Exclusive New Album Details: Chester Talks to Kerrang! Magazine | Full Interview

[Dinobot]

"And, with the exception of the metal seven-string guitar tone that we had on the first two records - which I think is the reason a lot of people like the band - I feel we've found a place where we're finally comfortable in our skin."

"With this album, we've incorporated a lot of guitar work with big choruses and the heavier electro stuff to give it a really big wall of sound feeling without getting too metal."

Based on those quotes, I don't think Chester was referring to nu-metal coming back. He just said they're trying to make a more upbeat record, but he even says specifically "without getting too metal". They're just trying to sound more energetic and faster, after ATS was mostly a mid-tempo album.

The rest is just speculation and phrases taken out of context by Kerrang.

[Lazarus]

Sounds like New Divide, Blackout and Iridescent.

[~xXmEt30R4_1Uv3r_03.23.03Xx~]

Which is funny considering those 3 songs sound nothing like each other.

[shwcobb]

I'm all for having some more New Divides around, combined with Mike's newly brushed-up signature, but I'm not so sure about Iridescent, can't seem to like that song for the life of me... But, they're pulling their roots and their current electro/mish-mash sound and combining it with social and emotional lyrics (HT and MT flashback) instead of political half-statements, which I personally applaud.

LP's gonna come up with a new hybrid.

[Ruukkz]

This is AWESOME news, however all the band members have given completely different information about the album so far so it's really hard to get an idea of the sound. I'm still hoping for a M2M/ATS mix

[Storm]

Come on people, I just bought and am listening the OST of Mike and guess what, is plenty of guitars and electro FX and it sounds nothing like HT or MT. Already by saying they have a positive lyrics the guitars cannot be in HT style. Powerchords yes, maybe, but not like their past and surely not the same kind of riffs. We're approaching to a radical new monster, and I think this album is what LP was supposed to become.

EDIT: BTW the score sounds good. Wish there would have been less lo-fi and cut away some pulses from the soundtrack playlist (not the film scenes of course) as they get a bit repetitive. Several parts of the OST have a strong "Heavyocity"'s feel and I might hazard to say they used some presets from there and changed them lightely. Not sure tho. I know Mike uses Native Instruments so it wouldn't surprise me.

[minuteforce]

Why did they wrote: LINKIN PARK'S NEW ALBUM WILL BE RELEASED THIS SUMMER THROUGH WARNER BROTHERS.?

Well, that's obviously when the band and their label hope to have the upcoming album released. :*

We collectively guessed the same thing here at LPA, and this is just another sign that we guessed right, along with Shinoda's whispers of a "Summer 2012" release.

Come on people, I just bought and am listening the OST of Mike and guess what, is plenty of guitars and electro FX and it sounds nothing like HT or MT.

Eh, I don't think there's much guitar present on that soundtrack, if any; Shinoda's mentioned on a fair few occasions that one of his self-imposed rules for the scoring project was tonight avoid using guitars entirely. There are a lot of guitar-esque timbres throughout the cues, though, I have to say

[Dominic Vincent]

''Guitars once more'' ! , I can't wait to hear the first single.

[Storm]

Eh, I don't think there's much guitar present on that soundtrack, if any; Shinoda's mentioned on a fair few occasions that one of his self-imposed rules for the scoring project was to avoid using guitars entirely. There are a lot of guitar-esque timbres throughout the cues, though, I have to say

There are many sounds you can obtain by sampling a guitar. Just listen to The Fragile album of NIN, almost everything is guitar there. Sometimes you do one note with a guitar and sample it until it sounds like a horn. There are really many sounds that could come from a guitar here.

EDIT: and if I should be right and he used Heavyocity (or Evolve Mutations), that means that many guitars were already sampled into horror/action noises, so he wouldn't have had to use a guitar personally, but just to change the final sound of it.

[Death Slayer]

We'll see how it goes, so far the hype has been awesome.

[Xero21]

Welp, sounds like they're going back to pop music then.

[Knt.Slbs]

I think this would be the appropriate time to name the album to be self-title LINKIN PARK... totally excited...

[minuteforce]

There are many sounds you can obtain by sampling a guitar.

Yes, that may be so, but Shinoda actually said he avoided using guitars to make that music.

I digress, though; he may well have been misquoted in all the relevant interviews and/or used software instruments built on guitar samples or whatever.

In any case, experimentation with guitar sounds worked great for the band on "A Thousand Suns" and I hope to hear a lot more of it on the new album. I'm certainly glad they're continuing to avoid the guitar style that they worked to death on their first two studio efforts :*

[Storm]

I think this would be the appropriate time to name the album to be self-title LINKIN PARK... totally excited...

I actually asked myself if they will ever do that. It would be interesting and certainly should be a totally unique sounding album in the world to get that name.

@minuteforce: Indeed.

[Knt.Slbs]

I actually asked myself if they will ever do that. It would be interesting and certainly should be a totally unique sounding album in the world to get that name.

@minuteforce: Indeed.

yeah, that is very interesting... the new album will definitely have "up-tempo" songs which means where the band really comfortable in doing what they like and love throughout the process... A self-titled album would be great...

[Andreina]

Wow, a lot of information to process.. I have to admit I don't know what the album might actually sound like, but at least I know what direction they try to go in, and I'm satisfied with just the fact that they said they were bringing guitars back. ATS was awesome and I love it from beginning to end but it's nice to hear some riffs and a little more heavy stuff. Wretches & Kings and Blackout had to bear with all the weight as being the 'only' heavy tracks on ATS.

You just can't go and make a picture and say "the album is going to sound like this", because we have no idea what's going on through their minds, and it must be really difficult for them to actually describe the sound that's developing in the studio, hence the 'contradictions' among band member's statements. Maybe they do know how the sound is like, but can't put the right words to it.

Anyway, all these interviews with the guys just make me more excited everyday. Give me a date and I'll preorder it!!!

PS: Oh and THANKS to m_macdonald, FoxxPS and all the LPA crew for bringing us the scans and transcript! Great job guys!

[Ruukkz]

I think this would be the appropriate time to name the album to be self-title LINKIN PARK... totally excited...

That could be really awesome, but then it has to have a cover art or something that can be the "title", like Metallica's "Black Album" or The Beatles "White Album" or else it might be too forgetable... Just a thought

[Derek]

Welp, sounds like they're going back to pop music then.

Way too early to tell that, especially considering the fact that Mike and Chester's descriptions of the album have been drastically different.

[AtkTheMind]

I'm quite honestly not going to mind if they start incorporating heavy guitars with something similar to the ATS sound.

[DaveCNewton]

I just read that fucking summary and got goosebumps, now to read the rest...