Revisit Review: 25 Years of Papa Roach’s Career Defining Album, Infest
Today officially marks 25 years of Papa Roach‘s 2001 nu metal album Infest – feel old yet? Although bursting into the scene with their ’97 debut record Old Friends from Young Years, it wasn’t until Infest that Papa Roach were put on the map in the heavy music scene.
Consisting of 13 gritty, punk-induced metal bangers, Infest quickly took Papa Roach from being an up-and-coming outfit to a band that was about to get real big, real fast. Over the years, Papa Roach has been a bit of a comedic project in the heavy scene. And depending on the circles you were in, they were either a band you listened to genuinely, ironically or not at all.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have noticed that “Last Resort” has been generating a lot of traffic lately. The song has been accumulating large numbers on TikTok as Gen Z has seemingly just discovered the emo anthem. Using the sound bite “Cut my life into pieces, this is my last resort” for comedic videos. But don’t worry, to all the emos who sing along to this one seriously, we see you. We hear you. We also fear you might be getting old.
Infest is Papa Roach’s sophomore album and quickly joined a lineup of some of the best and biggest nu metal records of the early 2000s. The album marked a grandiose step forward for the band, firstly, because it was their debut major label release, officially shared via DreamWorks Records. Secondly, because of two hit singles, “Last Resort” and “Between Angels and Insects.”
The late 90s and early 2000s were primitive years for the nu metal scene. Rap rock, hip hop and metal were becoming the blueprint for alternative music. Birthing a brand-new sound that multiple bands wanted to jump onto.
Infest‘s genre fluidity is one of the reasons the album has lived on to be a timeless classic. The year of its release, System Of A Down unleashed their monumental album, Toxicity. A year before that, Linkin Park dropped Hybrid Theory, and Korn unveiled their cutting-edge Untouchables two years after. Although these bands were all chasing the nu metal wave at the time, each of these records posed its own authentic identity.
During the height of the nu metal scene, bands and artists began to express themselves more freely. Leading to the merge of rap and metal, which at the time had a reputation for being the epitome of rebellion. Hip hop, albeit an already represented scene, was still looked upon as somewhat thuggish, while metal was outlandish and anarchistic. In today’s world, we have conversations about what metal is every day, with amazing new bands challenging and reinventing the wheel, but this isn’t news. Papa Roach was doing exactly that 25 years ago when they unleashed Infest into the world.
Infest is a raw and brutally transparent record. The main theme woven throughout is depression, as the band explore topics such as suicide, adversity and self-hatred at length. “Last Resort” is the first glimpse of this in the album, and explores frontman Jacoby Shaddix’s experience of his friend’s attempted suicide. “Broken Home” is as self-explanatory as its title, and perfectly summarises the pain of living amongst unsteady family foundations. Driven by a guitar-heavy chorus and emotionally-penned lyrics, on this track, the band dives further into the void.
At large, “Between Angels And Insects” is an emo ballad, and though pretty cringeworthy, the sooner you allow yourself to succumb to its cheesiness, the clearer its gloomy message becomes. “‘Cause everything is nothing, and emptiness is in everything,” – a line, albeit cringeworthy, packs huge weight. There’s a deep sense of existential crisis in “Between Angels And Insects” that provides a sinking feeling and realisation about the mundanity of everyday life.
Though lyrically not the most impressive group alive, their music and this record is pivotal in the story of the evolution of nu metal. The album finale, “Thrown Away/Tight Rope”, threw a spanner in the works as its reggae undertones weren’t the usual protocol in metal, and showcased a unique flair on the album.
For their second-ever record, Papa Roach took a chance to produce what is arguably their most progressive project yet, and it’s fair to say it served them well. In early December 2024, the album ranked groundbreaking numbers as it was confirmed as certified 4× Platinum in the U.S.
Today, the group celebrate 25 years of Infest. Say what you will about Papa Roach, whether you’ve outgrown them or never quite got into them, you can’t deny the radical impact Infest had in the heavy scene at the time.
