Does anyone else feel this way?

[Money Maker Mike]

So I've been listening to Living Things frequently these days (about once every two days, i don't listen to music a lot). At first listening to the album, it sounded solid and fresh. I originally thought it was their best album to date hands down.

After some time however... I'm not feeling the same. First of all, the songs sound rushed. A lot of the songs (ex. Castle of Glass, Lies Greed Misery) are very repetitive and barely show any variety in the instrumental whatsoever. Victimized sounds like something that Linkin Park simply threw in one day. It's basically just one chord on the guitar the whole time. The songs feel boring.

Realising this, I listened to all of LP's studio albums once again in chronogical order. One day I would listen to Hybrid theory, then meteora, and so on. Hybrid Theory for example, felt timeless and showed amazing musicianship, despite the fact that virtually every song had the same formula of guitars, rapping/harsh vocals, etc. A Thousand Suns felt like a journey and it still gives me goosebumps. With Living Things, it's as if they took a huge step back with the album - almost like the transition from Hybrid Theory/Reanimation to Meteora.

Does anyone else feel the same? Is Living Things getting really boring to you too?

[Suffered]

No, for me Hybrid Theory is getting boring to me a bit. But LT is not. It's not my favourite album from the band. There are ONE song that I don't like(I'll Be Gone), but the rest of the album is perfect and still fresh to me.

[Geki]

LT is getting a bit boring, but I still love it. It's not as good as prior LP albums, but it is good. I almost wish they never went back a notch to their old style and just kept progressing with the ATS style. I never would have thought LP would go back in time with their music after ATS, but they did. The album just feels really short and it feels almost forced, like the band didn't enjoy making it, like it was easy for them.

[Money Maker Mike]

. I almost wish they never went back a notch to their old style and just kept progressing with the ATS style. I never would have thought LP would go back in time with their music after ATS, but they did. The album just feels really short and it feels almost forced, like the band didn't enjoy making it, like it was easy for them.

+1

[arbiter]

I'm the reverse. At first listen, Castle of Glass stood out the most. If i had dropped the album instantly and screamed "lame!" like some fans, i wouldn't have been able to appreciate the album for what it genuinely offers.

The more i listen to it, the more i discover so many gems and a new love for Linkin Park. I think the album contrary to what some fans are claiming is not a step back in anyway. I can give my review of the album now that i have a better grasp of the songs. I think they did exactly what they said for the most part on roughly the first half of the album. They made songs based on all the different things they've done so far on their previous albums. But they took those things and pushed several of those angles further. It doesn't bore me in anyway. It excites me and i can't wait to hear what they do next.

But don't worry. I'm sure you'll find many people to validate your opinion.

[Blake]

I disagree, LT is still the best for me and one of the best albums ever

[The Prisoner]

CASTLE OF GLASS is repetitive?

For me this song does have the strongest and best song progression on LT. It's a very energetic and dynamical song.

What makes CASTLE OF GLASS especially interesting for me is the fact that it does not follow the conventional structure of Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus.
Basically the Intro is quite long and the verses are in the first half of the song while different variations of the Chorus are in the second half. And the whole song increases its energy from start to finish. I really like that.

[Blackee Dammet]

Linkin Park fans generally tend to overrate the band as a whole, regardless if they're "one of those Meteora kids" or the kind of person that thought ATS was a sonic blowjob and one of the most criminally neglected masterpieces of our or perhaps all time.

The fact of the matter is that Linkin Park, while indeed a very talented bunch, aren't that talented, and frankly all of their albums have blatant, numerous flaws.

[Qwerty19]

...like the band didn't enjoy making it, like it was easy for them.

You can clearly see in the recent LPTV's that the band enjoyed the LT process a lot. Way More than the ATS process. At least it seems so.

Anyway, when I play any of the LP albums on heavy rotation, each of them always end up getting boring at one point or another. HT being the exception though.

