I could see the band embracing this new sort-of-punk heaviness as their new niche for more than one album. They seem passionate enough. But the thing about Linkin Park is, the last time they started to passionately go down an interesting and different path, they got skittish and abandoned it. A Thousand Suns was a good starting point for Linkin Park to become a "mainstream Radiohead" as one review called it, by becoming an increasingly experimental/progressive band with pop sensibility. But they got cold feet and pushed the full blown pop-rock-electro Living Things out really quickly, no doubt to calm some angry fans/label people/whoever. So once again, Linkin Park has started to scratch the surface of something interesting. They sound surprisingly good doing punk, and they really want some heaviness back in rock music. BUT. the album debuted at #3. And it's definitely gonna plummet off the charts fast. So when Warner doesn't like that, what happens?
Has Linkin Park signed another contract or something? I really can't see why they're still on Warner. Wait, what happened?
Yeah and i really like it. But i think i didnt need so much angry Chester anymore. This screams are cool , but after a time it just isnt enjoyable for me.
Yeah I was gonna say, shouldn't their record deal with them be ending soon? As much as I hate these threads, I admit I do have ideas of where I want LP to go next. Remember that Mike just said what he wanted to bring back to rock was "innovation, energy, aggression, catharsis, [and] passion." He emphasized heaviness, sure, but what he wrote in his article was just that rock had to get lively and vibrant again, not that there was any particular way in which rock bands had to start doing it. Personally, I'd like to see LP get away from alt-rock and electronics altogether. They should either try really experimenting with prog-style, virtuosic instrumentals, or hard rock with a melodic bent and less screaming (like Rush or Aerosmith).
This! and i heard in an interview posted in a thread last week about collaborating again with Tom Morello. Hopefully, we'll get a vocal collaboration with Morello.
I think that LP need to just chill and take a long break from releasing anything, I'm talking like 2 or 3 years, just to think about who they are and what they really want to do. I think THP was just an album made out of an urge and was a quick decision and execution. They need to just stay away from a gimmick and think about what they want to say with their music in the future. To be honest, yeah THP was kinda cool, but I haven't even listened to it at all in like the past 2 weeks. I haven't had the craving for it. Idk, man. I've stated pretty much all of my opinions on the band several times before, so I just hope that they just stop for a while, take a good, strong look at what they truly want to do next time around, and just come out with an amazing record hopefully in a few years. Also. Would be incredibly dope.
I really feel like THP would have been a better album if they took more time. I don't think songs like UIG or even Wastelands would have ended up on the album if they explored their capabilities more and really harnessed what they like about all the artists/songs that influenced the album.
In my opinion, Linkin Park is at their best when they experiment different genres in the same song structure. Examples of this are: Blackout, Mark the Graves and Until it Breaks. I think that is their true potential. I just listened to Minutes to Midnight and what I love about that record is the diversity of genres from song to song. This is a band that don't gives a flying fuck about what category they are in. When I started to hear carefully what they are doing with the 3 songs stated above, I understood that they could release some REALLY good music. Experimental, yes. Not radio-friendly, yes. But if they do that in the next album... It would be a polarizing album again, for sure, but what album of theirs isn't? I remember listening to Until it Breaks and thinking about "Bohemian Rhapsody" thanks to the totally different sounds that were in the song. If they embrace that, if they get out of the Nu-Metal box that has been with them since they are young teens and say: Let's do our own sound and Experiment without having the need to sell poppy singles... Then I think that would be my dream record of LP. I highly respect them as artists, specially because they do what they want. Each album is a different genre album and that is truly difficult to achieve as a musician. They are diverse. They just have to truly embrace that diversity within a song structure. And they have proven they can do it with these 3 songs. *Off-topic* - Really don't understand the hate towards MTG. For me that song is a musical journey. It achieves for me what "Pink Maggit" by Deftones has already done years ago: A truly special song. I think it might be one of my favourite songs.
Um they have made their own sound. THP is their own sound, its the future of the band. There is nothing nu metal about THP its just pure rock Like i said KKTK and ALITS are the sound of LP for the future.
Hopefully they switch gears with the next album and focus on a more mellow, relaxed sound that brings back the electronic elements to a good degree. Shift away from the political lyrics for at least a portion of the album and write some more positive songs. It would feel like the right time, especially after The Hunting Party.