Does anyone else feel this way?

[Filip]

I like the album, a lot, and I think they did a good thing by trying to get their fans back. But I still think that some songs, Castle of Glass, Skin To Bone and Roads Untraveled who aren't really LP's older style songs, are the best ones on the album. I love when LP tries something new, that's why I love ATS. I don't think it's getting boring, but some songs are too similiar. Example: In My Remains, Burn It Down and I'll Be Gone. They are still awesome songs.

[Louis]

I feel the exact same way. Believe me. I'm not a big fan of LIVING THINGS​.

[Cookie Monster]

I began feeling this way too, but I still love the album.

[Alexrednex]

To be honest, a very fun album indeed, but doesn't come close to ATS.
And while i do love songs that sound similar to there old songs(LITE) i really feel they should have stayed on the experimental trip they were doing.
The album has some flaws i thought i would never see after ATS. Like boring ass guitar work, they all sound the fucking same, and doing OOOoooOOO in every fucking bridge or instrumental part isn't that original(Roads untraveled, Powerless, Skin to Bone). But i do love some tracks on the album, but some of them are meeeh.
Ranking looks like this:
ATS > LT>MTM=Hybrid Theory > M

[LPChris]

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.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[The Prisoner]

I'm very confident that there won't be a LT pt. II. I see LT as some kind of recapitulation of LP's own history and identity.
Believing in what LP stated earlier, regarding the album release time (~18 months) I'm sure they didn't have that much doubts and didn't feel uncertain to open the doors for LT.

For MtM and ATS they wanted to make sure the albums will lift up to their own expectations, while writing and recording 'em. They haven't felt such a pressure this time.
Let's see what 2014 delivers us.

[Bennington_Hahn]

Heh, its weird cause when this album first leaked everyone here on LPA was ecstatic, proclaiming LT has LP's best album since HT. Now things have leveled out a bit & now everyone isn't blinded by the "its fresh, its good" curse

That said, my opinion hasn't changed that much since my first listen. Its a GREAT album, yet with its fair share of good and bad points. Like most of said, the 2nd half of the album (well from COG onwards) is easily the best & most memorable part - no doubt thanks to the folk influence. The first 4 songs are very "safe" and mainstream sounding (LITE to an extent) and don't really showcase LP's new found musicianship post-ATS. Thankfully the latter tracks do just that.

So hopefully the next album will be a continuation of that sound rather than the "commercial" one. Besides, every one of their albums have had their flaws. LT is no exception and isn't quite the Perfect record some fans where hoping for.

It gets a strong 8/10 for me. Like most of their albums

[Filip]

Heh, its weird cause when this album first leaked everyone here on LPA was ecstatic, proclaiming LT has LP's best album since HT. Now things have leveled out a bit & now everyone isn't blinded by the "its fresh, its good" curse

That said, my opinion hasn't changed that much since my first listen. Its a GREAT album, yet with its fair share of good and bad points. Like most of said, the 2nd half of the album (well from COG onwards) is easily the best & most memorable part - no doubt thanks to the folk influence. The first 4 songs are very "safe" and mainstream sounding (LITE to an extent) and don't really showcase LP's new found musicianship post-ATS. Thankfully the latter tracks do just that.

So hopefully the next album will be a continuation of that sound rather than the "commercial" one. Besides, every one of their albums have had their flaws. LT is no exception and isn't quite the Perfect record some fans where hoping for.

It gets a strong 8/10 for me. Like most of their albums

This. So much.

[Qwerty19]

Fore some random reason, one of the songs I still enjoy as much as the first day is Lost In The Echo. Which is weird because it's very formulaic. But it sounds so good that I'll forgive the structure lol

For me, there are only 2 songs that have faded out a lot since their release. First is BID, because it sounds so "single-esque". Second one is Roads Untraveled. I kind of feel like the song doesn't have a lot to offer. Just a verse, and a simple instrumental part with "oooohohohooh". Repeated 2 times. That's it, and that's probably why I'm bored of it.

But like I've said earlier, I don't hate those songs, I've simply overplayed them for a month or more, that explains a lot.

