The Hate for Wastelands (and its Meteora-ish-ness)?

Am I the ONLY one here who likes Wastelands? Why do you all think it's such a bad song? Mike's rapping is on point in that song, especially his first verse. How can you not like his tight rhymes and the Yoko Ono reference? His second verse is slightly weaker but still very creative, especially compared to KTTK and AFN (though I love his flow on AFN). I also really like the way Chester sings the chrous; he basically just shouts the whole thing. And he gets SO PUMPED when they play it live!

[video]https://youtu.be/cWW-lu6Z-eM?t=30m15s[/video] (couldn't find a way to embed videos and have it set to play at a certain point, sorry)

I don't care if it sounds like a Meteora song, because the lyricism separates it from that era anyways. It's not a "whiny" song at all.

I think it's just the fact that the Meteora-esque guitars tend to remind people of the album, and that a lot of people here just hate being reminded of it because they can't stand to be reminded that they liked different things when they were teenagers. Hey everyone! We're humans. Our tastes are SUPPOSED to evolve and change over time as we age. It's natural. It's normal. Why be shy about it? I'm 20 and I still like nu-metal guitar riffs, does that make me immature? Should I be ashamed of myself? Because I'm not.

If there's some other reason people hate the song, please enlighten me. I really want to know.

 

I absolutely love the intro riff. And the verse drums.

My grip with the song is basically...It seems they couldn't choose wheter to make the song based more on melody, or on rythm. Like, it starts off clearly as a "rythm"-centered song, but then, there is that synth line that comes in, and then... I don't know. In my opinion the song doesn't flow that well. I think it would have benefit from a less classic structure, and longer rap verses.

 

To be fair, and again, this is only people's opinions, but when early reviews started coming out for THP, many people hyped up songs like Wastelands and UIG.
Wastelands was said to be Fort Minor-esque, but in all honesty, it really isn't at all. The hype given for THP as a whole was just right, but individual songs were a different story. People had expectations that weren't met and it ultimately brought the song down very much. That aside, as a rap/rock track, it really isn't a huge highlight for songs they've worked up in the past comparing it to something like Papercut or Lost In The Echo.

In terms of content, I REALLY enjoy Chester's soft breakdown vocals in the bridge. The rest of the song is the typical rap/rock interplay, but with an RATM vibe. The only thing that really kills it for me is the mix itself. Mike's vocals are pretty straight forward, but Chester's vocals come off as very weak which is a joke because his vocals in the acapella sound very powerful, not to mention the vocoder, limiter and reverb effects which I wish stood out a bit more in the song. He's just drowned out which kills the vibe.

I'll admit that I was in that group of people that bashed Wastelands and UIG, but the live performances changed my mind and I realized how fun they were in a live setting, similarly to LGM and W&K. So, its not a bad song at all, it just had potential to be better.


Side note, out of the other two songs you mentioned (KTTK and AFN), personally I think Mike's delivery in Wastelands is the weakest, but AFN is certainly great in that aspect, but overall he does fine in all three songs.
Also, there is nothing to be ashamed of if you like a certain genre of music. I enjoy my share of Nu-metal songs. Some people just don't share the same mindset is all.

 

I'm actually not a fan of the drumming here. Usually I love Rob's work.

The guitar riff is great, and could've been used on a different place in the album, here it's wasted.

The lyrical work and the delivery is mediocre at best.

The chorus is straight up cringeworthy.

I like the breakdown and how they changed the chord progression in the last chorus.

5/10 would not bang.

 

I think its not a bad song and LP did the Nu-Metal wave pretty well tbh.

At live performances i love the way Mike raps the first verse over the Runaway bridge, thats pretty dope. But om CD i think its one of the worst tracks on THP. i enjoyed it the first weeks, but its pretty boring. What i love about the track is Chesters singing in the bridge, that gives me always chills.

6/10 from me.

 

I think for me it's not so much that it's a bad song, it's just that it's a genre they've done so much of, and I feel like they've done far better songs in that style. It's not a bad song, but it's certainly the most forgettable track on the album for me.

 

In his defense, he's drunk.

Move along guys, nothing to see here.

 

Wastelands is more often than not my jam when it comes on during my shuffled playlist sessions. I almost never skip it, so I think that gives away how much I like the song

Since I still really dig rap/rock (at least LP's take on it), Wastelands appeals to me more immediately than other songs on THP. The only thing I can say that could have been improved was the mixing, so we could more clearly hear Mike enunciate his words and feel more power in Chester's voice, which does sound a bit muddled at times.

 

I like Wastelands way more than Rebellion.

Then again, I like all of the rest of THP more than Rebellion, so that's not saying much.

 

I fucking love this song too, the first time it was an "ok" for me but now I like it a lot. Idk, I find it very enjoyable.

 

The first time I heard Wastelands I fell in love with the guitar riff. While time passed, I lost my interest in the song. Now I consider it an ''ok'' song.

 

Ok, it's good to know you guys have actual, concrete reasons for disliking it. Still, while I can see most of your points, but I still love the song. Yeah I agree the structure is sort of weird but I find it to be weird in a good way. Maybe Chester's vocals could be stronger but I feel like they are much more lacking in GATS. And yes the bridge breakdown is pretty cool too. That's the thing: there's more things I like than I dislike about the song.

 

Cause alot of people on here are anti HT and anti Meteora. I love wastelands its a good rap rock track,
shinodas rapping is really solid it flows. the guitar riff is cool, and drums. I enjoy this song. I blast this song in the
car all the time

 

Personally, I really like the drums on the song but other than that, I kinda find it boring.

 

It's my favorite workout song! I'd also love to box to it, even though I've never boxed before

 

Honestly, I feel like Wastelands is a wonderful throwback to their nu-metal days with a fresh coat of paint. However, compared to the rest of The Hunting Party, it falls short of expectation. It just does nothing to stand out from the crowd. In my opinion though, it's still better than 90% of Hybrid Theory/Meteora.

 

My biggest problems are the actual lyrics in the verses not doing anything for me (the flow is great though), and the bridge feels really boring. The breakdown doesn't feel like anything is happening at all compared to the awesome breakdowns we get in the rest of the album, it needed some vocals or a synth solo or something imo, and also to be longer by a couple of bars. I understand they might have made the song purposefully tight though compared to the relatively long instrumental sections of songs like GATS, ALITS, MTG, etc. Some harmonies or something added to the chorus would have probably helped, too. The chord change is cool though.