Linkin Park

[fadetoblackdude7]

Goddamn......seems like A Thousand Suns was just released a few months ago and already they're forking out a new one!

[ThroughHerEyesDude6]

Weird...I feel the same way. I love ATS, and I'm not sure I'm ready for something new.

[Super Dude]

I'm definitely ready for it. I'm really interested in the direction they're taking with this album, based on Shinoda's thoughts:

In the early part of our career, we were inexperienced. We made decisions on all fronts that some of us regret (some times a little, some times a lot). And some decisions (like my fire-engine red hair back in the day) were things that I don’t really regret, but I simply wouldn’t do today. All those things spun together to create a complicated uneasiness about the past that the band wasn’t able to come to terms with for a while.

Luckily, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Over the course of the last year, the subject kept popping up, and we talked about how to tastefully bridge the gap between all the musical places we’ve been, to marry together all the ideas we’ve accumulated about how to make a song. And as LIVING THINGS began taking shape, the most powerful shift I saw take place was the acceptance and eagerness to use all the tools in the toolbox, not just some. Everything at once, together.

Some people have already compared our new album to the early ones. I suppose it depends on how you want to make that comparison (by the way, it’s certainly not about guitars). For me, it’s all about getting back to the real “hybrid theory” — not the album with that name, but the idea that the six guys in our band have drastically different tastes in music, and the blending of all those sounds into one is exactly what we built our band upon.

In other Linkin Park news, their official website is now streaming the full single for those who are interested, the release date for the album June 26th, and the cover art is here:

[Gorille85]

Sounds like it's going to be more diverse... Might just check this one out.

[Super Dude]

And now, a tracklisting:

01 LOST IN THE ECHO
02 IN MY REMAINS
03 BURN IT DOWN
04 LIES GREED MISERY
05 I'LL BE GONE
06 CASTLE OF GLASS
07 VICTIMIZED
08 ROADS UNTRAVELED
09 SKIN TO BONE
10 UNTIL IT BREAKS
11 TINFOIL
12 POWERLESS

[Phoenix87x]

 I really like Burning it down and now I'm really looking forward to Living Things. (didn't really care for ATS)

    Also I am so very happy that Incubus is touring with them. Those are two bands I really wanted to see, but didn't have the money to see them separately, so having them tour together is fantastic.

and I really like that album art too.

[fadetoblackdude7]

Sounds really exciting, I'm definitely pumped!! The album cover is BADASS.

[Gorille85]

OK the single is not bad.

[BlackInk]

OK the single is not bad.

It's unfortunately not amazing either.

[Gorille85]

Well it's Linkin Park.

[Super Dude]

I kinda like it. Although I don't tend to like their singles that much anyway, so I will optimistically predict that this will be the worst song on the album.

[BlackInk]

I kinda like it. Although I don't tend to like their singles that much anyway, so I will optimistically predict that this will be the worst song on the album.

Yeah that's my thought too. Well maybe not worst but that there will be other ones that will be the better ones.

[TioJorge]

Wow, I liked that a lot more than I thought I would. I don't listen to LP anymore speaking in newer terms; I absolutely can't stand anything past Meteora, but before that I think they were very, very good. I love almost every song they've released till Meteora and still listen to them on occasion. That said, I didn't expect anything from this new song (especially since their blow-your-brains-out-boring singles are one of the reasons why I can't stand them now), let alone the album; but now that I've heard this and while I didn't love it, I definitely had a slight attraction to it, I'm actually anticipating Living Things to not be complete shit. Here's hoping its a return to their roots; while I know that hope is already dead in the water, just a bit of those roots finding their way into the music would be nice. I really can't stand the poppy, constantly-soaring vocals and entirely new direction they've taken since Meteora, so maybe this will be a 'best of both worlds' kind of thing for me.

[Super Dude]

I don't understand the love for the "old sound." Sure, it was cool, but I think they've grown and that's what we should want from any band, for them to grow and develop a sound that makes them unique.

