Review Summary: i can't fall back i came too far
Comparing the Linkin Park of the 2000’s to the Linkin Park of the 2010’s is a little unfair. After two albums of exactly the same formulaic metal tracks, they turned into an embarrassingly bland U2 rip-off band with electronics replacing guitars, Shinoda’s rapping entering full wigger mode and drummer Rob Bourdon not getting even a slight glimpse of the role he previously filled. The band barely held everything together with catchy hooks that seamlessly blended into the blaring synths of tracks like Lost In the Echo remarkably well. Very few songs on the band’s latest record Living Things even featured Shinoda’s contributions, a strange move considering it was intended to be their return to form.
What about this album? Well it certainly doesn’t sound like Hybrid Theory, but as I said before that doesn’t matter when the songs here are ultimately the best they have come up with on their post nu-metal adventures. The guitars are the big player here for the first time in ten years, and there’s no denying the immediacy of All For Nothing’s opening riff. This couldn’t be considered even remotely heavy even in a universe where the band’s first two albums never existed, but minus such a useless statement (in my defence, they did call this their heaviest album to date) the band sound fresher than ever. Bourdon smashes his kit into oblivion in Guilty All the Same alongside Phoenix (still with the nicknames guys?)’s jumpy, jolted bass. Mike also now contributes to the majority of songs, and his in the past quite flat singing sounds much better here. And Chester sounds fresher than ever, accompanied by Helmet vocalist Paige Hamilton and Daron Malakian on certain tracks as the even more massive hooks explode like dynamite.
Then there’s the newfound aggression that the band have carried over from A Thousand Suns. Living Things was horribly forced, largely because Chester’s screams proved they were useless as an instrument of aggression. His screams are better now, but there’s still a sense of compliance with their fans’ clamouring for ‘the old Linkin Park back’. His strained screech clearly isn’t the best expression of how good the band are at expressing their alienated feelings (aren’t they like forty or something now?). Rebellion takes a massive downturn come the angsty screams, otherwise presenting the absolute highlight and the band’s edgiest and least cringeworthy song concerning this subject they’ve done in years (it’s certainly a lot better than Victimized). The band are also obviously exploring new instrumental avenues, as this track strongly evokes System of a Down with its frantic drumming. Churning out massive hooks to accompany stadium-sized riffs, Bennington and co. do not pull any punches and even on the softer, ballady tracks they sound like men reborn.
It may have taken ten years, but the band have finally assembled a set of songs to rival their first couple of albums. It’s certainly a concise effort than either A Thousand Suns or Living Things, and probably the best attempt at merging the two sounds they’ve tried out over their nearly twenty year existence.
