The Papercut Chronicles II
The Papercut Chronicles II is the fifth studio album by American rap rock band Gym Class Heroes. It was released through Decaydance Records, Warner Bros. Records and Fueled by Ramen on November 15, 2011. It serves as a sequel to the group's second studio album, The Papercut Chronicles. The album has sold 88,000 copies in the United States.
Singles
- The album's lead single, "Stereo Hearts" featuring Adam Levine from Maroon 5 was released for download via iTunes on June 14, 2011. It peaked at number 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
- The album's second single, "Ass Back Home" featuring Neon Hitch was released for download via iTunes on October 31, 2011.
- The album's third single, "The Fighter" featuring Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic was released on November 8, 2011.
- The album's fourth and final single, "Martyrial Girls" was released on August 27, 2012.
Promotional singles
- The album's first and only promotional single, "Life Goes On" featuring Oh Land was released for download via iTunes on October 18, 2011.
Critical reception
Reception of The Papercut Chronicles II has been mixed. Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly opined that while the album "too often chokes on revved-up aggro crunch and laughable lyrical raging against the machine, it works when they jettison their limp rap-rock instincts and plunge into crossover pop like the haunting 'Life Goes On' and stealthily sincere 'Ass Back Home'." Gregory Heaney of AllMusic noted that The Papercut Chronicles II will come as a "blast from the past" for the band's fans, adding that songs such as "Lazarus, Ze Gitan" and "Solo Discotheque " feature the "infectious and highly polished sound that has made the quartet the pop/rap/punk crossover triple threat that it's grown into over the years." In a highly negative review of the record, Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone gave the record one and a half stars out of five, calling it "the year's most charmless album" and referring to McCoy as a "laughably inept MC".Track listing
The track listing for all versions of The Papercut Chronicles II is as follows:- The song "Kid Nothing and the Never-Ending Naked Nightmare" itself ends at 3:53. There is then a few minutes of silence, then at 7:07 a hidden track outro starts, which involves a computerized voice asking what the listener thought about the album, then going off into random tangents.
Personnel
Gym Class Heroes- Travis McCoy – vocals
- Matt McGinley – drums
- Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo – guitar, vocals
- Eric Roberts – bass guitar
- Jason Amsel – vocals
- Austin Bisnow – Rhodes
- Benny Blanco – additional drums, keyboards, and programming
- Emile Haynie – keyboard and drum programming
- Neon Hitch – vocals
- Adam Levine – vocals
- Ammar Malik – background vocals
- Phillip A. Peterson – strings
- Robopop – additional drums, keyboards, programming, and guitars
- Ryan Tedder – additional instrumentation
- Noel Zancanella – additional instrumentation
- Benny Blanco – engineer, vocal editing
- Smith Carlson – engineer
- Rob Freeman – instrument engineer
- Chris Galland – mixing assistant
- Chris Gehringer – mastering
- Serban Ghenea – mixing
- Mark "Exit" Goodchild – engineer
- John Hanes – mix engineer
- Jimmy James – vocal editing assistant, assistant mix engineer
- Jeremy "J Boogs" Levin – production coordination
- Erik Madrid – mixing assistant
- Manny Marroquin – mixing
- Tore Nissen – engineer for Oh Land
- Tim Roberts – assistant mix engineer
- Phil Seaford – assistant mix engineer
- David "D Slib" Silberstein – production coordination
- Ryan Tedder – engineer
- Andrew Wright – vocal engineer, engineer
- Scott "Yarmov" Yarmovsky – assistant mix engineer
Charts
| Chart | Peak position |
| Hungarian Physical Albums | 30 |