[TioJorge]

Except to my ears, they haven't grown at all; they've regressed into a monotonous, shallower sound than what they produced on Meteora or even Hybrid Theory. They were unique in their sound on those albums; the newer albums is what made me forget them and blend them in with the rest of the radio-heavy, pop-infused hip-hop/rock shit. I thought they had a very specific, original sound to them pre-Midnight; after that they became flat out bland, nothing stood out to me as inspired.

Different yolks for different blokes, though. I simply don't have any connection with the new music at all, whereas I felt emotion and found hooks and grooves in the older music. There's a few tracks here and there that I think are alright from anything post-Meteora, but it's few and far between. I suppose there's just something that clicked with them at one point after Meteora and that shift just didn't click with me. 'Hate' or 'dislike' are the wrong terms I suppose (though a few singles definitely deserve them), it's probably more accurate to say I merely can't relate; as I said, I just don't connect with the music they're making now, it isn't necessarily that I think the music itself is bad, but it's definitely not what I want from LP.

That said, this new song and hopefully the new album is closer to what I'd expect from a band like them to 'grow' and 'evolve' while still keeping what made them 'them' in the first place. It's great to move on and progress, but it's just as important to remember where you came from and find a balance between the two; at least that's what I think is best. But if you didn't like the old stuff to begin with, I suppose I may as well be talking to a wall.

A sexy wall. 

[Super Dude]

Sure, I felt the same way as you when MtM came out, it was actually A Thousand Suns that changed my mind. They may sound similar to other acts on sort of a superficial level, but I feel like it's the same as with the Beatles. The Beatles never played an original style of music in their entire career together; what they did was take genres that were in style and improved upon them. They didn't "invent" folk or pyschedelia, but they did pump all sorts of new life into both. That's what I feel Linkin Park has been doing with electronic, Western-style bhangra, etc.

[BlackInk]

Sure, I felt the same way as you when MtM came out, it was actually A Thousand Suns that changed my mind.

This. Very much actully.

[Zantera]

The old sound is so lame.  Don't get me wrong, I've grown up with Meteora and Hybrid Theory and I love them for nostalgic reasons. But if LP had still made albums like that, being in their 30's and Chester having red, spiky hair.. that would be so hilarious.
Personally I like Minutes to Midnight. I get the complaints people had, and I'm not the biggest fan of the slower songs like "Shadow of the Day" or "Leave Out All the Rest", but the rest of the album is really good IMO. "The Little Things You Give Away" is quite possibly one of my favorite LP-songs, it's easily a top3 song by them, and maybe even my favorite. "Given Up", "Bleed it Out" and "No More Sorrow" are all great songs that have a bit of a touch from the first two albums. "Valentine's Day" is another great song, and the rest is mixed between good/great.
A Thousand Suns is pretty interesting. I think it was a cohesive album, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. With that said, I don't really remember any of the songs except for "Burning in the Skies" and "Blackout", but I should probably listen to the album again soon. All in all I enjoyed it.

I think it's easy to praise Hybrid Theory and Meteora because of how good they were at the time. Many of us (not only on this forum) grew up with them, and I have fond memories of going through school, being 13-15 and listening to Linkin Park pretty much every day. The style they had back then was just not something they could move forward. If they had made another or two more albums in the same style, it would have gotten so repetitive. I think Hybrid Theory and Meteora has their charm because they were special, and more albums in the same style would have ruined that. And I'm really happy that LP could move forward as a band.

[ariich]

Except to my ears, they haven't grown at all; they've regressed into a monotonous, shallower sound than what they produced on Meteora or even Hybrid Theory. They were unique in their sound on those albums; the newer albums is what made me forget them and blend them in with the rest of the radio-heavy, pop-infused hip-hop/rock shit. I thought they had a very specific, original sound to them pre-Midnight; after that they became flat out bland, nothing stood out to me as inspired.

