Papa Roach: The Connection

The Roach of old return.

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‘Cut my life into pieces! This is mah last resort!’ – the soundtrack for would-be ‘hard’ adolescent grungers circa 2000. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine Papa Roach coming of age. Like Peter Pan and Jon Bon Jovi, you sort of assume they’ll remain sprightly, slightly petulant youths forever.

Nevertheless, riding on 2010’s Time For Annihilation and a monster live reputation, The Connection continues this foray into more adult rock/alt-metal, while reviving old-school P Roach.

With tracks like Still Swingin’ – a triumphant blend of crunching metal, venomous rap-rock and speedy syncopation – it works really well. They still have an awful lot of feelings, mind – sentiments of hopelessness, fires burning inside and standing on battlefields abound (Leader Of The Broken Hearts pulls this off pretty touchingly).

If you embrace nu-metal fully, the hip-hoppy loops and ‘pensive’ keyboards in certain tracks will appeal. If not, they’re pretty ineffectual. Highs and lows, then.

Polly Glass
Polly Glass
Deputy Editor, Classic Rock

Polly is deputy editor at Classic Rock magazine, where she writes and commissions regular pieces and longer reads (including new band coverage), and has interviewed rock's biggest and newest names. She also contributes to Louder, Prog and Metal Hammer and talks about songs on the 20 Minute Club podcast. Elsewhere she's had work published in The Musician, delicious. magazine and others, and written biographies for various album campaigns. In a previous life as a women's magazine junior she interviewed Tracey Emin and Lily James – and wangled Rival Sons into the arts pages. In her spare time she writes fiction and cooks.