There I was, an Aussie death metal throat-ripper, ready to dive into the unexpected — Papa Roach, the titans of nu-metal nostalgia, stomping into 2025 with a track that hits like a Molotov cocktail lobbed straight through the wall of your teenage bedroom. BRAINDEAD — featuring none other than Toby Morse of hardcore legends H2O — landed in my lap, and you better believe I couldn’t resist hitting “record” on a reaction.
Papa Roach have been around long enough to soundtrack breakups, mosh pits, and tattoo shop waiting rooms across multiple generations. But this? This is a fistfight between nu-metal swagger and punk-hardcore grit. Jacoby Shaddix is spitting venom like it’s still the early 2000s, and Toby Morse stomps in with all the attitude of a New York basement show. The song is sharp, nasty, and wired with electricity — a far cry from the radio-safe stuff some people expect when they hear the name Papa Roach.
Now, as a death metal vocalist from the underbelly of Australia, I come at this from a whole other planet. I’m used to blastbeats, guttural growls, and riffs heavy enough to snap vertebrae. So seeing Papa Roach tear in with this level of fire — and with Toby Morse adding that hardcore snarl — made me sit up straight, bang my head, and grin like a lunatic.
The video itself? Punk chaos. Gritty visuals, raw energy, and the kind of aesthetic that makes you want to pick up a spray can and start tagging the walls of your own lounge room. It’s rebellion dressed in black and neon, and it fits the collab perfectly.
What blew me away most is that after all these years, Papa Roach still sound hungry. That hunger is rare. You either get bloated and coast on nostalgia, or you sharpen the knives and remind the world why you matter. BRAINDEAD is the sound of Papa Roach baring their teeth again — and with Toby Morse along for the ride, it’s a rallying cry for anyone who still believes heavy music should be dangerous, raw, and alive.
So if you want to see how a death metal vocalist reacts to this unholy alliance of nu-metal and hardcore punk, check out my full reaction on KillerTube. I break it down scream by scream, riff by riff, and let’s just say… Papa Roach might’ve dragged me into their chaos, and I didn’t want to leave.
This is gospel.
I bite crowd surfers.
killer.