[Money Maker Mike]

My new opinion: A Thousand Suns > Hybrid Theory > Minutes to Midnight > Living Things > Meteora. Minutes to midnight at least doesn't feel boring, despite how generic the overall sound is.

I'm guessing that after making meteora, they wanted to be known as a band that's much better than a simple "radio band". This is why they kept on experimenting. They wanted to last being a big band and wanted to have more respect from the music community as a whole. After A Thousand Suns however, I think they've given up on doing this because critics and many other people still view the band as a teen-angst nu metal band - a statement which is not true at all. So this time they had more fun making the album. But at the same time, their expectations dropped as well, and there was less pressure to experiment.

Linkin Park should really go to the A Thousand Suns direction from now on.

[Moridin]

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.

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

Yeah, I feel pretty much the same. Very happy with it to begin, it quickly got old.

It's IMR, BID, LGM, IBG that really bring the album down for me, and I'm kind of back and forth on Powerless. I tolerate those tracks when listening to LT, just kind of waiting for them to be over so the good stuff kicks in. But there isn't enough of the good stuff, nor is it good enough to overcome the weak tracks.


It makes a good EP, though.

[mastae]

It's IMR, BID, LGM, IBG that really bring the album down for me

Couldn't agree more. Those tracks REALLY stand out as low-points for LP for me.

[Dinobot]

Out of all those, I love In My Remains. The other three I think are the worst in the album, but thankfully they're all one after the other.

[Snail]

The album has lost its lustre with me. I'm surprised as I was exceptionally ecstatic in my first listen. At this point, I've only grown attached to Lost In The Echo, Roads Untraveled, Skin To Bone, and Tinfoil.

[Blake]

I seem to be the odd one out hear. LGM is still a top 4 track for me. IMR is in my top 5 or 6 from the album. LITE is still amazing. CoG is great. I still love this album just as much as I used too. Actually, I love it More than I used to because UIB is somewhat growing on me.

9.9/10

[Jack_Farrell]

The problem with this album is not that it is formulaic or generic. The thing is, it breaks a shitload of boundaries but then finds itself and says "What the fuck am I doing here?". Castle Of Glass has this problem. Instead of building up into a grandiose ending it plays itself easily by repeating the chorus 3 times in fucking a row. The lyrics in the verse are simple, but convey such a great feeling they work well.

The more I think about it the more dissapointed I am that I'll Be Gone is actually Primo, from the ATS sessions. The similarity in the chorus of this and When They Come For Me just gives it away. I'm sad to see that this is what the song became from its inception during the previous session. At least Powerless/Tinfoil retains its ATS identity but this was just smashed to the ground and stomped on so hard I can't even tell this is too. I've said it on other threads, and for the sake of it I'll repeat it here, but FUCK Manny Marroquin. Both Powerless and I'll Be Gone suffer from the "guitar syndrome" where shit is turned loud for the sake of being turned loud for this record. I don't think that Powerless even HAD guitars when it was an ATS demo. I think they were just included here because "shit, let's put some guitar in it yallz".

The more I listen to it, the more I feel Brad's part is completely detached from Until It Breaks. I mean, Brad's part is the absolute highlight of the entire album, but it lacks all cohesiveness from the rest of the song. I hate that the beat from Mike's rasta verse goes on until almost the end of Brad's first verse.

Skin to Bone has those moments when you say, "SHIT'S BOUT TO GO DOWN" when Mike goes on the name drawn/marching lines, but then pulls an In Between and stays like it starts for the entire song. "Right to left, left to right, night to day, day to night" LOL. Skin to bone, steel to rust Skin to bone, steel to rust Skin to bone, steel to rust Skin to bone, steel to rust Skin to bone, steel to rust Skin to bone, steel to rust Skin to bone, steel to rust Skin to bone, steel to rust. I think we all got the point the second time. Burn It Down sucks so much fucking balls and seems like such a lame In My Remains rip-off it's disgusting.

