I just want to say you didn't even post the best M83 interlude The Frog Song>>>>>>>>>> I get what you mean but to me the interludes on ATS felt unnecessary and actually didn't make the album flow well for me. It also made us only get 9 songs and I didn't like one of those songs so I was disappointed in an album with 15 tracks that there was only 8 I would listen to.
I haven't posted on here in a long time, despite following the album hype for ATS, LT and THP. I remember I posted a lot during the MTM era, giving an in-depth review of what I thought of that album. I believe I posted a few comments since that release but yeah, been away a long time from the boards even though I'm always checking LPA a lot every week/month. In regards to this release, I'm really looking forward to the upcoming 7th album, I really like the whole mystery behind this album and the fact Linkin Park have indicated they're going in a new direction with this release but haven't revealed any details of how the album will sound overall. I've always admired the band changing their style and sound with each release. MTM was something new and experimental by the band, the polar opposite of Hybrid Theory and Meteora. ATS was something that took me a while to digest and get used to but after a few listens I began to appreciate the concept and story behind it and the amazing sounds they created, with LT I did enjoy the whole short, energetic songs approach they went with and with THP I was overjoyed they brought the heaviness back that was severely lacking on their prior 3 releases. This time, I expected a softer, more electronic sound on this record, perhaps the band to explore in the indie rock genre and I gladly welcome that if it is indeed the road they travel on with this release! Linkin Park are renowned for adapting their style, their brand and their sound to any genre, whether it be nu-metal/rock/pop/EDM/punk/electronica RnB, etc. No matter what genre they choose you can always tell it has that trademark Linkin Park sound and they always seem to pull it off well. The band can transition their sound really well to fit each genre and I really think they'll deliver on this one and I'm really anticipating and looking forward to this release. The thing that intrigues me the most is the fact they've expressed how much time they've spend on the songwriting and I really hope we get to see some really deep, emotive and personal lyrics on this album. The countdown.... is on...
I'm going to have to disagree with you here. ATS was so immersive due to interludes and made that album probably their best and most mature.
"Like Most Bands Do" Do most bands? From personal experience I've witnessed multiple bands play maybe 4-5 songs from a new album. When artists have a lot of albums out they only have so much time in their setlist, you get one of two things: people who ignore their old music or people who play only a portion of their new music. Now if you are talking about over time, then you might have a point. For example- some live acts I seen: Linkin Park- 5 (Less than 50% of the album) Breaking Benjamin- First time: 4 (33% of the album). Second time: 3 (25% of the album) Disturbed- 3 (Less than 20%) Shinedown- First time: 4 (33% of the album) Second time: 3 (Less than 30%) Blake Shelton- 5 (Less than 50%) Modest Mouse- 5 (33% of the album) Sum 41- 5 (35% of the album) New Found Glory- 5 (38%) Kenny Chesney- First Time: 4 (33% of the album). Second time: 3 (25% of the album) [Extra note, he had 16 albums at this point, no album got more than 3 songs played] But on the flip side: Bring Me the Horizon- 11 songs combined from their last 2 albums, only 2 songs total from their first 3. Taylor Swift- 13 (a whopping 81% of the album, 92% of the standard edition) Blink-182- 7 (Still under 50% of the album but a lot of songs from one album) Rise Against- 7 (58% of the album) 30 Seconds to Mars- 10 songs combined from their last 2 albums, only 1 song total from their first 2 Marianas Trench- 8 (50% of the album) It always seems to be one drastic extreme. Some artists ignore a good portion of their new album, others ignore the older music. Linkin Park plays a good mix from all the albums. A to be fair, when it came to ATS, that was only Linkin Park's 4th album. With THP is was their 6th album. It's hard to fit a good amount of songs from 6 different albums in a setlist.
I hope this is not a clichéd version of minutes to midnight in terms of lyrics with sounds of living things combined... What I want? Lyrics like meteora( except easier to run and somewhere I belong) mixed with sounds ranging from thousand suns to hunting party...