Different yolks for different blokes, though. I simply don't have any connection with the new music at all, whereas I felt emotion and found hooks and grooves in the older music. There's a few tracks here and there that I think are alright from anything post-Meteora, but it's few and far between. I suppose there's just something that clicked with them at one point after Meteora and that shift just didn't click with me. 'Hate' or 'dislike' are the wrong terms I suppose (though a few singles definitely deserve them), it's probably more accurate to say I merely can't relate; as I said, I just don't connect with the music they're making now, it isn't necessarily that I think the music itself is bad, but it's definitely not what I want from LP.

That said, this new song and hopefully the new album is closer to what I'd expect from a band like them to 'grow' and 'evolve' while still keeping what made them 'them' in the first place. It's great to move on and progress, but it's just as important to remember where you came from and find a balance between the two; at least that's what I think is best. But if you didn't like the old stuff to begin with, I suppose I may as well be talking to a wall.

A sexy wall. 

Are you basing your comments off Minutes to Midnight, or have you given A Thousand Suns a proper listen as well? Because whether you would like it or not, ATS is easily the most intricate and intellectual album they've done.

[Dimitrius]

And also a very good album, which MtM isn't.

[RuRoRul]

Personally I like Minutes to Midnight. I get the complaints people had, and I'm not the biggest fan of the slower songs like "Shadow of the Day" or "Leave Out All the Rest", but the rest of the album is really good IMO. "The Little Things You Give Away" is quite possibly one of my favorite LP-songs, it's easily a top3 song by them, and maybe even my favorite. "Given Up", "Bleed it Out" and "No More Sorrow" are all great songs that have a bit of a touch from the first two albums. "Valentine's Day" is another great song, and the rest is mixed between good/great.


I think it's easy to praise Hybrid Theory and Meteora because of how good they were at the time. Many of us (not only on this forum) grew up with them, and I have fond memories of going through school, being 13-15 and listening to Linkin Park pretty much every day. The style they had back then was just not something they could move forward. If they had made another or two more albums in the same style, it would have gotten so repetitive. I think Hybrid Theory and Meteora has their charm because they were special, and more albums in the same style would have ruined that. And I'm really happy that LP could move forward as a band.

Agreed. I don't like those two songs off Minutes To Midnight but  No More Sorrow, Bleed It Out, Given Up are not far off of the songs from the first two albums and the rest of the songs are all pretty good.

Hybrid Theory and Meteora were two of my earliest favourite albums (I think Meteora might be the first album I bought myself) and I still think they are both great albums with hardly a weak song between them, but even if Linkin Park was making music of exactly the same style now I doubt I'd still be listening to it as much since my tastes in music are a bit different. I definitely don't think their old style was lame, but I do think it is better for them that they changed. I don't really like the style they moved into with A Thousand Suns but I'm kind of glad they did something else. Whether the new song is a bit closer to their older sound than ATS or not, it still doesn't really sound like it's for me. If the rest of the album sounds drastically different I might get it but if not I'm content to leave my Linkin Park collection as just the great, nostalgia-inducing first two albums and the pretty good Minutes To Midnight.

I was inspired to Hybrid Theory and Meteora (which I'm on right now) after seeing all the Linkin Park here and on other forums, something I haven't done in ages.

[Dark Castle]

I gave A Thousand Suns a listen, and while a few songs were ok-good, most of it was not that good to me at all.

[Zantera]

I wonder how much is nostalgia with LP. If I heard Hybrid Theory or Meteora for the first time today (not knowing the band before) I'm not sure if I would love them. But now I have such warm feelings towards the albums that I will always like them, even if my taste changes.

[RuRoRul]

I wonder how much is nostalgia with LP. If I heard Hybrid Theory or Meteora for the first time today (not knowing the band before) I'm not sure if I would love them. But now I have such warm feelings towards the albums that I will always like them, even if my taste changes.

I'm wondering the same thing listening to them. I have a hard time believing that I wouldn't at least quite like them if I heard them for the first time today, although I definitely can't see me rating them as one of my favourites. But the same thing is probably true for a lot of music people like that they liked a long time ago - it's much easier to just recapture appreciation you already had for something when you were more receptive to it than to really appreciate something brand new.