In My Remains's Chester's verse part is your typical DBS stuff you'd expect from him. The chorus has so much energy and punch though it's funny to see the contrast. The One by one behind the last chorus part is another highlight of the album. That shit redeems the entire song. Spin were on fucking point, they were the only reviewers who weren't on fucking crack and actually gave accurate descriptions of every track. This song is definitely dark and triumphant. Christ, Rolling Stone said Skin to Bone was similar to a campfire song. Those guys are fucking idiotic.

Lies Greed Misery seems like such a bad, awful song in a Linkin Park context after listening to their entire discography. When it first came out, we had either two choices: Love it or hate it. After hearing Sabotage live I wanted LP to do a chanting styled song and I thought I'd had to wait until the next cycle for that. Thankfully not, lol. I was in love with the chorus from the first listen. The bridge starts off with the exact same Blackout vibe from that song's bridge. He then goes on a full fucking rampage of fury and rage. I don't really give a fuck about the whole "yay fuck you" aspect of the song, I just love the anger of Chester's screams. Mike pretends he's gangster here. Sorry, no.

Roads Untraveled suffers by the fact it has some REALLY good lyrics, on par with ATS's ones, but it feels "unrewarding". When it comes to a full drop of the sound and then comes back for the final chorus, that's what it should've been throughout the song from the very beginning. That part was the part that was on the preview with Skin to Bone and Castle of Glass. It made me think "Holy shit, best LP track ever.", but the energy and power it has it so short and the awful chorus melodies that are forced to go after it because it's chorusless kill the latter part of the song.

Victimized is also the other highlight of the album, worsened only by the fact that it has no crazy outro. It's just the intro cut and pasted. If it had gone somewhere completely unexpected and crazy it would've been the best song on the album.

Lost in the Echo was the track I was waiting for the most. When I read "tribal drums", I went fucking apeshit. I wanted it to be this album's When They Come For Me, crazy, a fucking riot, completely unexpected. And I mean, it has the energy I expected it to have but in a completely different style. What sets this song apart from the others is that, as said in a review, it starts big and ends that way. No lamey sudden drops of energy. Power throughout the entire song. Not a single moment of "BORING". It's Mike going harder than on Burn It Down's rap. And it's the kind of lyrics you'd expect on a Meteora album but half gangster/half relationship stuff, and brought to a new dimension. I also was hoping for Chester to scream the choruses, lol. Guess I expected too much. It's not the best track on the album, but it's, for sure, the most cohesive and relentless of them all. The one that I can say, "this shit is solid and good, have a listen."

So all in all; One by one part in In My Remains, Victimized, Castle of Glass's verses and Brad's part in UIB are the highlights of the album. My rating would be a 3/5.
GO BONKERS ON THE NEXT ONE Y'ALL

[Sunset]

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.

This...
But LT made me realize it will be very very hard to see ATS pt. 2. Making music isn't free, you need to get people to like you in order to keep producing, and LT has some songs like LITE, BID, COG and Powerless that people aside LP fans can love too.
IMO:
I wish Roads Untraveled had lyrics on at least the last chour (instead of OooohoooO, which is awesome, but way too long) because RU's lyrics are really awesome, same as ATS'
I wish CoG had different chours too. I love when Mike and Chester sing together, but when they start singing "for you to seeeeeeeeee" it just sounds wrong. Put some other lyrics, because this song starts with godly lyrics
I agree that Powerless shouldn't have guitars.
I agree that Skin To Bone shouldn't have stayed like it starts for the entire song.

And after all this, I still think the album is 8/10. This is just my opinion, but almost every song has some flaws that just make me feel angry. Take your fucking time, don't rush it guys...
ATS n° 1. I just can't find as many "mistakes" (to me) as LT has on ATS. It was a hard album to make, stressful, and alot of people hated it. But it's just a masterpiece

[Arun1910]

Guys, the OP was done by Rebecca Black

[Filip]

I listened to the album twice today, and I noticed how the ''high energy'' songs are good, but they don't impress me at all. While, for example the slower songs like Castle of Glass, Roads Untraveled, Skin to Bone and Powerless are really great. I adored Castle of Glass and Skin to Bone on the first listen, while Roads Untraveled and Powerless were mediocre. They are now easily favourites.

[travz21]

Yep. I said this the first time I listened to it and I still think it now. LP took a step backwards.