Review Summary: I might be smitten by God for this, but... this isn't that bad.
Occasionally, hard rock, metal, even indie bands, tend to over think all of their content on their sophomore albums, because after such a successful debut, they think of themselves as Gods. Linkin Park is no exception to this. Their highly acclaimed mainstream success "Hybrid Theory" held high to a lot of potential. It was creative, orderly, well structured. "Hybrid Theory" set a wide barrier of potential for the popular group, and with this potential starting to load itself up, they decided to release "Meteora", which had been being worked on for a while, even in the process of "HT". For Linkin Park, this was an image change, a completely new chance for the group to shine in many areas that "Hybrid Theory" failed to express to its greatest potential. In "Meteora", you'll witness one of the most exemplary stands made by a band that changed their portrait so quickly, even after a classic success.
"Meteora" on the other hand, was prepared under a set of limits. LP seemed to mostly abandon many of the things that made their debut such a success. But this opened up a lot of opportunities for the group to shine in many other areas that didn’t include rhythmic DJ sounds, or record scratching, or even the piano, widely known from "In the End" from "HT". But what LP did excel at in "Meteora", was contained in a bigger package resembling aspects more along the lines of a hard rock, almost nu-metalish appearance. This album reflects on its own (success) under the heavyweight appearance for LP's change of image. Deeper guitar lines and chords, more rhythmic bass and much harder drumming set a goal line for the musical influences in this album, but it didn’t reflect all the change. Even the vocals in here changed quite a bit. A lot more seemingly emotional vocals manage to find their way into this. Where "HT" had more emotion in the music, "Meteora" reflected its emotion more in the lyrics.
"Meteora" in my eyes, wasn’t so much an album of angst, or beating the 'system', or anything along those lines. This album was reflected more along the lines of desire, or desperation, but no angst in that mix, which is generally pretty common. This album didn’t set its boundaries under depression, which is good because in the end, it would just be another fake concept mainstream failure. Fortunately, the emotion doesn’t overstay its welcome in this album, nor does it tend to get awfully boring after the second time around. This album stays clean, and flows peacefully.
For the start of this album, there seems to be a rhythmic approach to it in "Foreword", and then immediately breaks in the first real track "Don't Stay". This song starts with rhythmic drumming, and slight guitar action, and at first glance you think you’re going to get another "HT", but once the instrumentals set in, all your assumptions go out the window. Even the rap-metal influence isn’t present here, at least in this track, but in fact, the whole rapping theme just isn’t present throughout most of this album. However, "Lying from You" and "Somewhere I Belong" do still contain some of that rap-metal experience that we came to know and love from "HT". For the rest of this album though, songs don’t rely on catchy beats, or instrumental competitions to attract your ear. This album takes turns mostly along single handed instrument shows, and it also shows the group in more of a sharing position. The track "Breaking the Habit" probably shows the greatest example of sharing the stage for LP. This song puts all aspects of LP's inspiration, and creates one of the best songs on the album. With rhythmic hooks, soft verses, and mildly heavy chorus, set the tone for this song so nicely. The emotional power for this song, along with many others in "Meteora", presented with vocals, really give way for the instruments to try whatever they want now, instead of counting on themselves to make a decent song.
Chester Bennington has spared absolutely no expense at creating some of the most influential sophomore album lyrics I’ve ever heard. His songs "Breaking the Habit" and "Somewhere I Belong" are where his best work shines in "Meteora". But none of that is compared to his greatest approach in "Easier to run"; where Chester Bennington has created one of the most emotional songs I’ve heard from the entire bands discography.
(If I could change I would take back the pain I would)
(Retrace every wrong move that I made I would)
(If I could stand up and take the blame I would)
(If I could take all the shame to the grave I would)
(If I could change I would take back the pain I would)
(Retrace every wrong move that I made I would)
(If I could stand up and take the blame I would)
(I would take all my shame to the grave)
This is just the bridge for the song, and no deep lyric would ever be seen by this band again until years later when "A Thousand Suns" would come out. However, as great as the lyrics get in this album, it is somewhat exaggerated, and slightly recycled from "HT", which is really the only complaint concerning the lyrics. But, now that the instrumentals can really shine, with or without the rhythmic affections in them, this can easily be surpassed.
"Meteora" overall, is a love-hate experience. You either like it, or you don’t. There really isn’t much to say that'll contradict this statement. Where the mainstream experience to be included in this album failed, it’s picked up quite a bit with deep lyrics, and shining instruments. Though the rhythm doesn’t seem to pose itself way up there like in "HT", nor does the rap-metal vocal styles, it really doesn’t matter too much. Compared to so many other pick-ups in the album, most disappointments in this album become few and far between. This album, to put in simple terms about how much over thinking went into the product, came off as more of an actual album, than an act. This album did not do justice for LP after a successful debut, but for a band that so quickly changed their image, even after immediate success, this album is definitely a good stand LP. Most bands ten to fail at this, and when they change their image, they don’t often make the greatest stand, and fail right then and there. But LP has set a threshold of contradictions to this theory. So to conclude, don’t expect another 'Hybrid Theory", only expect an image change, and a completely new stage for Linkin Park.
