I'm gonna be totally honest, I view A Thousand Suns as their last album. All the albums up until then feels like a 4 part epic to me. Everything from there just seems like "expansion packs" to their discography to remain relevant and make money. You may not agree with me but that's the way I see it Hybrid Theory EP - Birth years Hybrid Theory - Coming of age, making themselves heard and starting their epic journey Meteora - More Hybrid Theory stuff to please existing fans, with some very different songs thrown in to show their diversity Minutes To Midnight - A mature Linkin Park with responsibilities making more of a political statement A Thousand Suns - The end of their epic journey, the logical conclusion of the Linkin Park sound Living Things - The band trying to become relevant to pop culture, and caving into the haters who wanted more of a Meteora sound again (they failed at bringing that Meteora sound back, still an enjoyable album for 2-3 listens) The Hunting Party - A "hardcore" and "old school" sound which aimed at shutting up the haters, but again failed to match up to the songs they were "inspired" by Thoughts? Personally I think the band have been completely clueless following A Thousand Suns, I think they should have gone on hiatus for 10-15 years after that - now they've kind of blown everything because they put out two rushed albums, and that Recharged album was lame sellout bullshit. Sounds like the mentally challenged brother of reanimation as I mentioned before, Mike Shinoda's rapping has been lame since 2012. I don't want a new Fort Minor album if that's how he'll rap on it TLDR: I think Linkin Park kinda lost their mojo after A Thousand Suns don't hate on me, this is all my opinion
Well, i can see what you did there and have to agree with some points (that i would say something like that someday lol) For me, i see LT as a album, where they didnt really knew what to do. The first half the more electric-rock sound and the second half the foly music. As the 4 albums before LT, where LP had "one" kind of sound, they tried to put to different things on LT. THP to me followed "your LP cycle". It focus one "one" kind of sound with many different styles. Its the more aggresive brother to ATS, which is more the calm, inspiring one. ATS likes to discuss, THP wants to punch someone. And to Recharged. Its an EDM album, so i think it has his problems in the whole fanbase Also if i like some songs of it. Just my 2 cents
i'm not trolling just being honest sorry I agree with Michele that The Hunting Party feels more legit than Living Things, they're moving onto the right track again imo, but still some work to do
THP and ATS to me,like....Creamy cheese and hot chocolate. Or....Meatball and Dumpling. Idk...My point is,I think they both are good in their own,respective ways.
While I do think they have flaws, I like Living Things and The Hunting Party very much. I am okay with whatever direction Linkin Park takes.
Short answer? Oh fuck yes. Long answer? Living Things is the best representation of Linkin Park's career as a whole. It features the "wall of noise" anthems that made them so famous in the first place, aggressive rock, softer melodic ballads, and experimental structures all in one record that fuses electronic, rock, and folk genres together. That said, is it the band's best album? Far from it, but whether you like it or not Living Things is Linkin Park. The Hunting Party is a step forward from Living Things. The album was a chance for Linkin Park to look at what was missing in their career - technicality. The outcome was something that exceeded even the band's own expectations, and you can see that in the way they were so hesitant to play A Line In The Sand live, and how relieved they were to finish it. All of this while producing the most aggressive music they've made in years if not their whole career.
I loved Living Things The Hunting Party was good but I've listened to it once (not that I particularly disliked it, I've just been more interested in other music lately and haven't felt the urge to return to it) I like their direction. I don't think I really agree with you on most points, but I do agree that they should take a break for a bit.
Yep. I like Minutes and ATS, but they're both "We need to be evolving and prove ourselves" albums. And both come out fairly well, but after that and the "Is this what you want?" approach of Living Things it was refreshing to see them drop the pretenses (regardless of how good the material itself was). It's the album I wanted in 2003 after Reanimation. Though I agree Shinoda hasn't been a quality rapper in many, many years, yes.
I really dislike Living Things, i don't like how they mixed electronic music with nu-metal. Don't hate it though, there are still some enjoyable songs in there, but it is by far their worst album in my opinion (not counting remix albums since i haven't listened to them). So i see your point there. The Hunting Party however, is my favorite album of theirs, it took a huge step forward in their career, it brought a level of technicality that they had never shown before (as stated above) and it's almost as epic as A Thousand Suns. So i think that Linkin Park still has a lot of potential for future albums.
Living Things suffered an identity crisis in that it felt like 3 different albums stitched together, an electronic album (Lost in the Echo, In My Remains), a folk album (Castle of Glass, Roads Untraveled), and a more experimental, ATS like album (Skin to Bone, Until it Breaks, Victimized). The Hunting Party, so far, is their best attempt at keeping one sustained sound throughout and entire record since Meteora, even though that gets derailed a bit with Mark the Graves, Drawbar, and Final Masquerade, which I appreciate. I'm not saying Meteora is a better album than A Thousand Suns, its consistency is just a nice quality to have. If I'm going to be completely honest, I really couldn't care less what direction they go in next. They're there to fulfil their creative passion, not my fan desires. If they decide to do something I dislike, there are numerous different bands I can turn to to satisfy my musical taste.
I think "Living Things" is consistent in its own way. There are stylistic elements that are a thread through every song. 100% this. I basically pay the band to give them the opportunity to do whatever the hell they want. If I simply wanted ~rock~ or whatever, then, I could just check out any band ever; what I want is to see Linkin Park able to do whatever they feel like unhindered. It's what I would want for myself if I were a professional musician and songwriter.