LP isn't a progressive band with 10min long songs, obviously it will get boring if you overplay it. I must admit I'm quite bored of LT at the moment, but I'm sure it will not be the case anymore in some weeks. I was also bored of ATS for a good amount of time, so...

[Avo]

I've been bored with the first half for a while now. The second half is not as boring, but I don't really listen to it as often as I did a week ago.

[Top2Bottom]

Not boring at all. In fact, I think I've become obsessed with it. I haven't listened to any other songs in the last few weeks, like literally no other songs lol. I feel I may be trapped in a vicious LT looped cycle forever.

Normally when I get a new album, be it an LP one or whoever, only a few songs will last the first week or so and be played a lot, while the rest may get a play occasionally, but will fade into the oblivion that is my music collection. Examples of these include LOATR, In Between, Robot Boy, Jornado Del Muerto. I can't include any HT or Meteora in that list as I generally play those albums in their entirety.

[Lazarus]

I've been listening to it at least once a day, but I've stopped and now I can officially say I'm used to it. I don't find it boring, though.

Also, I think boring is the wrong word. How can a rushed song be boring? These songs truly are firecrackers.

[TheJenk]

This album doesn't remind me of their old style at all.. What you guys talking about lolol....

[Nick Hart]

It does have some great tracks. Powerless and Roads Untravelled being the best imo. But like you said, it seems just a tad bit rushed. They did say they were taking less time on working on it. I personally feel ATS was there best album ever. There earlier stuff was this amazing and really spoke to me when I was younger but ATS showed how much they matured and took there ability to audibly explore universal emotions to a whole nother level. I feel like as great as some of the tracks are, the lyrics arent as great and arent as emotionally driven. Or atleast, some of them arent written with that universally interpretive style. While I am up for them exploring there sounds....When I hear BID or LGM I cringe and just think "really?". Those just may be the worst Linkin Park songs to exist. The hook on LGM is obviously somethin from the Hybird Theory days, which I would have been okay with if the rapping wasnt so horrible on that track. "Dat is not the way I get down" ? And BID was such a watered down, pop group rip-off of what Linkin Park could actually do. I listen to a lot of genres of both mainstream and underground so Ive been okay with everything from QWERTY to The Catalyst but that song is complete shit. Someone has to agree with me, right ?

[Faint into Pieces]

I listened to all of LP's studio albums once again in chronogical order. One day I would listen to Hybrid theory, then meteora, and so on. Hybrid Theory for example, felt timeless and showed amazing musicianship, despite the fact that virtually every song had the same formula of guitars, rapping/harsh vocals, etc. A Thousand Suns felt like a journey and it still gives me goosebumps. With Living Things, it's as if they took a huge step back with the album - almost like the transition from Hybrid Theory/Reanimation to Meteora.

Funny, I'm doing the same thing, rating each album individually and throwing out all nostalgia factors. Just listened to Hybrid Theory last night and gave it an honest 8/10. The average for all songs was a 7.6/10... Hybrid Theory is just showing it's age to me, it feels so archaic. It honestly bores me now. Papercut and A Place for My Head were its saving grace which both still stand the test of time.

[mastae]

LT feels more like an intermission than an album.

It's like "Hey here's some atypical rock songs to whet these people's appetites," "Hey here's some experimental electro to whet these peoples appetites," "Hey here's some messing with structure and mixing styles to whet these people's appetites." Feels like a big "we want to please everyone," while not really sticking to any guns.

It's not a bad album, but it feels like it doesn't go anywhere, and while interesting... I dunno if I'd say there were any big surprises. Castle of Glass and Until It Breaks were good, but they felt like they could have been a lot more, given the proper care and time.

ATS was LP's most consistent album since Meteora (and ATS still jumped around a bit). The reason why LT is getting a lot of comparisons to MTM is because both of those albums jump around and feel very inconsistent. In my opinion, it makes LP look bad, because they look, yet again, like a band struggling to find an identity and coming up with another group of songs that are just a mix of LP trying different genres on their suit. It's something I love about the band... but I wish they could find some consistency.

