Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Linkin Park ‘Minutes to Midnight’ Wake- Quiet, progressive entrance into the album, quite melodic and melancholy with the sense of anticipation as to what may come next… Given Up- “Tell me what the fuck is wrong?!” Heavy angst-ridden bass lines, powerful wake up call that Linkin Park is back and now they swear! 9.5/10 Leave Out All the Rest- Rhythmic, Massive-Attack-esque, melancholic lyrics, wonderful structure and flow, gently progressive. Slightly like ‘In the End’ but very strong vocal performance from Chester, beautiful melody. 9/10 Bleed It Out- Very rap-off esque, Mike shows his rapping hasn’t diminished, toe-tapping beat as Chester comes in. 8/10 Shadow of the Day- Quite U2-esque in it’s structure, rhythmic guitar unheard of in previous records, guitar-work really saves the song, lyrics not as deep as they might have been. 7/10 What I’ve Done- Return to their roots, piano build-up, was always going to be the first single. Mr Hains evident for the first time. 8/10 Hands Held High- Linkin Park’s agenda comes in! It’s more like a rant then a song, even to like a marching beat. 5/10 No More Sorrow- Euphorically good build-up metal riff, strong vocals, very much a protest song but done so much better than its predecessor. Old LP-esque bass-lines emphasize the point. 9/10 Valentine’s Day- Back to U2-style for the majority of the song, then we get their style mixed with it and it does actually sound good. Melancholic again but with purpose. 7.5/10 In Between- Mike Shinoda can sing?! Apparently so and it’s one of the better tracks on the album, very haunting beat. So simple, yet so effective. Very much a come-down track. 9/10 In Pieces- Maybe slightly over-produced with the idea of vocal range from Chester. Simple again, but very bizarre choice of guitar, almost like Eddy Van Halen has just wandered onto the track. 4/10 The Little Things Give You Away- Very slow end to the album. It’s very different from their usual offerings which should be applauded but possibly a little too political. Nice rhythm but forgettable end. 6/10 (64min) Four years is a long time in music: styles change, trends change. One of the pioneers of nu-metal “rap-rock”, Linkin Park certainly went out at the top with ‘Meteora’, now they’re back with the help of super-producer Rick Rubin (Jay-Z, Slipknot). As an album it’s highly experimental and you don’t really know what to expect with each track. From sounding like Nine Inch Nails, Limp Bizkit and Rage, they now sound more like 80’s U2, slight bit of Massive Attack and I swear Eddie Van Halen must be playing on ‘In Pieces’. Stand-out tracks are the belter, ‘Given Up’ in which we find Linkin Park’s angst repertoire (No, that Parental Advisory sticker isn’t a mistake), ‘No More Sorrow’ with its euphoric metal riffs and the shockingly enchanting ‘In Between’. What is certainly evident from this album is there is a lot more to LP than we thought- Chester’s immense vocal-range, the guy with the headphones can really play guitar and Mike Shinoda has a voice like an angel. Unfortunately there are too many songs that just shouldn’t have made the cut- the tirade that is ‘Hands Held High’, the bizarre ‘In Pieces’ and the bland ‘The Little Things That Give You Away’. These songs undermine the excellent structure of ‘Leave Out All the Rest’ and “rap-off” ‘Bleed It Out’. In fact the only song that probably could have got onto Meteora is first single, ‘What I’ve Done’ and that is a very positive thing for the band and its direction after this album. An album that will probably mature well, there are so many encouraging signs that Linkin Park know no musical boundaries. Very different, but surely you didn’t want Hybrid Theory Part 3?! 7/10 CM Text Box: Links and affiliates Contact Me