I don't see where all of you are pulling this "He's just trying to protect his Sputnik cred" stuff from, considering the only band on there that gets more hell than Linkin Park is Good Charlotte and one of their most respected staff members routinely gives their albums very good reviews.
You do know that a 3 on Sputnik means good? It's not like it's on a scale of one-to-ten or game reviews where an 8 translates to shit.
Sputnik is a site where people don't even listen to the whole album, they check out a couple of songs, and always give very critical reviews.
I really don't understand how Linkin Park is still being considered a "joke" and should always be flamed by other reviewers and critics outside the fanbase. I think it's probably because they're still stuck on HT and Meteora's lyrics and song structures that they never bother to even check out the new stuff, therefore the reason why LP's still being considered "nu-metal" and "angst-ridden". Heck, EW.com even posted "hate-my-parents guitars" as part of their review. -____- And also because, you know, it's the bandwagon thing to do: Hate LP, get 10,000,000 cool points in life. How that works, I don't even know.