[TioJorge]

The old sound is so lame.  Don't get me wrong, I've grown up with Meteora and Hybrid Theory and I love them for nostalgic reasons. But if LP had still made albums like that, being in their 30's and Chester having red, spiky hair.. that would be so hilarious.
Personally I like Minutes to Midnight. I get the complaints people had, and I'm not the biggest fan of the slower songs like "Shadow of the Day" or "Leave Out All the Rest", but the rest of the album is really good IMO. "The Little Things You Give Away" is quite possibly one of my favorite LP-songs, it's easily a top3 song by them, and maybe even my favorite. "Given Up", "Bleed it Out" and "No More Sorrow" are all great songs that have a bit of a touch from the first two albums. "Valentine's Day" is another great song, and the rest is mixed between good/great.
A Thousand Suns is pretty interesting. I think it was a cohesive album, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. With that said, I don't really remember any of the songs except for "Burning in the Skies" and "Blackout", but I should probably listen to the album again soon. All in all I enjoyed it.

I think it's easy to praise Hybrid Theory and Meteora because of how good they were at the time. Many of us (not only on this forum) grew up with them, and I have fond memories of going through school, being 13-15 and listening to Linkin Park pretty much every day. The style they had back then was just not something they could move forward. If they had made another or two more albums in the same style, it would have gotten so repetitive. I think Hybrid Theory and Meteora has their charm because they were special, and more albums in the same style would have ruined that. And I'm really happy that LP could move forward as a band.

Interesting... Nostalgia has very little to do with my liking the older material, but I can only speak for myself (unless it is with video games, I'm not very nostalgic with anything in my life, least of all music). In fact, there's some pretty shitty memories that I have to dig out whilst listening to them, but I like the music so much that I block them out. I don't say this to debate or spark anything but I think the exact same of their recent albums (lame, embarrassing). Songs like Bleed It Out, Hands Held High and What I've Done, I find repetitive, cheesy, and downright cringe-worthy at times; same goes for some ATS songs; Blackout wasn't terrible, but once again I cringed when I heard it just because it sounds so damn mediocre and corny (along with Robot Boy; Burning In The Skies; and Waiting For The End). I find it interesting how people relate those emotions to music, and it's funny that we're on opposite sides. I mean, I can rock out to their old stuff; really get into it and enjoy what I'm listening to, whereas you probably do the same as I do with the new stuff, except with the old. (P.S. 'Red spikey hair' has nothing to do with the music they make... It is in fact possible to be 'grown-up and mature' and still make music akin to what once was with their first two albums; but once again it's interesting you relate that to that type of music)

I just can't get past a certain wall that has me cringing with embarassment every time I try to listen to almost anything from ATS and literally every track from MTM. It just sounds like some kiddy-pop joke to me; like they're trying so fucking hard to be accepted as this 'new, evolved' band when I thought they were doing amazing until that big change. But the same seems to be true for many others here in relation to their first couple albums. Very interesting. I don't know what makes us think that way when listening to a song but it's intriguing. Either way, clearly their new style isn't for me; so I'm hoping the new album leans towards their older style.

@Ariich: Urgh...I'm going to try my hardest to not let that last comment rub me the wrong way but please, for the love of all integrity, do not pull that 'factual opinion' cop-out and borderline insult my own opinion with that stab of 'whether you like it or not'. It doesn't make your opinion any more of a fact than me saying "MTM is an embarrassing pile of filth and anyone who thinks otherwise is a wrong doody-poo and has a brain the third the size of me, it's science kthanks" and only serves to irk anyone that happens to disagree, which I clearly do, along with projecting an image that you think your opinion is fact.

