Between Angels and Insects (Infest - Papa Roach)

Member Name: rleigh

Product:	Infest - Papa Roach
Date:	28/06/08 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A number of excellent nu-metal anthems feature here.

Disadvantages: The album on the whole is really rather unspectacular.

'Infest' is the major label debut album from Papa Roach, it was actually the bands second studio album; the bands first release 'Old Friends from Young Years' came out in 1997 through the now defunct and strangely named indie label Onion Hardcore. 'Infest' was released in April 2000 through DreamWorks and consists of fourteen tracks. This is not the best album that the band has ever released, it was however the first that I ever heard from Papa Roach and one that does contain a number of excellent nu-metal tracks.

I bought this album on the strength of the bands single 'Last Resort', I absolutely loved this track right from the very first moment that I heard it and it's still one that I appreciate listening to right to this very day. It's one of my favourite tracks from the genre of nu-metal; the guitar work is quite repetitive here, the track is incredibly catchy however and the chorus is truly infectious. The vocal performance is extremely hard hitting, the track really works on every level and every time I hear this one I smile; it really helps brings back some excellent memories from years gone by.

'Broken Home' and 'Between Angels and Insects' are two further favourites of mine from this album, they were both released commercially as singles and there's good reason for that too; they're exquisitely fine rap metal tracks, and although it's not exactly the coolest genre of metal it's still one that I do greatly enjoy listening to from time to time. The album is extremely cheesy, the instrumental work is generally fairly limited, and the lyrics are often more than a little ridiculous; it's still a fairly fun album to listen to though and definitely there are a number of tracks here that are really of great appeal.

'Revenge' and 'Never Enough' are a further two terrific tracks from this album, ones that I personally would highly recommend listening to. Tagged on to the end of this album is also a live version of 'Dead Cell', it's not exactly my favourite track that the band has ever written but the inclusion of a live version of this track is still a fairly adequate added bonus I guess. I'd rather have heard a live version of 'Last Resort' myself, I'm sure there are some that will appreciate this track though and given that 'Dead Cell' features in the films of 'The Skulls' and 'Queen of the Damned' there will be plenty out there that will be familiar with this one.

Overall I'd say that this is a fairly interesting album release from Papa Roach, it's by no means the bands best but does feature 'Last Resort' so it's certainly not all bad. The problem with this album is that the instrumental work is all incredibly limited; the band relies on power chords and provides little else within the sound for you really to hang on to. There are a couple of key tracks, mainly however the music created by the band here is fairly unspectacular and as you listen to this 'Infest' album from the band the majority of the music present here will really just wash right over you.

The album is worth picking up if you can find it at a cheap enough price, I wouldn't pay too much for 'Infest' though as there are just a few too many incredibly average tracks featured here really. If you're an iTunes user then I'd download 'Last Resort', 'Broken Home', and 'Revenge' first and foremost; there are a few other tracks that are worth listening to here, these are the best of the bunch though and most definitely the tracks with which the talent of Papa Roach is best shown. By all means give this album a listen, just don't expect too much from Papa Roach here; the tracks are quite instrumentally limited and if you want to listen to the best work of Papa Roach then I personally would recommend investing in the bands 2004 album release 'Getting Away with Murder'.

Summary: 'Infest' is the major label debut album from Papa Roach.