Not at face value, no. But it comes across- to me, anyway- as the closest of any MtM song that tries to overtly go for a "Linkin Park sound" than anything else on the album. Is it a carbon copy of By Myself or Forgotten? Of course not. But it wouldn't sound that drastically out of place next to them on an album, either. Given Up might be a "heavy song" like they are, but the punk-flavor of it lets it stand out from the pack in a way NMS doesn't to me.
Tough decision. I absolutely love both. The intro to NMS has to be my favourite for any LP song, but that 17 second scream from Chester would just about be my favourite LP moment in all of their music. Until MTM, HT and Meteora felt a little contained, for lack of a better word, in the studio versions, and then you press play on MTM and GU punches you and your expectations in the guts. I'm gonna have to go GU, because it just worked a little better for me. Maybe its the cool bass playing from Dave(not many songs we can say that about haha) that gets it over the line?
You think Minuteforce is putting people down? He's harmless. You've obviously never encountered Minus (aka Coldplay) here.
I prefer Given Up, for no other reason than that it does not strive to be a token pseudo-political angst, post-American Idiot, rock song.