ARTISTdirect A Thousand Suns Review

Discussion in 'News' started by Joe, Sep 13, 2010.

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  1. #1
    Joe

    Joe I'm tried LPA Administrator

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    ARTISTdirect have given their impressions on the new Linkin Park album, which you can read below.

    5 out of 5 Stars


    Linkin Park create their own genre with A Thousand Suns.

    The album is unlike anything you've heard from Linkin Park or anyone else for that matter. The best way to describe it—and it's still light years away from the experience of actually listening to it—is The Fragile meets Achtung Baby. However, it's more like a soundtrack to salvation than anything else.

    A Thousand Suns deeply examines loss, life and love in the space age with a very Blade Runner approach. "The Requiem" and "The Radiance" give birth to the journey to follow with an eerily elegant keyboard sound. A humming croon kicks in and a robot voice declares, "God save us." Another voiceover follows on "The Radiance" cryptically and beautifully announcing the aural apocalypse to come.

    "Burning in the Skies" volleys from a propulsive keyboard build-up into a glitched-out affair between Chester Bennington's unmistakable vocals and the production behind him. He drops in his most poetic lyrics—"I'm swimming in the smoke of bridges I have burned. I'm losing what I don't deserve." The imagery is both destructive and strangely divine. That line also becomes significant, popping up again later on the record.

    The salvo to follow, "When they Come for Me," slides from a slick synth into Mike Shinoda unleashing like never before. He declares, "I'm a tough act to follow." Shinoda's not kidding; he raucously rocks around a swagge-d out verse that culminates in a refrain actually worth screaming, "Try to catch up, motherfucker." Tribal beats resound in the backdrop with a bloody and brilliant crescendo.

    This is the battering that pop music so desperately needs. There's a dreamy haze that colors "Robot Boy." It's tripped-out tryptych of textural bliss sees the band reaching Tomorrowland. A looped riff from Brad Delson blazes in unison with a formidable wall of rhythms from Rob Bourdon and Dave "Phoenix" Farrell. "Blackout" gives Chester space to freakout over debonaire keyboards and a jagged riff. If M.I.A. Listened to too much Misfits she might sound something like this.

    Shinoda's animalistic rhymes square off against Joe Hahn's chaotic carnivorous scratching for "Wretches and Kings." Whether it's a robotic creepshow speech from Martin Luther King Jr. to the slow piano on "Iridescent," Linkin Park are changing the game.

    The first single "The Catalyst" is a unique introduction and a fitting preview. The "God save us everyone line" is another crucial bit of information that's cyclical within the sonic solar system that is A Thousand Suns. After A Thousand Suns, all rock 'n' roll will revolve around Linkin Park.

    —Rick Florino
    09.13.10

    Source: ARTISTdirect
     
  2. #2
    hazuki

    hazuki Well-Known Member

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    Awesome, aweosme review.
     
  3. #3
    merrillmind

    merrillmind Well-Known Member

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    great review have any of you seen this fan uploaded vid from last nights performance its sick you can here mike starting to play a bit of WTCFM so dope just hearing the band jam alittle inbetween the wait pretty awesome you ask me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msNWVhm2QYY this is the youtube address to use and again dope to see anothe rshining ATS review the guys deserve it
     
  4. #4
    Lord MSG

    Lord MSG Butcher Mike

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    Awesome review.
     
  5. #5
    merrillmind

    merrillmind Well-Known Member

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    oh and the rehersalo performance of the catalyst from the vid i mentioned sounded dope they should have went with that one
     
  6. #6
    KMunkee

    KMunkee Munkee

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    beautiful review! I agree 100% !

    "After A Thousand Suns, all rock 'n' roll will revolve around Linkin Park."
     
  7. #7
    Dusty

    Dusty LPA Super VIP LPA Super VIP

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    Great review. I wish Rolling Stone's review would drop. I'm guessing tomorrow.
     
  8. #8
    big_bad_lukas

    big_bad_lukas Well-Known Member

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    fantastic! 5/5 :) agree with that
     
  9. #9
    murphyLP

    murphyLP The blood of innocence burning in the skies

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    Finally some love from the press...

    But I want to see the Rolling Stone´s review!
     
  10. #10
    Derek

    Derek LPAssociation.com Administrator LPA Administrator

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    I wouldn't go as far as to say LP created a new genre with this album. They did however craft an album that was in many ways very surprising for them and even somewhat of a commercial risk in spots. All in all though, it's great to see LP getting such love.
     
  11. #11
    Adam.

    Adam. Well-Known Member

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    One thing that gets to me is the sheer hate this album receives based on the past of Linkin Park. Seems ignorant. Any review that is positive will usually say "This isn't like the old stuff." and the negative ones will say "This isn't the old stuff." Two sides, same coin.. and yet the only relevancy to this album is how it sounds, not if it's Hybrid Theory part 3 or not.
     
  12. #12
    cradle

    cradle Foreword LPA VIP

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    Cough warner, cough ;)
     
  13. #13
    A.06

    A.06 Well-Known Member

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    Fantastic!
     
  14. #14
    Shikshak

    Shikshak Well-Known Member

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    I honestly think this album is awesome. LP is not eeven my favourite band, but ATS is an amazing album, the best thing they've done so far.
     
  15. #15
    Mo rezgui

    Mo rezgui The Limitless Potential

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    I love it when they say Linkin Park's new style has hints of Nine Inch Nails (Fragile). Because they're my two favorite bands,
    AND MY FACE JUST MELTS
     
  16. #16
    linkinparkZ3vil

    linkinparkZ3vil burns inside the LAZORS of a thousand suns

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    no way.. the fragile is hundred times better than this.. even though both are awesome
     
  17. #17
    Mo rezgui

    Mo rezgui The Limitless Potential

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    Shhhh, it's just the fact that theres some sort of fusion just gets me sooooo happy, i never thought this day would come ha ha
     
  18. #18
    AceofSpades

    AceofSpades Member

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    wow, good to see another great review :)
    on another note, lets all pray that Rollin Stones love this album
     
  19. #19
    Abel

    Abel Chester Bennington saved my life.

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    7/10 reviews on the Wiki ATS criticism section are all positive :D great to see that the positive reviews also embrace LP's change.

    Rolling Stone gave HT a 2.5/5 and Meteora just a favorable. They gave Minutes to Midnight a 4/5. I have nothing but high hopes that ATS is gonna be even higher for RS.
     
  20. #20
    Ree

    Ree a female witch. LPA Administrator

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    Great review

    "Joe Hahn's chaotic carnivorous scratching" - haha I like this line!
     
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