This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Five things you need to know about this album:
1) You hear a lot of hype about how alterna-metal upstarts Papa Roach have grown up on this sophomore major-label release.
2) Some of that hype is true — musically, lovehatetragedy represents a step forward for the band, averting the usual overdriven rap-rock cliches in favour of more brooding and bruising material — along with an invigorated slab of Detroit rawk in M-80 (Explosive Energy Movement).
3) Too bad singer Jacoby Shaddix — formerly Coby Dick — doesn’t join the party. Like you’d figure from the title, lovehatetragedy is the chronicle of a tortured (and apparently torturous) romance that finds Shaddix spending most of this CD wailing about the miserable depths to which his tortured soul has sunk. Yawn.
4) Confession may be good for the soul, but it doesn’t always make for good rock ’n’ roll.
5) Still, any band that includes a suitably tense and scrappy cover of Pixies’ Gouge Away on their album wins an extra half-star.