To answer your question, yes I've given both MTM and ATS full listens (ATS multiple listens because yes, it is intricate) and my uncompromising attention and I really did not enjoy either of them, as you can probably surmise from the above paragraphs. The music behind the lyrics doesn't do anything at all for me, I find it to be very bland and samey; then the lyrics themselves serve only to either make me cringe or stare blankly and forget altogether what I'm listening to. It's just a complete miss for me; I don't get the new style or its appeal nor can I fathom how it is their most intricate album. To date I still think that Meteora is a wonderful work of art and is their most intricately woven album along with being the most intellectually based output by the band...whether you like it or not.

[Phoenix87x]

I wonder how much is nostalgia with LP. If I heard Hybrid Theory or Meteora for the first time today (not knowing the band before) I'm not sure if I would love them. But now I have such warm feelings towards the albums that I will always like them, even if my taste changes.

 I went my entire teenage years only owning Meteora and finally got Hybrid Theory about a year ago, at age 23 and loved every minute of it.

[Zantera]

I wonder how much is nostalgia with LP. If I heard Hybrid Theory or Meteora for the first time today (not knowing the band before) I'm not sure if I would love them. But now I have such warm feelings towards the albums that I will always like them, even if my taste changes.

 I went my entire teenage years only owning Meteora and finally got Hybrid Theory about a year ago, at age 23 and loved every minute of it.

Cool. I can only speak for myself, but I guess LP were easy to embrace back in the days, when I was younger I didn't quite pay attention to much, so their simple "formula" and sound was pretty easy to get hooked on. I'm not gonna say that I don't enjoy "simple" music today, but for those reasons I think it's interesting, if I had enjoyed those albums today. (if I hadn't heard anything else)

The only album in their discography that I don't like is Collision Course. There are a few songs on it that I can enjoy casually, but apart from that the newer versions did very little for me, and I enjoy the originals more. And it's not a Jay-Z thing either, I enjoy some of his work as well, but the result wasn't that great to me.
I also think Reanimation is underrated, it's a really interesting listen, with some great versions of the songs. (One Step Closer, By Myself, Forgotten and Pushing Me Away are better here then on Hybrid Theory IMO)

[Phoenix87x]

I think I'm going to give ATS another chance tonight.

    I was having a lot a trouble wrapping my head around it during the first few listens, but I do really want to get into it. (especially with this concert coming up)

[ariich]

@Ariich: Urgh...I'm going to try my hardest to not let that last comment rub me the wrong way but please, for the love of all integrity, do not pull that 'factual opinion' cop-out and borderline insult my own opinion with that stab of 'whether you like it or not'. It doesn't make your opinion any more of a fact than me saying "MTM is an embarrassing pile of filth and anyone who thinks otherwise is a wrong doody-poo and has a brain the third the size of me, it's science kthanks" and only serves to irk anyone that happens to disagree, which I clearly do, along with projecting an image that you think your opinion is fact.

Dude, I think you completely didn't get what I was saying, and can't have seen my posts in these sorts of discussions before, because I can assure you I was not suggesting that any opinion is in any way a fact. I'm always the one arguing for exactly what you are saying now!

The only reason I asked that question was out of interest, because your comments about the music being more "monotonous and shallow" didn't seem to tie in with the characteristics of ATS vs the first two albums. I don't mean the quality or whether they are good/bad, I just meant the features of those albums in themselves. That was why I wondered how much you'd listened to ATS, or if you were basing those comments mainly on MtM, particularly because I agree with you regarding that album. That was all.

[TioJorge]

Oh... I'm sorry! I read it as a sarcastic jab at my opinion of the album rather than an actual question/comment. Oop. But yeah, I didn't really get much more upon another listen; but I'm clearly biased against their new direction. I was misspoken when describing ATS with monotonous/shallow (must've been thinking of MTM), because it definitely isn't, it's more that style of music that doesn't mesh well with my tastes. So...perhaps once this new album comes out it will open my mind a bit to the new style, because I really liked this new song; and I can't remember the last time I liked a single. Till then though, I think I'll be the old fogy fan and be stuck in the past with the first two albums; I can't get enough of them. There's just some kind of specific sound or...quirk, just something that the first two albums had that's missing from recent endeavors. It may well be that it just isn't in my tastes, as their older material seems to be darker and more electronically based, which I love; but something that has taken a background stance in the newer albums.

