Infest

1	Infest 4:09
2	Last Resort 3:19
3	Broken Home 3:41
4	Dead Cell 3:06
5	Between Angels and Insects 3:54
6	Blood Brothers 3:33
7	Revenge 3:42
8	Snakes 3:29
9	Never Enough 3:35
10	Binge 3:47
11	Thrown Away 9:37

Barnes & Noble

There's a certain degree of uniformity among the self-styled "outsiders" of rap-metal, but every once in a while, the genre coughs up a genuinely offbeat aggregation -- such as this rural California quartet. Sharing more in common with art-damaged forebears like Faith No More than the current crop of aggro-mongers, Coby Dick and company prompt both moshing and head-scratching with such clever, rhythmically punishing tunes as "Between Angels and Insects" and "Dead Cell." On INFEST, their major label bow, Papa Roach sometimes try to jimmy in too many of their multi-faceted influences -- from reggae and thrash to Rush-flavored prog-rock. But when they get the balance right, as on "Revenge" (one of four songs reprised from a passel of independent albums issued through the late '90s), Papa Roach carve out a unique niche in an increasingly sound-alike hard rock landscape. David Sprague

All Music Guide

Papa Roach's debut album Infest quietly became a Top 20 hit in the first half of 2000, slipping underneath the radar of most pop critics and fans. It's easy to see why the pop elite passed them by, since the quartet just isn't hip, and since they are pushing an amalgam of every heavy sound that was popular in the late '90s. Basically, Infest is pitched somewhere between the classic grunge/industrial of the early '90s with hints of late-'90s behemoths like Korn and Limp Bizkit. There's singing, but it's balanced by rapping, and the heavy riffs are run through effects boxes that give it the controlled distortion common to alt-metal; it's loud, but you can hear each note being articulated. Lyrically, there's a lot of angst here, directed at everyone from parents and society to themselves. Strangely, each member thanks their families and God in the liner notes, but that's sort of beside the point, since this has the form and feeling of angst-ridden, post-grunge, rap-riddled alt-metal. Is it good? Well, if you're not into this stuff, this won't change your mind, but the band does work up some energy, sounds pretty muscular on most of the album, and has some good hooks, even if they tend to overplay their hand by throwing too many hooks into the riffs or screaming just a bit to much. Still, that's par for the course with alt-metal. So, it winds up that Papa Roach doesn't really distinguish itself from the pack in terms of sound, but they do stand out in terms of capability and consistency. Infest is a pretty solid alt-metal record, circa 2000, both for better and worse. It's a little generic, yes, but as far as the genre goes, it's not bad. Stephen Thomas Erlewine