Personally, I don't see Meteora as "the second Hybrid Theory" - it's not a downgrade, nor on the same level to me. For some reason, when listening to HT, I see(?) red, and blue for Meteora - not sure what I mean, but that's how it is. Meteora is like Hybrid Theory + more electronic stuff + more "futuristic" sounding. A bit off topic, but MTM was definitely a downgrade from Meteora musically (to me), and A Thousand Suns is definitely a musical evolution of HT and Meteora. Back to topic, what does everyone else make of Meteora? Is it really that similar to Hybrid Theory, or are there clear distinguishing factors?
I find the production gives it a distinguishing factor, the album sounds "fuller" and the volume seems cranked up a bit. I always go back and forth on whether Meteora or Hybrid Theory is my favorite. While I enjoy Minutes to Midnight, it can't compete with either of these two records. A Thousand Suns I'm still getting into. I haven't really formed a strong opinion it yet. Despite writing a review early on, I find my mind constantly changing, and I don't believe you can really judge a record until some time. For example, I just started appreciating Minutes to Midnight more. On Meteora. There's a fair amount of dislike for the record on the board, and I think to some degree that could be due to "following the crowd" type ordeal (since nearly everyone cites the record as one of the best, it becomes trendy to hate on it to some degree) I would contend that Meteora should never known as Hybrid Theory part 2. Despite being in the same genre, you can't say that since a record has some similarities its simply an extension of the first. Meteora's songs are different, Mike's rapping is at a slower pace, there's additional layers upon everything, everything sounds extremely polished. HT in comparison is a "raw-er" album. my 2 cents...
I agree wholeheartedly about a fuller production on Meteora and HT sounding more raw in comparison. I think a lot of people consider them two parts to the same album due to the abundance of the famous Linkin Park guitars, and while it's true those were still there, there were a lot of NEW things, too. P.S. I didn't like Minutes to Midnight when it leaked, I didn't like it when it came out, I didn't like buying it (but I did just so I do have them all), and I don't like it now lol.
While I think its much more then just "guitars" (people will cite introspective negativity-laced lyrics, verse-chorus song structure, etc) it never has been Hybrid Theory part 2 for me, and never will be. Glad to see someone agrees on the production being "fuller." Thats one of my favorite parts of the album, I've heard similar sounding records come out to this day without nearly as good as production. The layering is fantastic imo.
I think Meteora was a copy of Hybrid Theory. In both albums the lyrics were below average, and the electronics were decent at best. The layering in Meteora was horrible. They layered Chester over Chester plenty of times and created impossible live songs. In Meteora the "zomg wtf" moment came with Breaking The Habit. That's the only real breath of fresh air on their first two albums, and even with that, the music converts back to the same old same old. Minutes to Midnight was an upgrade in my opinion. Each song not only sounded different from their older albums, but different from each other (ex: Given Up and Leave Out All The Rest, Hands Held High and No More Sorrow). The electronics were weak again, but they didn't seemed crammed into the song. A Thousand Suns, yes, is the best yadda yadda yadda. Hybrid Theory = Meteora Songs sound the same, structures are the same, the tracklist is similar, the same same same same same.
See the lyrics = one of my favorite parts about their first two albums. As someone who has been through a lot, parents divorce, identity crisis, losing my faith, I've always felt their lyrics to be extremely personal.
Meteora has more "friendly" songs which is one thing that distinguishes the two for me. With HT, there's Forgotten, APFMH, By Myself, and Papercut which are a little less friendly for casual listeners. With Meteora, you could learn all the lyrics in a day. With that said, there's plenty of fans, myself included, that are more for how the song sounds. Also, as cstebila said, the "below average" lyrics still can be good if you can relate to them. Although, I'm thrilled that their lyrics are changing. I'm maturing more every day which makes HT/Meteora lyrics harder to relate to. But I'm still glad they happened because whenever I have a bad day, these albums will be available to me.
In my opinion, it's a Hybrid Theory cloning attempt gone horribly wrong. Obviously it has bad lyrics, the standard HT structure, and the many Chesters singing at once lol; but the deciding factor for me is the fact that it contains the one of the only LP songs I hate with a fiery passion: Hit the Floor. And also add in the fact that a majority of the songs on Meteora now bore me. They were catchy and awesome before, but to me, LP's newer stuff are much more melodic and cover a wider range of more important topics than "the pain inside."
More power riffs, more of the exact same structures, more of them doing what they already did in HT. I just turn my mind off to the lyrics when I listen to it. It's actually a really good album when I do that.
There's parts of Meteora that make you go, okay, this is new and refreshing (Breaking the Habit, From the Inside, Nobody's Listening), where as the rest of the album is just a multi-layered carbon copy of the record that came before it.
It's definitely its own thing. The instrumentals are different enough to differentiate between Hybrid Theory.
I think its it own sound. Hybrid Theory has a lot more of "heavier" sounds.(cant explain it) and Meteora was a lot more electronic i believe. I love Meteora because mostly the sound. Like the opening to SIB still gets me emotional. Then you have BTH which is a beautiful masterpiece. From the inside has mike singing kinda and Numb i think was a step in the right direction for the band. I think meteora was a perfect example of expanding your sound but keeping it in the bands roots. Every song is something you just want to chant out and scream. very good album(my favorite). They spent so much time thinking everything was perfect, SIB to 18 months to finish. It seemed like the band new exactly what they wanted to do and didnt spend 18 months screwing around with instruments. When people ask me to describe Meteora the only word I can think of is "Graffiti". Like with the art of the album being those epic satellites, thats what i think of the sound. I think this album is a perfect blend upon sound and lyrics @ Ben- the lyrics on ATS are pretty fast to learn to. I learned them in a day and i have friends who know all the lyrics already to, just by riding in the car with me. So please dont say Meteora lyrics were so horrible anyone can learn them because i know non lp fans who know the lyrics to ATS and dont even own it.