I’m sure that most people believe that Papa Roach’s album Infest (with hit single Last Resort) was their debut album. And that makes sense; it was when they became big. However, that was only their record label debut album; in fact, Infest was their second album overall. Their first was called Old Friends From Young Years, and it was independently produced and released in 1997, three years before Infest. While this album is not as good as their second, and while many may think this album is downright awful, it’s not.
Upon my first listen, I believed that this was the worst album I had ever heard. The production quality is atrocious in many spots, shoddy in the rest, the drums are over-powering, the vocals are super grainy, and overall, the album just sounds like crap. However, upon a second listen, and without thinking about the production, but rather the musicianship underneath the sound, this album actually isn’t bad. In fact, it’s a good precursor to their later albums; an indication of the talent these guys have.
What’s important to note is that in 1997, these musicians would barely be out of their teens, and I believe that half of them (especially lead singer Jacoby Shaddix) led troubled teenage lives. These songs are representative of their times, being angry and hateful, harsh and yet oddly melodic. The lyrical content ranges from songs of violence and depression to downright humorous subjects.
The albums starts off with a short intro track featuring a short acoustic solo by guitarist Jerry Horton before plunging into the anger and hate marked by the late 1990s. Again, behind the crappy production is some talented musicianship. The songs are all catchy, with great hooks and riffs from the guitar and bass, and speaking of the bass, Tobin Esperance plays some awesome bass lines. Examples include “Liquid Diet,” DIRTYcutFREAK,” and “Living Room.” The drums are pounding throughout, showing of Dave Buckner’s skills; though not really fast or technically amazing, he is a solid backbone for the songs. Finally, you have the singing style of Jacoby Shaddix. As this album is representative of both the nu-metal and rap-metal genres, his singing reflects that, going from melodic singing to harsh and angry raps. Neither are the best of their craft, but he pulls off each with gusto, and again, serve as a good precursor to the future.
Speaking of the songs, one of the most interesting things about the album is the song titles. They are juvenile in both font and name, and yet they show off the kind of music that these kids are playing. Titles include the normal like “Orange Drive Palms” and “829” to the more inane like “Peewagon” and “Hedake.”
Their are only a couple of real misses on the album. the first is “Living Room” which is just an instrumental jam song. Unfortunately, it is slow-paced and plodding, with very little variation in the music for a solid 4 minutes. Yes, maybe it’s a good break from the harshness of the rest of the album, but it could have been more varied and a little more introspective into the skills of the instrumentalists. “Thanx” is another miss: this “song” is just the band thanking a whole lot of people while Buckner plays a backbeat. While the thank you’s can be funny in nature, it’s unnecessary to have.
Finally, there is “Unlisted.” This “thing,” cause its not a song at all, really ends the album on a crappy note. All this is, is an old recording of Tobin Esperance singing happy birthday a few times to his father on a phone’s answering machine. It’s the most useless and unnecessary thing I have ever seen on an album, and this threw me off so much. The “Fan Club” edition of this album replaced the last two tracks with a demo of “Tightrope” which I have not heard, but it can’t be bad.
Overall, the album is pretty good besides the production. The songs are catchy and angry, and they pave the way for what Papa Roach will sound like for the next two albums afterward. The tracks I highlighted are the only bad ones, as each good track is full of good riffs and hooks that will have you bang your head (and maybe punch something).
I rate this album a 3.5/5.
Monahan's Mind 