Papa Roach - Getting Away With...Generic, Mindless Rock Music

Flashback Time: It's the year 2000. Rap-metal is all the rage. Papa Roach pops up out of nowhere and gives pre-teens a new anthem to crank up in their bedrooms when their step-mom grounds them. The pseudo-suicidal, tortured rocker "Last Resort" gave high school freshmen some angsty lyrics to scrawl in the margins of their World Geography notes. The song received massive success on both rock radio & popular music shows, such as MTV's Total Request Live.

Although I wasn't particularly a huge fan of them at the time, they caught my interest with their 2002 hit single, "She Loves Me Not". It simply seemed to have more OOMPH than their preceding material -- and it didn't hurt that it was ridiculously catchy. I began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, Papa Roach was a better band than I wanted to give them credit for.

Fast-forward to 2004. The guys released their third major-label record, Getting Away With Murder. It spawned two unbelievably popular singles, "Getting Away With Murder" and "Scars" (but we'll get to those later). I enjoyed those songs way more than I'd like to admit. Friends relentlessly told me that Papa Roach evolved, and that this was an incredible effort. Basically, I was blindly suckered into checking out this album. When will I ever learn?

It's not even like the majority of this disc's material is unbelievably bad. It's just...not good. Sure, there are some high points that have made me wonder if this is just an album that needs to grow on me with time -- but all in all, Getting Away With Murder was a waste of my $12. It's a dull, watered-down rock album that truly fails to spark my interest in any way.

Vocalist Jacoby Shaddix (if my memory serves me correctly, he was once known as Coby Dick) is both the band's strongest and weakest link, if that makes any sense at all. When he's good, he's really good. When he's bad, he's this coarse, bloated mess and the unfortunate listener is simply writhing in pain, wanting to put him out of his misery.

On the album's lead single, "Getting Away With Murder", for instance, Jacoby is completely listenable. His raspy voice works to his advantage in the song's catchy chorus. The dramatic, growling guitar work and jumpy drumming is crisp and addictive. "Blood (Empty Promises)" is another well-done track. It's one of the album's heavier moments, and it was a great choice for the opening track. The band does a great job of incorporating subtle, unpretentious aggression with Jacoby's melodic wails.

To be perfectly honest, "Scars" is Papa Roach at their best. It seems like the guys put more effort into this genuinely pained, intense ballad-esque song. The chorus absolutely soars -- "I tear my heart open / I sew myself shut / My weakness is that I care too much," Jacoby cries mournfully. Perhaps the best thing about this song is its simplicity. I'm sure the ultra-singable chorus and passionate vocals accounted for much of its success (although I'm sure the LiveJournal-worthy lyrics helped, too).

On the flipside, "Not Listening" is Papa Roach at their worst. The guitar work is bland, and the lyrics are unbelievably lame. Upon closer examination of the liner notes, you'll see that this song is a dedication to 'The Commander-in-Chief'. Unsurprisingly, Papa Roach going political winds up with disastrous results -- Jacoby's shouts of "I'm not listening! Not anymore," are more likely to induce uproarious laughter out of me than they are to influence my political opinions. "Be Free" is a mindless rant, and at times, it's highly reminiscent of the band's earlier work. The only thing that makes this song worse than their previous efforts is that this song isn't even hooky.

"Tyranny of Normality" sees Papa Roach trying way too hard to be in-your-face and aggressive, but even the booming bassline and sludgy guitars don't redeem this song. Jacoby's screams sound unnatural, and he's not pleasant to listen to here -- just another piece of proof that some bands should stay within their boundaries by sticking to harmless, sing-songy rock music. "Do Or Die", the rambunctious album closer, temporarily caught my attention with its intriguing guitar work. Sadly, little else about the song is remarkable, as Jacoby drones, "It's never too late to live your life!"

Getting Away With Murder has scattered moments of potential here and there, but it winds up to be nothing more than just another unmemorable rock album. This disc's hit singles are hits for a clear reason -- they're vivacious, they're catchy, they're energetic and passionate. Maybe if those songs' siblings were up-to-par, this album would strike a chord with me, and I'd heartily recommend it to rock music fans. It's too bad that monotonous filler makes up a large percentage of the album instead, making Papa Roach's Getting Away With Murder a purchase to avoid.