alive (n' Out of Control) (03:22)
For crying out loud I'm running from a comedown
God forbid I know I've been a letdown
Reaching for the sky while laying in a gutter
Kicking and screaming I'm singing bloody murder (im screaming bloody murder)
I'm alive when I'm vulnerable I'm out of control I'm losing my soul x2
I can't be your angel when I'm living like a devil
Can't be your lover when I'm living like a rebel
Don't want your pity and I don't want your help
Don't try to save me go take care of yourself
(you go take care of yourself)
I'm alive when I'm vulnerable I'm out of control I'm losing my soul
I'm alive!
Sick of the pain sick of the sorrow
Sick of today I'm sick of tomorrow
I'm addicted to the misery in my head
I better stop before I end up dead
So I climb to the top just to fall to the bottom
And I climb to the top just to fall to the bottom
go
I'm alive when I'm vulnerable I'm out of control I'm losing my soul
I can't be your angel when I'm living like a devil
Can't be your lover when I'm living like a rebel
Don't want your pity and I don't want your help
Don't try to save me go take care of yourself
03 Crash (03:21)
I refuse to be a victim, I refuse to be a slave
I keep on burning my bridges
I keep on fucking up everything
Running from desperation
God knows where I been
I don’t know where I’m heading
But I’m going to fast, I think I’m going to crash
I’m going to crash, I’m going to crash, to crash.
It's time for annihilation
It’s time to be a criminal
No time for hesitation
Time to be an animal
Looking at my reflection
Don’t like what I see
So I ask myself the question
Do I got what I want, do I got what I need
Not afraid of the future
I’m spinning right outta control
I don’t know where I’m heading
But I’m going to fast, I think I’m going to crash
I’m going to crash, I’m going to crash, to crash.
It's time for annihilation
It’s time to be a criminal
No time for hesitation
Time to be an animal
It's time for annihilation
It’s time to be a criminal
No time for hesitation
Time to be an animal
I refuse to be a victim, I don’t wanna fall again
I know where I’m heading, but god knows where I’ve been
I’m going to crash (x8)
It's time for annihilation
It’s time to be a criminal
No time for hesitation
Time to be an animal
It's time for annihilation
It’s time to be a criminal
No time for hesitation
Time to be an animal
Live, Love, Life
Live, Love, Fight (x2)
04 The World Around You (04:35)
Somebody falls in love
Somebody breaks your heart
We never fell in love
We only fell apart
I’m getting lonely
I need somebody to hold me
I thought I’d never miss her
She cut me out of a picture
Take a look at the world around you
Can you see the desperation?
Take a look at the world around you
Can you see the life you live in?
Somebody tells the truth
Somebody lives the lie
I can see right through
The stories in your eyes
I know what your saying
There is no need for explaining
There will be nothing better
Than when I burn all your letters
Take a look at the world around you
Can you see the desperation?
Take a look at the world around you
Can you see the life you live in? (x2)
We never fell in love
We only fell apart
We only fell apart (x3)
And so we pick up the pieces and put them together
We said this was gonna last forever (x2)
Take a look at the world around you
Can you see the desperation?
Take a look at the world around you
Can you see the life you live in?
We never fell in love
We only fell apart (x2)
Somebody falls in love
Somebody breaks your heart
We never fell in love
We only fell apart (x2)
05 Forever (04:06)
In the brightest hour
Of my darkest day
I realized
What is wrong with me
Can't get over you
Can't get through to you
It's been a helter-skelter
Romance from the start
Take these memories
That are haunting me
Of a paper man cut into shreds
By his own pair of scissors
He'll never forgive her
He'll never forgive her
Because days come and go
But my feelings for you are forever
Because days come and go
But my feelings for you are forever
Sitting by a fire
On a lonely night
Hanging over from another good time
With another girl
Little dirty girl
You should listen to this story of a life
You're my heroine
In this moment I'm lonely
Fulfilling my darkest dreams
All these drugs, all these women
I'm never forgiving this broken heart of mine
Because days come and go
But my feelings for you are forever
Because days come and go
But my feelings for you are forever
One last kiss
Before I go
Dry your tears
It is time to let you go
One last kiss one last kiss
Before I go before I go
Dry your tears dry your tears
It is time to let you go
Because days come and go
But my feelings for you are forever
Because days come and go
But my feelings for you are forever
One last kiss one last kiss
Before I go before I go
Dry your tears dry your tears
It is time to let you go
One last kiss
Before I go
Dry your tears
It is time to let you go
One last kiss.
