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Rating: After 6 years, Papa Roach leave Geffen Records to join the smaller Eleven Seven Music. In January of this year, the four from Vacaville lock themselves in the studio to record some new tracks and to launch their first live collection released on August 31, 2010.
After this important premise, let's try to delve into the album in question. It must be said that the band and especially Jacoby Shaddix (the charismatic frontman of the group, as well as a former host of Scarred on MTV) paradoxically find their real dimension more on stage than in the studio. He interacts a lot with the audience and his voice seems to benefit from an open environment rather than a recording studio. That being said, after the semi-misstep of Metamorphosis (probably the group's poorest work), the 5 new songs sound good, nothing new under the sun, but they are solid, full of energy, and quite "cool" (if you allow me the term). In my opinion, “Burn” is the best of the bunch (the second single, with the video out since October 29), beautiful and powerful. Followed by “One Track Mind” (with a very rock feel, quite intense), the now famous “Kick In The Teeth” and “The Enemy”. A special mention goes to the semi-ballad “No Matter What”, which I find very successful.
After the 5 unreleased tracks comes the turn of the 11 live pieces: everything is masterfully recorded, the tracks are awesome, Mister Shaddix is funny and throws in a few jokes here and there and even at the end of the song “Last Resort” there is a social message. Unfortunately, the only flaw lies in the choice of tracks. Many are taken from Metamorphosis (which, as mentioned, is a bit lacking) and inexplicably not a single one is taken from their best work “LoveHate Tragedy”, so forget about “She Loves Me Not”, “Time And Time Again” and “Born With Nothing, Die With Everything”. Apart from this, the album flows by pleasantly, the listener almost feels as if they were there, in the midst of that frenzy and the adrenaline rushes.
In the DeLuxe version, there's also the video of “Kick In The Teeth”, both the official and the live one, a “behind the scenes” and a rich photogallery. The artwork is nice and the cover is altogether amusing.
As for the genre, I'll stick to the recent words of the singer: “We are a band that tries to walk that line between metal, hardcore, punk rock, and pop music, and we do our best to make it all enjoyable.”
Enjoy listening.
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