Papa Roach released their fifth studio album and first album for Interscope. The album is entitled Metamorphosis and is apparently about the economy. That is actually not the concept I got from the album. I thought it was about redemption and hope of bettering oneself.

The album ambitiously starts out with an instrumental song complete with musical concrete clapping and marching drum beats. The music crescendoing into Change or Die. Change or Die is a different sound than I expected from the band that brought us Last Resort, but then again that was almost ten years ago. The song sounds like a screamo punk anthem about rising up and changing your life or death is almost certain for you. I enjoy the screaming vocals filled with urgency delivered by Papa Roach's frontman Jacoby Shaddix.

The album drops urgency and momentum with the first single Hollywood Whore. The song seems to be about a burned out girl who traveled to Hollywood in hopes of making it big, but found sex and drugs instead. If true, this is the saddest song about desperation I have heard in years. If the genesis of Hollywood Whore is out there and wants a good man to love her, well don't look at me I can't afford your habit.

Hollywood Whore has the catchy hook chorus and just you just want to sing along with, but then you realize you are singing "Hollywood whore passed out on the floor" with your grandmother in the car. Then comes the awkward silence from the disapproving stare from your grandmother about your choices in music.

The album has some highlights, Change or Die, Hollywood Whore, and Lifeline, but the album seems unable to stick to a certain style of music. Papa Roach has tried to appeal to many different styles of music rather than sticking with one and seeing what else you can create. I would love to hear what else they might be able to create in the screamo punk arena rather than switching styles so much.

With that being said, I do, think this is Papa Roach's best album to date. The commercially minded musicians pay careful attention to molding pop-rock radio hits that are sure to be played for the next two years. Their highly energetic live show will be enhanced with the addition of a few of these songs.

I would cherry pick the songs I mentioned above because I feel they are the best songs on the album. But if you are a Papa Roach fan, you will find more songs to love on Metamorphosis.