06 I Devise My Own Demise (03:36)
I can’t control, everything
And I can’t forget, just what I’ve seen
And the memories
Take me away
To a better place,
Than I am today
I devise my own demise
It’s too late, the life I’m losing (x2)
It’s time to say
Hello, goodbye
To fade away,
Fade away alone (Motherfucker Goodbye)
I just want to take
Take me back home
To a better place
That I’ve never known
I devise my own demise
It’s too late, the life I’m losing (x2)
Yeah! Yeah! Wow!
I can’t control, everything
And I can’t forget, just what I’ve seen
And the memories
Take me away
To a better place,
Than I am today
I devise my own demise
It’s too late, the life I’m losing (x2)
It’s too late, the life I’m losing (x3)
I devise my
own demise
10 No More Secrets (03:15)
I live the days of war
I live the nights of love
I suffer to survive
I gotta gotta gotta stay alive
I hear the battle cries
Their fists are in the sky
I know what i'm fighting for...
No more secrets no more lies
See right through your alibis
Take a look into my eyes
No more secrets no more lies
This is a call to arms
It's time to go to war
It's time to rant and rave
Gotta gotta gotta make a change
Down on the devil street
Is there everybody melts
I know what i'm fighting for...
What does around comes around baby!
You'll get yours one day, that's right!
I want it all i want it now!
Make no mistake, give it to me straight...
What goes around comes around baby!
You'd get yours one day, that's right!
11 Reckless (03:34)
Please forgive me while I turn out the lights
Watch this haunted day turn into a wasted night
So cut me off
Throw me out
'Cause I'm a reckless
I’m a reckless goddamn son of a bitch!
I'm reckless oh
So reckless
God save me from this madness
I'm walking on broken glass from the wreckage of my past
I'm locked up in a cage 'cause I'm a prisoner of my ways
So cut me off
Throw me out
'Cause I'm a reckless
I'm a reckless goddamn son of a bitch!
I'm reckless oh
So reckless
God save me from this madness
Thank god I've got a women with my name across her heart
Loving me ain’t easy, loving me is hard
I'm sorry about the madness but that's the way its gotta be
Cause it takes a crazy woman to love a reckless man like me
I'm reckless oh
So reckless
God save me from this madness.
12 The Fire (03:32)
Die a little everyday
Break the silence when you say
You don't love me anymore
In my face you slam the door
Making up making out
falling in & falling out
When you kiss me like a stranger
that is when we are in danger
Fly around the fire
In & out of desire
I gotta love you, i gotta have you
Don't want to let you down again
When I kiss you like a lover
That is when we discover
We are burning in the fire
This love will never tire
When I tell you that I need you
Please believe that I won't leave you
You're a diamond I'm a heart
Living in this house of cards
Fly around the fire
In & out of desire
I gotta love you, i gotta have you
Don't want to let you down again
I gotta love you, I gotta have you
Don't want to let you down again
Fly around the fire
In & out of desire
I gotta love you, i gotta have you
Don't want to let you down again
kaskas
13 Roses on My Grave (03:13)
It feels like I’m looking at life
Through a telescope because I’m so high
And the ground never seems so far away
The truth shall be told one day
I’ll be underground one day
I’ve got a woman
That’ll put roses on my grave
I’ve got a woman
That’ll put roses on my grave
Roses on my grave
It feels like I’m looking at life
Through a telescope because I’m so high
And the ground never seems so far away
The truth shall be told one day
I’ll be underground one day
I’ve got a woman
That’ll put roses on my grave
I’ve got a woman
That’ll put roses on my grave
I’ve got a woman
That’ll put roses on my grave
I’ve got a woman
That’ll put roses on my grave
Roses on my grave
Don’t forget me
Don’t forget me
Please Forgive me
Don’t forget me
It’s my redemption
Time for redemption (x3)
I’ll see you on the other side
I’m waiting on the other side (x2)
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