Papa Roach

The bone-crunching grind of heavy metal. The adrenaline-crazed onslaught of hardcore punk. The streamlined melodic drive of alt-rock. Slam 'em together and you've got Papa Roach. Never the shy, retiring types, Papa Roach exploded into view as one of the first great heavy-rock bands of the 21st century with debut smash "Last Resort" — its rap-metal wallop made them overnight nü-metal titans, and even earned a Weird Al parody version. The Cali crushers wouldn't let their sound stand still, though, and when many of their nü-metal peers had fallen by the wayside, the success of hum-it-till-it-hurts power ballad "Scars" helped Papa Roach redefine themselves. Later, on the cusp of a new decade, "Lifeline" pointed further forward, its gut-punch guitars and irresistible chorus echoing classic Soul Asylum as much as anything from the Ozzfest nation. If heavy makes you happy, prepare for metal mayhem in Next Steps.

This one's for the headbangers — Papa Roach may pride themselves on their ability to be more than metal, but no matter how high they climb the Pop charts, you can't take the roar out of the Roach. Song titles don't come any more self-explanatory than "M-80 (Explosive Energy Movement)," whose cataclysmic crash of throat-shredding vocals and apocalyptic guitar assault makes the loudest Fourth of July sound like a distant whisper. Speaking of which, "Singular Indestructible Droid" delivers the ultimate whisper-to-a-scream dynamic, with malevolent murmurs detonating into a mighty, merciless thrash. But if your ears are still in one piece after that sonic attack, flip over to the other side of the coin for a few minutes, for a live version of "Forever" that shows Papa Roach knows how to unplug without letting up.

Papa Roach took the world by storm right from the start with their multi-platinum debut album, Infest. Kings of a sharper, smarter kind of nü-metal, they had the melodic smarts to make it to the Pop charts, but they could still bring the noise to the rock-starved masses heavier than a trailer full of anvils. Whether you pledge allegiance to the Papa Roach of raging rap-metal riot "Blood Brothers" or the kinder, gentler side of the band that hit it big with the open-hearted melodic/metallic love letter "Forever," we've staged a no-prisoners rock 'n' roll raid to round up the fist-pumpers and the tearjerkers, the thrash throw-downs and the hit-bound hookfests. These are the tunes that truly define the too-swift-for-stereotypes journey of the ever-unpredictable Papa Roach.