Review Summary: Unique in its own way
The album may be said as unique from the other two albums of the band because of new induction of alternative rock and the old school rock instead of rap and hard rock which were dominant on the previous two albums of the band. Well as per as the songs are concerned, they are well directed as all anyone can say but some of the songs like "The Little Things Give You Away" and "No More Sorrow" become real tiresome after 2 to 3 run. However, the album does contain some of the most phenomenal songs like "What I've Done", "Shadow of the Day", "Valentines Day" to name a few.
The big difference between this album and the previous two albums is that unlike the other two, Mike Shinoda didn't have a significance contribution in this album. Mike is very popular in Japan and he should be focused if Linkin Park want to hold reigns tight in Asia.
Well, the album comprises of songs of differing genres. But the album is definitely a one to watch out for.
The album starts with an intro song "Wake" which has promising instrumentals. Then there is album's 3rd single "Given Up" - a typical American Rock song and having great vocals from Chester Bennington. After all screaming 10 on 10 isn't up to everyone's sleeve. The next in the list is "Leave Out All the Rest", a very meaningful song to be earnest. All one could say about this song is that it is exclusively for those fans who like Chester's rhythmic voice. Then there is "Bleed It Out", the album's best song. Mike turned out to be an ace after a wonderful rap in the intro of the song. If you feel that albums is now getting too stressed out, then there is something for you in surprise named "Shadow of the Day" whose credit goes solely to Chester. The video is good, the song is nice and the instrumentals are worth listening. Then "What I've Done" which carries the trend of "Numb" is there and to be true the song is no good than "Numb". It has some good lines and good verses but the song fails to produce much deviation in its music. But 70% of it is good. Now this is where the things don't go good. The following songs "Hands Held High" and "No More Sorrow" are the ones to slow up the things a little. "Hands Held High" fails to point anything about what the song is actually about! And as far as "No More Sorrow" is concerned it can be described more as "3:41 noise than a song". Only screaming and screeching doesn't impress a bit pal.
But to neutralize the damage, the songs "Valentines Day", "In Between" and "In Pieces" show up. "Valentines Day" is a type of song that promises that it won't bore you even if listen it 20 - 30 times. "In Between" is the most "clean and cozy" song of Linkin Park ever released till date. It has wonderful paras and verses. Guess LP took a long time for this one but it was worth it. Just when the things very turning nice, "The Little Things Give You Away" completely spoils the mood one again. In my opinion, the ending of the album should have been better.
Overall, the album is good and LP fans will find it interesting.
