Papa Roach – ‘Greatest Hits Volume 2’ [Album Review]

A whopping 21 track affair, Greatest Hits Volume 2 is the second part of Papa Roach’s retrospective look back through their career. Spanning the last ten years, The Better Noise Years, features not only ten of the last twelve top ten singles the rockers enjoyed, but also a re-working their 2015 hit “Broken As Me,” featuring Asking Alexandria frontman Danny Worsnop. Along with the reworking and remastered tracks, the album also features a selection of other unreleased and acoustic tracks.

Truthfully though, while a cursory scan down the tracklist for this second package shows some absolute bangers from their live show, if a gun was put to your head and you were asked to pick one, it would probably be fair to say that seven out of ten fans would pick Volume 1. You see, for all their quality, the material on Volume 1 was groundbreaking for the band. Songs like “Dead Cell” and “Broken Home” put the band on the cover of magazines and at the top of the charts. Those songs set the foundations for a whole generation of bands to follow. Sure, there is no denying that Volume 2 is also full of some absolute anthems and songs that are staples in their live set these days, but it’s hard to pick anything on here that is anywhere close to being as iconic as “Infest” or “Last Resort.”

What this compilation does go to show is how Papa Roach evolved as a band from nu-metal upstarts into the slick modern rock outfit that we see before us today. There’s the snotty electro-rock of “Kick in the Teeth,” the anthemic “Face Everything And Rise,” and the room shaking “Still Swinging,” all fan favourites the world over. Sadly though, for each one of those, there is a track like the forgettable “Periscope” or the fanbase-splitting “Elevate,” the latter of which is a track devoid of any of the energy, swagger, and attitude that you associate the band with. It’s also a track that is afforded an equally forgettable remix. Sadly though, three further remixes pollute the backend of this package followed by two passable acoustic renditions of “Face Everything and Rise” and “Leader of the Broken Hearts.”

Despite the six songs tagged on the end of this compilation, there are some fantastic moments from their last decade. The “Broken As Me” reworking is another of those anthemic Papa Roach bangers. “Gravity,” featuring In This Moment vocalist Maria Brink, is a great collaboration while “Burn,” “Born For Greatness,” and “Who Do You Trust?” are the kind of tracks that took the Papa Roach of old and brought it dragging and kicking into the 21st century. Sadly though, they don’t hold a candle to the “classics” and show that, despite some lapses, 2o-odd years later, these rock heavyweights are still capable of coming out swingin’.

Greatest Hits Volume 2 Track Listing:

01. Born For Greatness (Remastered 2020)
02. Help (Remastered 2020)
03. Elevate (Remastered 2020)
04. Come Around (Remastered 2020)
05. Broken As Me (feat. Danny Worsnop of Asking Alexandria)
06. Falling Apart (Remastered 2020)
07. Who Do You Trust? (Remastered 2020)
08. Gravity (feat. Maria Brink) (Remastered 2020)
09. American Dreams (Remastered 2020)
10. Face Everything and Rise (Remastered 2020)
11. Periscope (feat. Skylar Grey) (Remastered 2020)
12. Still Swingin’ (Remastered 2020)
13. The Ending (Remastered 2020)
14. Burn (Remastered 2020)
15. Kick In The Teeth (Remastered 2020)
16. Elevate (Aelonia Remix)
17. Help (Aelonia Remix)
18. Born for Greatness (Cymek Remix)
19. Top of the World (Aelonia Remix)
20. Face Everything and Rise (Live Acoustic)
21. Leader of the Broken Hearts (Live Acoustic)

Run Time: 71:50
Record Label: Better Noise Recordings
Release Date: March 19, 2021