Gregor Samsa, protagonist of Franz Kafka’s story ‘Metamorphosis’, “awoke one morning from uneasy dreams to find he’d transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” Papa Roach’s Metamorphosis is a tad different. You see, Papa Roach awoke one morning from uneasy dreams to find that they were exactly the same as they always were. Now, the sturm and drang of Papa Roach’s hyper-produced guitar and drum attack can sometimes have the affect of sweeping the listener up and then having its musical way with that listener’s ear drums. However, pretty soon it’s clear that behind the curtain sits a small man with stone-washed jeans and a comb-over. The bits of this that don’t sound like rock ‘n’roll cliché (‘Lifeline’ could be in Spinal Tap... if it featured some jokes) sound like cast-offs from a Jonas Brothers’ album. And that’s the best I can say about it sadly.

Key Track: ‘Lifeline’