Papa Roach releases their 9th Album Crooked Teeth
written by Emilio Angel
Papa Roach releases their 9th album Crooked Teeth, after 2015’s F.E.A.R. This album marks 17 years after the release of their breakthrough masterpiece Infest. Crooked Teeth is a versatile, diverse and dark album with tracks including electronic vibes, pop style songs, rap, and renown artists included in a couple songs (Machine Gun Kelly and Skylar Grey). The album although interesting and multi-faceted, really doesn’t bring anything new to the table; if you’re looking for a groundbreaking album that explores new facets of rock and roll, then this will disappoint you. If you’re looking for an album with emotional value, mixed music styles, and great lyrics to sing along and contemplate the darker sides of life, this is something that will definitely interest you.
Crooked Teeth starts off with “Break The Fall”, a mostly chorus based song with choirs and anthem-like singing style in the chorus. The guitars are quiet on the verse then explode on the chorus. Clean simple vocals by Jacoby Shaddix with lyrics that revolve around keeping your head up and going through any hard situation. A fine start to the album to wake you up, the song is nothing unique but catchy at best – simple and hard-hitting at the chorus.
Second song in is title track “Crooked Teeth”. This song is accompanied by a music video of the guys playing in a rehearsal room (check our review). The song is more metal core style – hard, fast verse with a melodic chorus, and a small breakdown on the bridge. “Crooked Teeth” starts off great, fast, but becomes a bit tiresome by the end. The lyrics deal with anxiety, negativity -but it’s for the most part music based, as the riff and vocal style are great for a mosh pit and banging your head as hard as possible.
The third song “My Medication” is rap with a heavy chorus – great song to listen to and a nice ending with synth beats, but it’s not memorable. The lyrics have common Papa Roach themes; depression and going through hard times, or previous mishaps in life.
“Born for Greatness” starts adding some variety to the album; the song follows some similarities with contemporary pop styles then a catchy anthem chorus that turns into a heavy riff and Shaddix screaming afterward. Personally, I know this song is under some flack for being a bit too pop, but added into the context of the album I believe it’s a great breather to what is mostly a modern metal/rock album. The song is uplifting and fun to listen to and I’ll make sure to put it in my personal music list.
The bread and butter of the album are the next four songs “American Dreams”, “Periscope” (featuring Skylar Gray), “Help”, and “Sunrise Trailer Park” (featuring Machine Gun Kelly) These four songs will be the most recognizable and my favorite part of the album. The song “American Dreams” has deep, intriguing lyrics with social critique and valuable lessons to reflect on what the people in the US consider is the “American Dream” and all the struggles people in normal neighbourhoods have to go through.
“American Dreams” singing style and chorus are great to sing along, a song anyone can remember and a hopefully a staple of Papa Roach cause.
“Periscope” Featuring Skylar Gray is one of the albums best songs. It heightens the album into not only a typical Modern Rock/Metal album but also an album with creative value, uniqueness, and style. The song really isn’t lyrics based as its mostly a stereotypical ballad, but the melody sang by the beautiful voice of Skylar Gray (original songwriter of “Love the Way you Lie” by Eminem and Rihanna) makes this a cool concept, something Papa Roach isn’t shy about after singing with Maria Brinks (In This Moment) in their last album. The song tell us that Papa Roach is not afraid of exploring different artist and after several heavy songs at the beginning of the album Periscope fits in like a gem.
“Help” is probably the best song in the album. I believe its their most recognizable off the album and the song that will be sung back to Papa Roach most by fans at upcoming shows. Check out my review of the song and music video here
My favourite track of the album is “Sunrise Trailer Park”. This song featuring recent rap talent Machine Gun Kelly is the most depressing song of the album (but still my favourite.) The song is a messed up story about bad decisions made in the prime of our life. The passion that Jacoby and MGK sing this song hits hard for anyone that decided to not make the best of their early adulthood. The song ends with a somber solo, and me hitting the ‘replay’ button for the next 2 hours.
After 4 live worthy songs the 9th song “Traumatic” hits maybe a bit too hard. At the end of “Sunrise Trailer Park” there is a solo which seems a little out of place- then “Traumatic” explodes out of nowhere; the intro and chorus tends to be cheesy and I skipped the song since I felt it didn’t fit in.
The last track is “None of the Above”. It has a great riff but the song is mostly Jacoby screaming on the mic besides the chorus, the lyrics as with most of the theme with the song revolve around anxiety and hatred of what society deems a normal lifestyle. The song really doesn’t add much to the album but is a fun tune to listen to.
Crooked Teeth is a great addition to their over 20 year career, I feel that as with most of Papa Roach albums it has a 4/5 amazing songs that I would love to hear live and the album genuinely has a lot of variety.
Solid 7.8/10
Pick up Crooked Teeth on iTunes or at your local music dealer.