Hell, it'd be great if the new album changed my perspective because I'd love to have another band to pine after and keep up with; it seems that I have but few bands these days that are active and continuously making music like these guys. As long as they don't go back to MTM's routine then I might be open to this new direction after all; I'll have to pick this one up and then go back to ATS to see if anything clicked. MTM is definitely done for in my mind though, that was just a bust...

Ed: I also missed the 'whether you would like it or not'. That changes the demeanor of the sentences considerably...  My bad. I need food. Yes, blaming it on hunger is the answer...

[Zantera]

To me it feels a bit like Minutes to Midnight gets disregarded a lot because when it came out, fans were expecting it to be: "Chug Chug > Rap a little here > Chester comes in for chorus > Mr.Hahn scratches a little here" which it totally wasn't. 
I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in particular though, that's the general idea I've gotten from the album, people were expecting it to be a follow-up on HT and Meteora soundwise, when it wasn't people got mad. By the time ATS came out I think people had adjusted to the "LP not playing metal" more, and the album was better received. (how good the albums are compared to each other is another discussion)

[TioJorge]

Right, exactlys. I mean honestly, I had all but forgotten about LP at that time because right after Meteora (and for a while after its release) was my deep dive into the world of Prog so I was in up to my neck in all kinds of new bands. But when I did eventually get around to rediscovering them, I was floored to know that they had made such a drastic change. I can't say 'mad' was the word, but I was definitely sad and disappointed that the sound I had related so closely with the band was pretty much nonexistent. I'm (more) open to it now, it's just that once I did listen to it and accept the change I found I didn't like it at all (which is sadly as unbiased as I'll be when it comes to LP for now).

But now comes this new song and GOLLY GEE MR. MCGOO, I actually like the style and the overall vibe of the song! So perhaps once the new album arrives and if I take a liking to it, I can hopefully truly be unbiased when listening to ATS (maaaaaaybe MTM after a few eons) and give it a true chance. That said, I doubt anything will give me the feeling that the first two have (and do, still). It is pretty amazing though the transition they made while still retaining what seems to be a good amount of their old fanbase while opening, quite literally, an entirely new one of a different genre; impressive to say the least, they're certainly talented.

[ariich]

Oh... I'm sorry! I read it as a sarcastic jab at my opinion of the album rather than an actual question/comment. Oop. But yeah, I didn't really get much more upon another listen; but I'm clearly biased against their new direction. I was misspoken when describing ATS with monotonous/shallow (must've been thinking of MTM), because it definitely isn't, it's more that style of music that doesn't mesh well with my tastes.

No worries man, yeah that's all I was asking really. You seemed to be lumping the two albums together when I think they're at two opposite ends of LP's approach/style, but I can completely appreciate why you might dig the style less. It's definitely not as energetic as their first two albums I suppose, but for me there's something very exciting and dynamic about it.

And lack of food is ALWAYS a good excuse, I use it all the time!

I had a listen to the new song and I really like it. Short and simple, but it's nice. Does actually kinda remind me of the ATS style mostly, but a bit more upbeat.

[Phoenix87x]

So I just re-listened to ATS and also listened to MTM for the very first time.

   Surprisingly, after years of thinking I would hate MTM, I actually liked it. Maybe not on the level of HT or Meteora, but I definitely enjoyed it.

ATS on the the other hand is gonna take some time. The first time I listened to it, I didn't like it at all, but this time I could feel myself starting to get into it. I'm gonna have to give some more listens.

[Super Dude]

I hated MtM when I first heard it, but ATS definitely redeemed LP for me. And yeah, I popped in MtM recently and it definitely redeemed itself.

Here's what I think it is: as a bunch of songs, I think MtM is great. But something about the ordering of the album or something there makes it not really work as an album. And maybe ATS feels like it worked a lot better because as a concept album, it was all about cohesion and flow. I dunno, this is just my lacking sleep opinion talking here.