Papa Roach – Who Do You Trust?

Upon announcing their tenth (yes, TENTH) studio album, Who Do You Trust?, Papa Roach bassist Tobin Esperance revealed that the band’s goal for the album was "to push ourselves even further into genres that inspire us most." If their newest release is anything to go by then, the four-piece's current musical influences might come as a shock to some, as this record is rich in pop textures and tech-rock anthems, alongside the more close-to-home rap-infused face-smackers the band have historically produced.

These guys were once pioneers, or at least figureheads, of the noughties nu-metal movement, but here they’re spreading their wings to reach a somewhat sonic variety of tones, displaying a chameleonic ability to mould around current sounds and scenes – and done surprisingly well. Channelling hard rock as a base camp for the album’s adventurous ascent into a collective mountain of rock subgenres, like the modern rap-rock anthems of The Ending and Renegade Music, to buzzing riffage on the title track, and even a touch of more intrepid electronic-pop of Problems or Elevate. The latter is arguably the last thing you'd be expecting Papa Roach to be creating, and yet this Imagine Dragons-style dynamic is just another curveball that pushes this album upwards. Come Around and Feel Like Home are another two that slot nicely into the pop-rock category – a sound that, although middle-of-the-road, is supremely catchy and indefinitely replay-worthy.

This release isn't going to be for everyone (trading a harder sound for radio-rock seems to divide fans more often than not), especially with a band of 40-somethings attempting to make widely accessible rock tunes. Regardless, Papa Roach have been going for 25 years, and to still be reinventing and reshaping their sound this far into their career deserves a fair amount of credit.

Listen to: Feel Like Home, Not the Only One, Come Around