Label: Papa Roach Recordings

Date: December 25th, 2020

NU metal giants Papa Roach made me very happy with the announcement of their new EP just before the end of last 2020. I was hoping for at least one new song, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Instead of new songs, the quartet from Vacaville decided to record old songs again.

The EP “20/20” opens with “Last Resort”, one of the best metal songs recorded in the first decade of the 2000’s. Although this is the most significant song in the history of the band, and even NU metal sound, it seems that on this EP “Last resort” has slightly lost the strength that the original has. Next is “Between Angels and Insects”, which does not differ much from the original, which can be said for the next ones “Scars” and “Getting Away with Murder”. The EP closes the song Scars sung in Spanish. And that would be all. It can be said that this EP is a compilation of the best songs from the band’s second (“Infest”) and fourth (“Getting Away with Murder”) albums. The question that arises in itself is what is the purpose of re-recording old songs? Did they want to fill the gap while waiting for a new album? I would say that the answer is no, considering that the band plans to release “Greatest Hits Vol. 2 – The Better Noise Years”, on March 19th, 2021. Why, for example, they didn’t re-record a song from the first or phenomenal “Lovehatetragedy” albums? Probably we will never know.

This EP also features “New Takes On Old Jams” part which I enjoyed much more. It consists of all the songs from the second album “Infest”, the album that opened the doors of fame to the band and which was released back in 2000. For this occasion, Papa Roach decided to play these songs live in the studio again as part of the world-wide stream “INFEST IN-Studio”. The band sounds maximally rehearsed, powerful, but let’s be honest, that is expected from a band that has been playing continuously for 20 years. What can we say about the album “Infest”? In short, it is one of the most significant NU metal releases. Therefore, it was a pleasure to remember this release, since I haven’t listened to it for a long time.

I would recommend the new Papa Roach EP to a person who has never heard of the band Papa Roach before, as some short introduction. Loyal fans should wait a little bit, until the middle of 2021 when the new album will appear.