See, That's why LP moved on from that sound post-Meteora because people will continue to compare even it's a totally different vibe. I prefer TEM to HITC because I believed TEM has strong foundation and great lead single. I understand second single should follow the pattern of every second single from previous era except Crawling from HT era. From Faint to Bleed it Out to WFTE to LITE, Wastelands, Good Goodbye to Heavy is the Crown, all of 'em followed the same structure (Intro-rap verse1-cho-rap verse2-bridge-outro).
Good Goodbye wasn't released as a single. The second single of OML was TTM. Also the second single of THP was Until It's Gone.
"Battle Symphony", "Good Goodbye" and "Invisible" were promo singles off One More Light, plus "Good Goodbye" got a video. That's probably meeting the threshold in a way However, "Talking To Myself" was the next outright radio push so it can obviously also be argued that that was the true follow-up to "Heavy" as a single
Battle Symphony would then take the second single spot as it was released as a promo single BEFORE Good Goodbye, making my point still valid.
Seems like I'm in a minority, but I am not impressed by this song in any way. Besides being a lesser version of Faint, there is nothing original or memorable about this song. After so many years, you would think that Mike would have some original ideas.
Such a banger! Definitely not something too different from what we have heard from the band before but it is really catchy, I like the little details in the instrumental and the bridge is amazing. I do hope the other songs on the album are more experimental but I have loved both songs so far!
This is probably going to be a 'safer' album. Just setting expectations now. It's the right move to make because they're introducing a brand new lineup, one of which is a new vocalist continuing the legacy of one of the best rock vocalists of the last 25 years. It's big shoes to fill, and going absolutely hardcore left turn on this album and doing something totally brand new might turn away some people, when the goal right now is to have this new iteration be received well enough that they can make numerous future albums with this new lineup. I'd expect the second album with Emily to have more experiments. Although, for all I know I could be way wrong with this album and the other tracks could be way different.
If Faint is a shonen, Heavy is the Crown is a seinen. And that’s enough of a difference for me. Or maybe that pre-chorus/pre-bridge is just that good. I really like that. It’s like that last deep breath before going to w o r k.
I'm not floored by it. It certainly does feel like a by-the-book Mike Shinoda production, but I'm not too upset about it for now. It's a fun song so I can ignore it. I'm thinking maybe the lead single and the one they chose for sync placement are way safer than the rest of the album. I'll assume that unless/until proven wrong. And even then, if I'm wrong, I'll be ok. It's not mind blowing but I don't mind something a little more safe. For the comeback at least.
Exactly. I'd even say probably quite a lot of people, beyond the core open-minded fanbase. I've written it somewhere else, but basically, a weird sounding LP record now, with new members, including a new lead vocalist, would just be the perfect excuse for a looot of people to say "see it doesn't even sound remotely like the same band anymore, they're done" The fact they had fun making this music is what made the band comeback to begin with. Once this line up is settled, they'll probably have fun trying others things too.
The way I look at it, every album post-Meteora had risks. MTM saw a change in how they wrote songs and stepped away from nu-metal. ATS went full electronic rock. LT attempted folk-influenced songs. THP tried going full-rock, had features, and was risky in terms of letting Brad write guitar solos. OML went full pop. From Zero and by extension HITC seems by-the-numbers safe, but that's because we're overlooking that they're taking the biggest risk of all: attaching themselves to a new singer who isn't Chester. That the song feels "too much like [insert Chester-era LP song here]" is a testament to the risk paying off, actually.
The last line of this is the most impressive part of this new era. There's been a lot of super rude commentary around the internet of people saying, "Linkin Park should've been done with Chester passing" or "Change the band name; it's not Linkin Park without Chester," and in the process, completely discounting the contributions of all the other band members over 17 years. The fact that they can take a brand new vocalist who, in some ways, is sonically very different from Chester and create a song that is very recognizably Linkin Park is phenomenal. They've somehow managed to capture that 'feeling' without two of the original band members, one of which was a massive part of the original appeal of the band due to his trademark vocals. Credit is due to the band members for giving the ultimate F U to the "Chester was Linkin Park" crowd. (For the record, I am not discrediting that Chester was a large part of what made LP successful. But it wasn't just him).
As much as I'd be excited for the band to try something new, I'm not going to complain about them repeating themselves a bit on FZ for exactly this reason. Mike has said before that the reason Meteora sounded so similar to Hybrid Theory was that the band had to prove that Hybrid Theory wasn't just a fluke. I think From Zero will be in the same vein philosophically - the band will want to prove that they can still write Linkin Park songs just like in the old days.
In agreement with you but I think it’s because at the end of the day they are signed to a label and this is a business so, given that there’s a lot at stake, and given even back then the record execs didn’t even want Mike at the helm and wanted Chester as the lead, begs to see why the band went the safe route. Reserving full judgment for the album. Can’t help to notice sample at the beginning reminds me of Britney Spears - Toxic.
To come back to the new song itself, there are couple more things I wanted to mention after further listens today Please, if you can, listen to the song in a silent dark room, with good headphones. The production on this is fabulous. Great dynamics and many cool elements showing up in the mix, that I didn't especially notice until I could get a proper listening environment. I love how the breathing between sentences is mixed so loud in the chorus. Gives a really raw and genuine touch to the performance. Same about the natural voice inflections of Emily. Behind its immediate impact and direct approach, the attention to details in the track is great. About this, I'd like to say I am strongly convinced the label has absolutely nothing to do with the direction of this album whatsoever. Sure, they're probably happy of this choice (of single). But the guys are clearly super goddamn pumped about the new music. I definitely don't see a "hey let's come back to make daddy Warner happy". Also it's just one rap rock track. I'm sure other tracks on the album are going to draw from other influences as well, as was teased by Billboard (ATS, THP). Rap rock is just a part of what they've almost always done.
I talked about this with my sister about the new songs with Emily a couple days ago. She was never a fan of LP, but she listened a lot of LP by osmose through me when we were growing up. She was complaining both songs sounded the same as before and she was expecting a new thing for the band with a new vocalist. I said it was a huge compliment to Emily and Mike's choice because the risk of doing this is bigger than trying something completely new, like a new band, for example. That little noise that appears after the chorus right before Mikes second verse starts is so perfect added.