There's a lot of nostalgia goggled controversy over the new Linkin Park album. I like the new direction, personally. Truth is, the first two albums had some really memorable moments for a twelve year old me, but they don't age well with a few exceptions. My December, Breaking the Habit, Session, Nobody's Listening, Forgotten (and it's remix), Pts of Athrty, and In the End are all classics in my book, but the rest is largely forgettable.
The third album, Minutes to Midnight, was a choppy mess. The best thing that came out of that era was New Divide, which had some kinda cool progressive bits, which kinda brings us to the direction of the new album, A Thousand Suns.
Thousand Suns, despite the Rubin production, is not at all like Minutes to Midnight. This is a billion times smoother (when listened to as a straight track, it all flows near perfectly) and more organized than Minutes to Midnight, and thus much more listenable. It's also got their strongest lyrics ever, which is cool. Chester actually has something to sing about besides his own self loathing, and Mike is capable as both a singer and rapper.
This album is exactly what I wanted it to be: stronger than Minutes to Midnight, and going in a new direction yet still keeping hints those elements that made Hybrid Theory and Meteora such nostalgic albums several years later.
And even though they had Rick Rubin producing, it's got quite a few touches of a **** The Record Label album. A few songs are radio friendly, but overall you get the feeling that this was made as a concept album first and a singles collection second.
I've listened through this album a few times, and it's holding together pretty well
Song by song (For a benchmark 7 is average, 5 is listenable):
Requiem/Radiance: Sets the pace for the album. A little long for an intro on such a short album, but not bad. Recalls nuclear themes and specifically the Bhagavad Gita quotes made famous from the Manhattan Project. 7/10
Burning in the Skies: A slower song, and the only one that really recalls the old Chester's Self Loathing Ballads of old. However, there's a certain magic to this one that makes it much stronger than stuff like Shadow of the Day; the lyrics are somewhat mystical, the melody holds together really well with the vocals unlike most Linkin Park songs, and it generally just holds up. Mike Shinoda's singing sounds great, and even CHester isn't too whiny, which is relaxing. A few of the lyrics do stumble over awkward metaphors, however, and it could be a little bit shorter, which is a general flaw with a few of the songs on the album. However, it's not so repetitive as to be awful for it. 8.5/10
Empty Spaces: A filler track with some military-like samples. Not long enough to make an impression at only about 19 seconds, really only makes sense when listening as an album. No rating.
When They Come For Me: Effectively Nobody's Listening with a tribal drum beat instead of a sampled Japanese flute. This is filled in with some heavy drone beats and a sampled organ. This is some of Mike's strongest rapping. He makes a few metaphors about the direction that Linkin Park is taking. There's also a chorus of some interesting sounding Indian-style singing. Around 3/4ths of the way in, Chester makes his obligatory entrance as the song goes into the "final minute wind-down". Ends on a heavily Indian-styled fuzz note, which sounds awesome. Ultimately, this is a fun song and one of my favorites on the album. 9/10
Robot Boy: A slow soft piece, evoking images of the old instrumental song Session, but with vocals added. Nothing too special, but it's nice and calming after the violent throwdown from the previous track. A little repetitive, but deliberately atmospheric. Kicks into a higher gear midway through to stay interesting. 7.5/10
Journada del Muerto: My favorite filler track since Tool's Eon Blue Apocalypse. Despite the Spanish title, the lyrics are in Japanese. Leads into Waiting For the End. 8/10
Waiting For The End: This is an interesting song. It starts off with what basically amount to 90s pop vocals, but for some reason this is not necessarily a bad thing. Mike and Chester kick into a duet for the middle verse. Mike finishes off with a rap. This is a song that evokes a few of the cliches from the old style Linkin Park lyrics, but with a more inherently positive twist and more variety. It's strange but pulled off well. 8.25/10
Blackout: The first half: Sounds like a NIN remix of a Mindless Self Indulgence song. This would be the least out of place on Hybrid Theory or Meteora out of every track on this album, mostly for the lyrics. Not particularly strong, but not unlistenable. The second half: Mike Shinoda sings what feels like the second half of Robot Boy but with a heavier beat and this song's piano part. If it were two songs split along the middle breakdown, it'd be better, but ultimately it's not very strong. 5.75/10
Wretches and Kings: Begins with a sampled speech, and then kicks into another tribal-beat rap. Evokes the old reggae-numetal band Skindred. This is not a bad thing, because I loved Skindred. Hearing Chester rap in that reggae style is a little odd, however. This song feels a little forced after the superior and less repetitive When They Come For Me, but it's arguably the most single-worthy song on the album. 7.5/10
Wisdom, Justice, And Love: A rather beautiful filler piece sampled from a Martin Luther King Jr speech. However, the end could have been less staticky and drawn out. 7/10
Iridescent: Continues the piano piece backing the previous filler piece. A little cheezy; continues the "reaching out" lyrical theme from Robot Boy and Waiting For The End. Still kind of a cute song, and the vocals are nice, so I can't really hate it. 7.25/10
Fallout: Repeats the chorus line from Burning in the Skies as an atmospheric mantra. Blends from mechanical to non-distorted for a cool effect. 7.25/10
The Catalyst: The lead single off of the album thus far. The somewhat common theme of Sigur Ros-like repetitive vocals for atmosphere kinda peaks here, but in terms of abuse rather than quality. It's a decent song in the flow of the album, but it's too repetitive to really hold up on its own, even with a minute chopped off for the single release. 6.75/10
The Messenger: The only acoustic song I know of by Linkin Park, though I could be wrong. Another cheezy "Reaching Out" song, which ties in nicely with the last few. However, it's an odd note to end the album on, and conflicts with the song just before it. Your Mileage May Vary is in full effect here, and you'll either hate it or think it's decent but ultimately a bit out of place. At least it's short. 4.75/10
Ultimately, this is Linkin Park's strongest album. It's not perfect, but Linkin Park has matured and found a new direction a good six or seven years after nu-metal grew passe, saving themselves from dissolution. This album manages to experiment and genre bend while knowing what it wants, which was the third LP's major flaw. At the same time, there are still a few throwbacks to 2003, reminding you that this is still the same crew that gave you good times and fun tunes back in the day. I hope their next album sees even better songwriting and fluency, because this is almost exactly where I was hoping Linkin Park would go.
8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment