AR - Who Do You Trust?

Papa Roach is back at it once again with yet another album. Papa Roach's latest album, "Who Do You Trust?" dropped on January 18th. It is apparent that the band obviously wanted to get 2019 off to a great start.

In total the album is 12 songs in length and has a run time of about 38 minutes. To hype up the album, Papa Roach released four singles before it dropped. Those singles include: the album title track "Who Do You Trust?" , "Renegade Music" , "Not the Only One" , and "Elevate".

I will be one of the first to admit that these single tracks made me skeptical about the future of Papa Roach. I couldn't help but think that it sounded like something Imagine Dragons would come out with. Not all the singles had this vibe, "Renegade Music" for example, but I got the feeling that this "pop-ish" sound is where the band was looking to head in the future. Personally, I am a huge fan of a lot of Papa Roach's older songs, so I didn't necessarily like what I heard in these singles. In response to this, I took some time off from listening to these four singles until the album came out in January. When I went through the album on my first play through and these four singles came up, it was almost like a light switch flipped. For some reason now I liked them and actually enjoyed listening to them. So much that "Renegade Music" is my second favorite track off the whole record.

With all of this being said, let's get into the track by track review.

The album starts off with "The Ending" , this darker feeling track really sets the mood and the tone right off the bat. This song includes some deep guitar cuts that I really liked considering that I thought this album would have more of a pop than rock vibe. This track leads into the first single, "Renegade Music". Tracks 2,3,4, and 5 are all four singles that were released for this record. Renegade Music is easily my favorite track. This song is just your typical old Papa Roach song. It has everything that makes for a great rock track. This song will definitely go over well live for sure too.

"Not the Only One" is the next track and I think out of all the songs off this record, this is the one that has grown on me the most. The first time that I listened to this song, the only part of it that I enjoyed was the outro because of the guitar at the very end. After a few more play through's though, I actually really started to like it and appreciated it more.

The album title track, "Who Do You Trust?" follows "Not The Only One". When listening to this track, I can't help but think of the music video for it.

This music video is one of the funniest that I have seen in awhile and is easily one of Papa Roach's best videos they have put out. Very catchy tune.

"Elevate" is the final single off this record. This is one of the tracks that I really thought sounded like something Imagine Dragons would put out (especially the chorus). But after listening to it more, I really saw the beauty behind it.

"Come Around" is the sixth track and it is easily my favorite track off the whole record. This song is much slower and somber than most Papa Roach tracks are and I think that is why I like it. While I will be the first to admit that I love the headbanging, hard hitting tracks that Papa Roach is known for, I also enjoy when they slow things down a bit. I love it.

"Feel Like Home" follows "Come Around". The opening to this song reminds me of "Learn to Fly" by the Foo Fighters a lot. The chorus even sounds like its something straight off of a Foo Fighters record too. Even some of the standalone guitar parts are Foo Fighter-esk. When I say this, by no means am I saying this is a bad thing, I just think its interesting how similar they sound. This song is actually a really good.

Speaking of good tracks, "Problems" is yet another good one. Jacoby's vocals on this song, specifically the chorus, are very pretty and it's something that we don't necessarily get from him all the time. The lyrics to the song compliment the vocals well and overall the song is done very well.

"Top of the World", first time I heard this song, it reminded me an awful lot of something and for whatever reason, I cannot remember what. The verses in my opinion lack a little. Despite this, the pre-chorus and chorus really make up for it. The chorus just sounds so "mighty" in a sense and would be great for a hype video of some sorts.

"I Suffer Well" is something I could you could tell me Papa Roach released back in the early 2000's and I would believe you. While this song only is a minute and a half long, I'm glad that Papa Roach still could write a little piece like this.

"Maniac" is the second to last song on the record. It is another slower track that sounds satisfyingly complete. I really love the guitar and drums in this song specifically, they are simple and sometimes simple is all you need.

"Better Than Life" is the final track off Papa Roach's new record and is a great way to end the album. The chorus in this song is really good and but it is just like "Top of the World" in the sense that I think they verses lack.

Overall, "Who Do You Trust?" is a solid record. Is it Papa Roach's best album? No. But it is a good record and should be perceived in this manner. Like I said initially, I didn't care for the singles but in the end, I have come to really like them. I guess I should have "trusted" in Papa Roach after all :)

Score: 7.1 / 10