Papa Roach Ask, “Who Do You Trust?”

In an age where free thought is a lost notion that sent your grandfather wading in shit across Fortress Europe, perhaps it’s fitting for today’s youth to take their marching orders on truth and integrity from Papa Roach, a group most famous for their breakout anthem about checking out from reality – because that reality cheque bounced. With a track record of consistently telling it like it is out in suburbia, warts and all, Papa Roach frontman Jacoby Shaddix and co. have earned their place as tastemakers for the coveted demographic Marilyn Manson once described as “disposable teens.” I guess life really is cheap out in the sticks. But regardless of the group’s murky past on topics like suicide and self-harm, who doesn’t connect with their rags to roaches success story? In fact, Papa Roach are enjoying a remarkable career resurgence, with “Born for Greatness” off their most recent full-length Crooked Teeth landing the top spot on the Mainstream Rock Chart and becoming the main theme of WWE Raw in February 2018. Hot on the heels of this success, Papa Roach are preparing to drop their currently untitled 10th studio album and whetting their audience’s appetite with a music video for the LP’s first single “Who Do You Trust?” The song’s video features the lads from Papa Roach moonlighting as anchors and news correspondents for a program specializing in questionable meteorology and plenty of that #fakenews your drunk uncle won’t shut up about. Shaddix bemoans the lack of reliable voices in a sea of misinformation and backstabbing vultures, preferring his genuine allies and “loyalty over royalty.” Ooh, clever. In another inspired moment, Shaddix asks Papa Roach’s critics and enemies alike, “I see you comin’ at us but when the Molotov drops tell me who do you trust?” Well, now that you mention it, Jacoby, I hadn’t really considered that part. As for the music itself, it’s a genre clusterfuck that’s hard to stomach for more than a few seconds, yet it’s encouraging to see Papa Roach eschew the nostalgia circuit and insist on charting their own course. At least they’ve got that going for them.

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