A Thousand Suns
Released 13th September.
After the dull, limp and soulless 'Minutes to Midnight' and the electro-generica of 'New Divide' (which my friends will know I like to refer to as Linkin Park minus effort), one could have forgiven Linkin Park for returning to former glories and making a carbon copy of debut album 'Hybrid Theory', they haven't.
Instead they went into the studio and created an album that feels lost; it's full of ideas that go nowhere, there's little to no flow between tracks, lots of interludes, and some massive duds of songs (Wretches and Kings, The Catalyst).
But what they have achieved is to create an experimental album that is overflowing with ideas, doesn't tread on old ground and when it's good, it's great.
Choice highlights include 'Burning in the Skies' which may be one of the most upbeat songs Linkin Park have ever created. 'When They Come For Me' feels like it belongs somewhere between the Meteora and Minutes eras, but it's a pretty unique song. Second single 'Waiting For The End' feels a bit generic but somehow manages to get away with opening with Mike Shinoda rapping in a Jamaican accent for no apparent reason.
The vocal style on next song 'Blackout' feels like Bennington is getting advice from Mindless Self Indulgence, in fact the songs breakdown could fit happily on any Mindless album. And finally 'Iridescence' at song 12 out of the 15 tracks provides the last good song of the album, it starts off quietly with just Bennington singing over a slow piano track but builds into a pretty solid song.
As a fan of old LP this album came as something of a pleasant surprise to me, however I cannot help but feel that those people who got into LP through radio singles 'What I've Done', 'New Divide' and 'The Catalyst' are likely to dislike the album as a whole.
A Thousands Suns, for all it's flaws, feels like a band revitalised, making the music they want to make and not caring what the fans/critics say, something that always appeals to me.
Check Out:
Burning In The Skies
When They Come For Me
Blackout
Iridescent
Avoid:
Wretches And Kings
The Catalyst
As a fan of 'old' Linkin Park I was highly disappointed before the release of 'Minutes to Midnight' to see an interview on MTV2 (which no longer exists) with Linkin Park where they denounced all their old music as 'crap'. I thought this was an odd statement to make, seeing as their new material wasn't out yet, so the only people who were likely to take an interest in said interview would be established fans of Linkin Park and, hence, all their, now declared crap, old material.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm glad this new album (minus the duds you mentioned) feels like they're stumbling back towards that 'old' sound, I hope they realise it's what made them popular.
I wouldn't say they were 'stumbling back' to their old sound at all, this just isn't that.
ReplyDeleteand with regards to the interview, yeah they've got massive egos!.
if you wanna download it some of the links here should still work:
http://sceneflux.net/linkin-park-a-thousand-suns-2010-plan9