6 months later - A Thousand Suns/opinion on live performances

I would like to share my OPINION and I would hope that as many of you as possible will share your opinions too.

I have listened to A Thousand Suns many times since it's release, through crappy pc speakers, car stereos, ipod earphones, high end reference studio headphones, studio monitors and almost everything else you can think of.

5/10

The only thing that stops this from being a 3.5 out of 10 is When They Come For Me (up to unnecessary section at the end), and the techno sections of The Catalyst, don't get me started on Waiting For The End, I will come back to that later.

I believe that A Thousand Suns is an awful album, I am utterly diappointed by Linkin Park this time around and I am disgusted that they decided to release it, it is a masterfully polished waste of time.

I find it excruciatingly hard to believe that this is all the guys could come up with after two years, a collection of basic and soulless experiments with new sounds which amounted to nothing, and as if to say this album would suck, Mike began by saying in an early interview that some people would even need to be on drugs to love the album (I even tried that, to no avail)
Believe me, I have tried in every single way to love this album in the long run, and every time I have been left disappointed and I feel ripped off by the band I grew up loving, the only band that I actually stuck with through my many musical phases without getting bored with, but this takes the biscuit.

I am no Hybrid Theory fanboy, no Minutes To Midnight hater, this album sucks in my opinion, inconsistent, the composition is some of the most simple I have ever heard and the rapping is more basic than ever, Mike's rapping has declined ever since the Hybrid Theory EP, listen to And One and tell me that isn't true.

One of the main things that pisses me off about this record, is the fact that Mike is phasing out every other member of the band; Brad? Phoenix?
Even Rob has been substituted by programmed drums for the most part, and Joe, regardless of making a pretentious comeback with Wretches and Kings and The Catalyst, is also being left aside for the most part, Mike even said himself that he wrote 99% of the guitar parts on this album.

Now Brad has been degraded to hitting a basic pattern on two toms which aren't even wired to the microphone, Phoenix is now playing on a small sampler (if that is even making a sound either) while Chester pretends that he is playing the samples from Wretches And Kings through MIDI drums? What happened? What the hell happened to you LP?
This is the new era of lip syncing, band members pretending to play their instruments, this is unbelievable, oh and another thing, Mike is pretending to use a theremin on When They Come For Me, they are half literally just sticking the CD in and myming to it, there is nothing sophisticated about Linkin Park's new music aside from the thousands of dollars spent on making it.

In conclusion I would like to add that I even saw Linkin Park live this year after attending the fan summit, I am no hater, but A Thousand Suns shows that something is amiss, stay off the weed next time you produce an album Mike, Linkin Park have only one more chance to show what we all know they are capable of, or I am no longer a fan.

 

I am speechless.

 

So basically you don't like the album because Brad doesn't necessarily play guitar, Dave doesn't necessarily play bass, Rob doesn't necessarily play drums, Joe doesn't scratch etc.

so?

Also

That isn't true.

I think those are the two main points you made, besides just saying you don't like it which is fair.

I like the album, I don't love it, or at least not all of it or even a majority of it, whatever. I'm past the point where I'd have got worked up over not liking a Linkin Park album but I enjoy it anyway. Not to hold myself up as a paragon of rationality, but I think a lot of people could probably learn from that.

 

Those are your thoughts. These are mine:

9.5/10

This is my favorite album straight up. It has everything: Ballads, crazy synths, turntables, rapping, screaming, piano, conventional parts, unconventional parts, interludes, much better lyrics than their previous works (and in some cases they tie to one another), and overall the range in the songs is fairly large and yet they still feel like they belong together.

As for the individual songs:

-The Requiem was a kickass intro. I love the spookiness and the use of a The Catalyst lyric.

-The Radiance, I admit, is one part of the album I didn't enjoy as much. Though it's more of it's placement then what it is. Two interludes to start and album was a bit odd.

-Burning in the Skies is simply a beautiful song. Right away the band shows that they've majorly improved in the lyrical department. 9/10

-Empty Spaces: Jokes aside, I always wonder why they didn't just have WTCFM be 18 seconds longer. I'm not sure why it was necessary to split it into its own track.

-When They Come For Me was a gem no doubt. Mike has never rapped in this tone before but he makes it work out nicely. This might be their best lyrical song to date. I love the message of telling the label that Linkin Park doesn't have to suck up to them. I used to bitch about the chorus, but not anymore. I like that in a way it adds on to the theme of the band doing what they want to do. Furthermore, Chester's bridge has me singing along every time. 9.5/10

-Robot Boy: Yet again, the band shows better lyrics and continues showcases the bands desire to branch out from conventional sound structures. The crazy synths at the bridge make this track golden. Another 9.5/10

-Jornada Del Muerto: Meh. I still don't get the hype over this interlude. I like the incorporation of "Lift Me Up, Let Me Go" in Japanese, but regardless it just seems like noise to me. Though it's not bad either.

-Waiting for the End: I think this may have finally topped The Catalyst in my book for the greatest song by Linkin Park. There's not even one flaw in this track. I could go on more about how awesome this track, but I won't. 10/10.

-Blackout: I anticipating this song the most after seeing the demo in LPTV. I must say, I was not disappointed. I really love Chesters "scatting" and Mikes part at the end is too great. The breakdown is pretty good, but I think they could have done something even better there. Anyways, 9/10.