[Ben]

You can clearly see in the recent LPTV's that the band enjoyed the LT process a lot. Way More than the ATS process. At least it seems so.

Anyway, when I play any of the LP albums on heavy rotation, each of them always end up getting boring at one point or another. HT being the exception though.

LP isn't a progressive band with 10min long songs, obviously it will get boring if you overplay it. I must admit I'm quite bored of LT at the moment, but I'm sure it will not be the case anymore in some weeks. I was also bored of ATS for a good amount of time, so...

This is pretty much it for me too. I absolutely love Living Things. I'm so torn between LT or Meteora as my favorite. However, after about a month now of having it play nonstop, I'm almost to the point where I'm ready to set it aside for a while. It's a relatively short album, and I can go through the songs quickly, and listen to them many times. I know them all by heart, harmonies and all...and sure, anything you continuously listen to will get boring. However, looking at it in the bigger scope of things, I definitely feel this album is one of their best works yet.

[Vriska]

I felt that way but only after about 8 listens.

Living Things was great the first time but on the second listen I was already getting that "this is gonna wear out real fast" vibe. This is in great contrast to how I've listened to past LP albums. I really abuse the repeat button usually. This album felt like it was gonna go somewhere but never really ramped up enough to do it. It also sort of feels like a retread. LP didn't nail down that balance between surprise and familiarity this time.

[Peeper]

I'm starting to feel the same. These days when I want to listen to some Linkin Park, I go for LT, but then I'm like "...really?" and choose rather ATS, Reanimation or even M2M, what makes me wonder what's wrong as M2M has never been my favourite album. Well, we'll see, but I actually never felt like this with any of their previous albums.

...Feels like a big "we want to please everyone," while not really sticking to any guns.

It's not a bad album, but it feels like it doesn't go anywhere, and while interesting... I dunno if I'd say there were any big surprises. Castle of Glass and Until It Breaks were good, but they felt like they could have been a lot more, given the proper care and time.

In my opinion, it makes LP look bad, because they look, yet again, like a band struggling to find an identity and coming up with another group of songs that are just a mix of LP trying different genres on their suit. It's something I love about the band... but I wish they could find some consistency.

This, yes..

It does have some great tracks. Powerless and Roads Untravelled being the best imo. But like you said, it seems just a tad bit rushed. They did say they were taking less time on working on it. I personally feel ATS was there best album ever. There earlier stuff was this amazing and really spoke to me when I was younger but ATS showed how much they matured and took there ability to audibly explore universal emotions to a whole nother level. I feel like as great as some of the tracks are, the lyrics arent as great and arent as emotionally driven. Or atleast, some of them arent written with that universally interpretive style. While I am up for them exploring there sounds....When I hear BID or LGM I cringe and just think "really?". Those just may be the worst Linkin Park songs to exist. The hook on LGM is obviously somethin from the Hybird Theory days, which I would have been okay with if the rapping wasnt so horrible on that track. "Dat is not the way I get down" ? And BID was such a watered down, pop group rip-off of what Linkin Park could actually do. I listen to a lot of genres of both mainstream and underground so Ive been okay with everything from QWERTY to The Catalyst but that song is complete shit. Someone has to agree with me, right ?

Without LGM I feel almost the same.

[rlkx]

I don't think the album was rushed. They just didn't produce it as much as ATS and made lengthy tracks like in ATS. I mean, in less than 2 minutes they delivered it in Victimized, more or less the same thing they delivered in Blackout(That's a really rough parallel I'm drawing here, don't stick to this). They cut down some instrumental "crap"(again please dont take it literally) and made straight shooter songs, and I don't see that as a flaw. I enjoy both albums the same right now just like I do with every other lp record, or blink(other band I enjoy) record, no matter how old they are.