Man…just made it home from the listening party in Nashville. Album is pretty fucking cool! @Christøffer I am so sorry for my awkwardness meeting you today. I am 3rd shift and I was running on fumes at that point. And a little stoned I’d have to say “Cut the Bridge” is killer!
Hey, no worries! It was great meeting another fan here. Hope we get a tour stop so we can meet up there! My initial thoughts on the album: it's solid. Certainly not breaking down any barriers sound-wise, but obviously there's another more important thing that's changed for this album with Emily coming in as a new vocalist. I think this a good balancing act. Spoiler review, based only on my memory and the notes I started and gave up on: Spoiler Intro was cool. I love choral stuff so it was great to hear some of that here. As far as intros go, it's one of the intros of all time. Definitely no Wake or The Requiem/The Radiance but it's more substantial than Foreword. That's about all there is to say. I really liked Cut the Bridge, felt it really gave some MTM vibes and felt like Bleed It Out in the verses. Great followup to TEM and definitely a standout for me. Also in retrospect works great as one of the few songs to have some less power chord-heavy guitar work (at parts at least). Over Each Other is actually really good in the context of this album. It's perfect to break up the heavy rock and metal influence. Song went from like a 5/10 to 7/10 immediately hearing it like that in the album context. Need to revisit some more, as it actually may beat out Heavy Is the Crown for me now. Casualty is definitely a standout. That song was great. Definitely agree with what minuteforce said about Sid Wilson-style scratch work. It feels like a marriage of Victimized and Keys to the Kingdom, but with its own unique flavor. Mike is definitely giving like Rage Against the Machine vibes with his raps. Hard to describe after one listen. Also love Colin's drum work here, definitely makes it feel like it has some thematic ties to THP. I think it was at the end of this song that Joe pulled out a drum break for like one second that was featured on his stage vinyl Tasty Gas Station Breaks? Maybe it was Overflow. Either way this was me for that one second: Overflow has a great vibe, also really liked it. Can definitely see why Dave likes it; he's front and center with his bass there. Definitely agree that it's a sound LP hasn't touched before. I know there's stuff I've heard before I can compare it to but I'm completely blanking. Two Faced was great too, though I can't remember much about it because I was still recovering from the one-two of Casualty and Overflow. I remember some fun scratch work in the bridge. Meteora-esque intro and verses. Gave huge Figure.09 2.0 (OSC 3.0?) vibes. The chorus vocals reminded me melodically of some things Three Days Grace has done I want to say. Loved the quick clip of Stick N Move we got. They pulled a bunch of old samples out for the audio clips between songs! Stained really sounds like Post Traumatic I remember. That's all I can recall though. This may be the one I heard with some audible guitar string slides and stuff between the chords? Not sure, but if it is, I liked the texture that added. I remember nothing about IGYEIH. It's got thick guitars and is very rock-oriented, and I only remember this because it contrasts with the closer...will need to hear it again to have an opinion! Good Things Go is great. Great vocal interplay from Mike and Emily, stripped back compared to the heavier rock songs. Emily has some great singing on this track in particular. I also really loved Mike's triplet flow in the bridge, with very Post Traumatic lyrics thematically as well. Not a big epic closer like TLTGYA, The Catalyst, or ALITS, but certainly feels like it works well as a closer (more than songs like PMA or Numb, in my opinion). Overall, lots of early LP-style hip-hop and rock fusion, set to modern production with some new influences. The guitar work in a lot of these non-singles felt very reminiscent of early 2000s post-grunge/rock overall, both in tone and in the chord progressions, though there are some exceptions. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of that but it doesn't detract from the album. I want to say Hahn scratches on three tracks on this album. One I remember sounds just like samples Mike plopped into the studio session, but there were some signs that made me think it was run through a turntable and that there was some degree of scratching involved in the sample manipulation.
My listening party was small, but fun. I expected individual headphones but, it's a little indie shop so we didn't get that. There was pizza and some poster/shirt giveaways. About 20 of us were there. So they played the album over the shop speakers. I barely heard the intro or any of the little intricacies between the songs, so it was hard to really connect on the first listen. Sometimes people were chatting, but it was fun to be around other fans of LP in my relatively small town where I feel like I'm the only LP dude in town. I met a dude, didn't exchange information or anything, who had some LP tattoos so that was fun. I should befriended him, but I'll probably never see him again, lol. Anyway, I like the way the album suddenly ends. A couple memorable things are: Cut the Bridge has a dope beat, is repetitive a little bit. Overflow is the most out-there song and sounds nothing like anything they have put out before. Really wanna hear this song again. Two Faced sounds like it could have been from Meteora | 20. Not a bad thing. IGYEIH is heavy as fuck. I think this one had the false ending? Stained or Good Things Go could easily be the next singles. Can't wait until next Friday.