-Wretches and Kings: I lose a little respect for this song every time. This song alone is the only reason that ATS isn't the perfect record. Mike's rapping sounds awesome but the lyrics are below average. The line "static on the wind makes us all say WHOA" alone makes me cringe every time. I get the message behind the lyrics, but I don't like how the lyrics rely on the opening speech to interpret them fully. Which also leads to another complain: the speech gets really old. It doesn't help that they decided to incorporate twice. The way Wretches ends is the low point of the album in my opinion. Why not a verse or something by Chester? 7/10

Wisdom, Justice and Love-This was the only speech that I enjoyed quite a lot. It does a great job of setting the mood for the next track.

Iridescent-Like BITS, it's a beautiful song. The group vocals are one of two climaxes of this album. I think all of the people clinging on to Hybrid Theory should give this track a play. Let it go. 9/10

Fallout: I like the sound of it and I also liked the inclusion of BITS lyrics. Although, going straight from Iridescent to The Catalyst would have been perfectly fine. So I guess you could say this may have been a redundant interlude.

The Catalyst: The second greatest song by Linkin Park. The only problem is that it's mixed poorly. 9.9/10

The Messenger: Great in context, alright alone. 8/10.

 

That's hilarious, I quite obviously stated that I didn't like the vast majority of the songs and that I hated the composition of them, too basic, too cliche and too pretentious.

 

Linkin Park have relied on synthesized/overproduced music and chart ratings, so this "mainstream" aspect of LP is nothing new. All albums have been "mainstream". Yes Linkin Park has "declined in quality" that's because they've changed their style and every fan who has been as longer fan as I have will think that. And I accept it.

A Thousand Suns is not a great album because a majority of the album I don't like, but it's a bearable album. In fact, that's been me for a majority of the crap album they have produced.

 

Seeing as I am obligated to respect your opinion, I do however need to point out some flaws in your argument against A Thousand Suns.

You making rash statements like this can really get you in trouble. You have no backup as far as him even partaking any illicit substances while making the album, so until you actually have any proof that Mike is on any other drugs, I wouldn't make generalizations like this.

It has been discussed multiple times that The Catalyst is far from techno. Seeing as you completely missed those discussions, let me direct you to some actual techno, and THEN try to start calling anything on A Thousand Suns being close to anything techno. The only similarity between them, is that they use electronic elements, something Linkin Park has always used in their music, less from previous albums, but it's been there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl4opbNt8_E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GdslNxmixw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac9aMVG9lls&feature=related

Another thing you did no research on. If you actually watched any of the documentation of the album (i.e. LPTV and Meeting of A Thousand Suns), you would know that the entire band had input on the record, and still recorded instruments and wrote music, just not in the way that they normally were 2008 and prior.

Another thing you have no basis on. Do you even have proof that they are just "pretending" to play instruments?

You cannot disprove an opinion. What other people think about Mike's rapping ability over the years is variable. Yes, while I agree that the rap at the end of And One was great, it doesn't have any real meaning to it, and was just something to get Mike's vocabulary out there. Personally, I happen to enjoy Mike's rapping more than before. It's not as whiny as the raps from Hybrid Theory and Meteora, and for me, hold more weight and I am able to enjoy them a lot more.

At this point, you should know better than to take any advice that has been made jokingly. I am clean, haven't taken a single drug in my life other than caffeine and a beer when I was younger, and can honestly say that I love the album. If you sat there on drugs trying to appreciate the album, then that is your loss and stupidity for doing so in the first place.

 

And I quite obviously acknowledged that that wasn't all you said in the rest of my post. Way to try taking what I say out of context only a couple of posts down the page!

Those were the only points you made even a remote attempt at articulating so I didn't bother with the rest. Which I mentioned. But apparently you think that warrants a dissertation about how I disagree with you. Speaking of pretentious, and not to mention hilarious, basic, and cliche...

 

Stay off the weed next time you want to make a rash statement about that.

 

Well what can I say, I am still young and naive and occasionally do drugs with friends, I COMPLETELY CONDEMN THIS HOWEVER, for any easily-led people reading.
I wasn't talking about pure techno, but if it is electronica techno then anything goes, the beat couldn't really belong to many other genres.
I have no doubt in my mind that Mike was at least partly serious about the statement, he is a millionaire and as a lot of people know cannabis enhances your creativity and ability to seperate music tracks psychologically, I wouldn't rule it out for one second.
I think the only thing that Brad wrote on camera was talking spanish into a megaphone.

 

Says the guy who edited his post, pretentious indeed, besides I believe you instigated the whole "taking things out of context" in this thread.

 

Got any proof I was on it? Didn't think so.

 

Don't triple post, TimeSpree. Either edit your first reply or use the multiquote button. Thanks.

 

Got any proof Mike was on it? Didn't think so.

 

At first you came across as a dissapointed fan. Now you're falling into the extremely unknowledgeable category.

 

Well, no, because I didn't take anything out of context. I referred to your whole post.

I changed one word, and regardless of that how does editing my post negate what I'm saying? And how is it pretentious? Do you even know what pretentious means?

 

Sorry, I will do that in future.

Well i'll be darned, you got me!

EDIT: To incorporate more subtle trolling

I do, stop pretending to be right.

Ah, I should have known you would follow me here.


This folks, is what happens when you express an opinion here now.

 

SCORE.

Timespree - You made your point now stop insulting people.

 

What the hell does Michael Jackson have to do with this thread