Papa Roach Crooked Teeth is a Paranoid Thriller

Papa Roach Crooked Teeth is a Paranoid Thriller
written by Conor Graham

Papa Roach’s new album ‘Crooked Teeth’ still hasn’t been released yet, but they have given us a hint of what to expect in the form of their video for title song Crooked Teeth.

The video itself starts hilariously with the entire band relieving themselves in the same toilet. The banter they exchange while at the toilet is kind of a nice light moment before the music kicks in.  The video is itself is very simple, stripped down, loose – but full of the energy of the song – much like the way Papa Roach’s somewhat simple lyrics evoke deep and powerful feelings.

For me this song/video evokes feelings of paranoia and getting trapped in one’s skin. I also really dug how the claustrophobia of the lyrics is represented in the video. I love that you can feel its punk rock roots in the structure of the song, and the hard rock flourishes in the guitar solos and drum beat. And I love the influence of rap/nu metal in Jacoby Shaddix’s intense vocals which drive the song, to the point where they hit the rap breakdown in the second verse where all of the energy from the music is funnelled into Jacoby Shaddix’s manic rapping.

The only down side, is there isn’t a lot going on in this video; that is it doesn’t include many conceptual or narrative elements, but the lack of story line lets the music shine through, to the video’s end where Papa Roach are lounging in the room they just destroyed with their ‘performance’, someone pops their head in and yells,  “Cut it out, you’re gonna go deaf!” The band responds with a chorus of laughter to the fade out.

Not having picked up a Papa Roach album in a couple of years, this song/video offers some incentive to go pick up the upcoming new album Crooked Teeth because it reminds me why I liked Papa Roach in the first place. Laughter, simplicity, intensity – “Cut it out, you’re gonna go deaf!”