By Tyler Sharp
“Cut my life in pieces, this is my last resort!” These words, whether sang, yelled or screamed, helped define an era. Papa Roach were a big part of taking nü-metal to the mainstream with their debut album, 2000’s Infest. Containing their smash single, “Last Resort,” the album became a staple of the genre and beyond. It has sold over 3,000,000 copies in the US alone, and over 7,000,000 worldwide.
Afterwards, however, Papa Roach began to distance themselves from the nü-metal movement, which had began to fade by the time they released their third album, 2004’s Getting Away With Murder. The band continued to see success with singles such as the LP’s title track and “Scars.”
As their career continued, and they gravitated to a more hard-rock-leaning sound, their sales began to drop and their momentum stumbled. Album sales declined and, following the cycle for their 2009 album, Metamorphosis, their career appeared to be in decline.
In 2015, however, that began to change. Not only was the industry going through a nostalgia kick, but the band released their seventh album, F.E.A.R., and forced a shift in the wind. They saw an increase in album-to-album first-week sales for the first time since 2009, and were beginning to rebuild stamina on both rock radio and streaming services with singles such as “Face Everything And Rise” and “Gravity.” For the first time in years, Papa Roach were part of the conversation again, and it wasn’t constrained to nostalgia—they had new music that was forcing people to talk about them in the present tense.
Fast forward to 2017: … [Read the entire article at loudwire.com]