Something I forgot to mention is the cassette mixtape vibe of the transitions, which dovetails with the vintage influences on display. And I had to explain that Xero snippet afterwards to my friend that I'd brought along There's been so much for me to say about this album that I haven't once mentioned Emily's singing in my comments. There's definitely a lot more meat to the album than just showing off a new singer
Immediate takeaway from the album: the vocal run in Stained is the same vocal run from Feel This Moment by Pitbull and Christina Aguilera.
Actual thoughts on the record at a later time because I’m too busy shoving a burger down my face, but I’m taking the time here to post that these @minusxerø and @deftonesfan867 guys fucking suck, and I never want to see their faces again. Fun Fact: my nickname in middle school was Stoney cuz I always looked like I was high. I promise, my eyes are open.
Overflow is the one I remember the most actually. Very a thousand suns. Loved it and probably my favorite off the new album.
Technically they played the album twice, but I only was half paying attention the second time. Some thoughts: Spoiler From Zero (Intro): I don’t have any real thoughts on this one. The choral vocals felt kind of jarring, but repeated lessons will probably make this one feel right. Cut the Bridge: it may have been said before, but this one reminded me a bit of Bleed It Out, though not as direct a reference as Heavy is the Crown is to Faint. The song is very playful and bouncy in the same way BIO is. The chorus is also really good, this song would not sound out of place at all on Minutes to Midnight (Emily aside). Casualty: Hearing the studio recording proper, it rocks SO hard. Very heavy, and very chunky. It feels like a throwback to crossover thrash bands in the vein of Suicidal Tendencies and Body Count. A fan favorite in the making. Overflow: My favorite song here, and the most ambitious creatively. Gorgeous wobbly synths give way to a a suprisingly ambient electronic soundscape. The outro has a guitar riff playout that, while simple, was such a vibe. Hearing stuff like this gets me excited for what they will do in the future. Two Faced: A song that, like Heavy is the Crown, is very much recalling the nu-metal work of their first two records. The breakdown here absolutely rules; it even has some scratching from Mr. Hahn! Stained: What I remember most about this track is that it has electronic percussion that gave the song a really nice flavor. Like Overflow, this one felt like the band going into unfamiliar territory, Pitbull vocal lifts and all. IGYEIH: Another rock number. I like the heaviness of it, but I feel like the chorus doesn’t hit as hard as it should. also feels a bit schizophrenic in structure and sound, if I am remembering correctly. Good Things Go: I don’t really remember much from this one other than really liking it, and Emily having some killer-ass vocal work on this thing. A great closer! An album that I cannot wait to get my hands on so I can dive into these even further. What a time it is to be a Linkin Park fan!
I had to be that asshole that recorded the album on my phone from my pocket lol. Been listening to Cut The Bridge a lot.
I really thought about doing it but I decided to be a good noodle this time and just anticipate hearing it again At least we got to hear that one twice! Wish we could have gotten a second full playthrough.
I had a very disappointing experience for my listening party. The speaker sound quality was god awful. Felt like listening to a 128kbps stream with the volume cranked all the way up. We were also packed in like sardines and just awkwardly standing around, either looking at the floor or staring into a stranger's eyes. Definitely not a comfortable listen. I'm glad they only played the record once because the whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth for something I've been waiting for since 2017. That said, Overflow is fucking fantastic. Sounded like an extension of A Thousand Suns. Two-Faced feels like a fun nod to Xero in 2024. The grimy, glitchy beat in Stained was a headbanger, IGYEIH was shockingly heavy, and Good Things Go has Emily's best vocal performance. Really looking forward to a deep dive with headphones next week.
Two-faced, caught in the middle Caught in the middle Two-faced, caught in the middle (counting to zero?) Caught in the middle (Counting to zero?) You should have recognized It’s too late for choosing sides Two-faced, caught in the middle Caught in the middle sounds like “counting to zero” in those parts Someone’s got lyrics on Genius.com already https://genius.com/Linkin-park-two-faced-lyrics
I just touched on this in another thread where you posted about it, but this was my experience exactly My first time attending one of these and I'll be less excited for them in the future
Maybe that's why the guitars sounded off to me I wasn't paying enough attention to the audio quality in the moment
The quality sounded fine to me! Idk…anytime I’ve listened to new music, I don’t catch everything on the first go because of the excitement. [REDACTED]