Dat synth. I approve. My biggest concern with the likely pop direction of the album is the band being able to overcome the issue of being able to create huge swings in dynamic levels (particularly for big choruses) without having really layered, distorted guitar parts to fall back on. They managed to do this in the past with ATS, but that also wasn't a pop album...the approach to this kind of music is a lot different and has to be handled with a lot of care to be done well. A lot of Top 40 songs fall flat for me because the song maintains one same-y dynamic level the whole time and the chorus is only a chorus because it's where they put "that vocal part everyone knows" or whatever. Writing a catchy hook is the key to writing a pop song. Writing something interesting that contrasts with the catchy hook in the other sections is the key to writing a GOOD pop song.
Catalyst isn't nearly as mainstream as messenger or waiting for the end, Lost in the echo isn't nearly as mainstream as castle of glass, powerless (and was also not the first single here in Europe at least, perhaps that is partly where the confusion comes from --> We got burn it down, also I haven't listed Living things), Somewhere I belong isn't even close regarding zeitgeist and mainstream appeal when you also have songs like numb and Breaking the habit. So no, I am not arguing ;-) That being said what I originally wanted to state is the point, that the first single is not always the one with the most mainstream appeal regarding LP. And yes, there I see no need to argue, except we want to factor in cultural differences. And since you suggested the LP fanbase should stop interpreting too much in the snippets we have we probably should wait for the final song to see where this goes. Maybe we will have a big break a la Blackout and it goes totally nuts (I don't think so but who knows), or maybe in general we can agree that the LP fanbase perhaps should go on and state opinions on little snippets like all other fanbases do too. For me this is where the fun comes from. Some of us will be totally surprised, some of us will be disappointed and some will have to eat crow for what was stated before we had the full song or album :-D
And here what scares me. I grew up with Linkin Park. Even I got hated for this, I also like bring me the horizon and visited some of the shows. The last show I went to was end of 2016. You guys know what happened with "that's the spirit"? I went to the show with 3 friends all grew up with lp and were in this age... All around us 13-14 year old girls with theire moms. We couldn't believe it. 30% were gone after the first 3 songs. The atmosphere was shitty. It was the worst experience I've ever made. I'm afraid this happens with LP. Seriously I like to go to lp concerts but with poppy songs I'm afraid I'm too old for this shit ... It feels like everyone evolves and lp is making steps backwards... I belive that's the point why there is so much scepsis about this teaser
That happens now. 90% of the people who go to LP's shows somehow don't like their songs at all and get in the way of people who are fans. And besides that, the band probably won't even play this new "pop" stuff you people are so afraid of
That would be great if the band hadn't gone on record as saying they pick first singles that they think will do the best on the radio. You disagreeing with them is a contrary opinion, and that's fine to have, but me saying what the band's thought process is with these single choices isn't wrong. And me saying LITE and not BID was a flub on my part, but linkin park trivia isn't really an important area of knowledge so I'm okay with being wrong there.
Tell us something new they gonna drop ALL THP out and bringing back Crawling , Somewhere I Belong, With You & Points Of Authority like they done in 2012. and maybe thy're gonna play 1 or 2 new songs. At the end i don't care if they gonna play In the End for the 6 millionth time because i'll never see them live.
Right, who's making the call isn't important, when the end effect is 'They thought this would have the most mainstream appeal'. Whether the labels were pulling the band's strings or whether or not they were working together on it. Anyone personally thinking a different track has more mainstream appeal is entirely irrelevant to the conversation when that's been established. My point was "The band, for whatever reason, picks the songs they and/or the label think will have the most appeal to be the lead singles for most albums". Getting britches twisted over which song you personally think has the most mainstream appeal feels pretty aimless when the conversation is framed in that context. (That isn't even getting into someone somehow managing to think "The Messenger" has any mainstream appeal at all in the 2010 musical landscape.) A song cannot be judged on a snippet, nor can the sound of an entire album be judged on a lead single (especially when what's mentioned above is taken into account). It's fun to fantasize that but you have to have some kind of distancing to make it sound like you're not just jumping to conclusions all the time based solely on something very insubstantial. In short: Remember QWERTY.
I'm sure Chester features quite heavily in In Between? It's only verse 1 that's purely Mike, and 2 lines in the bridge
I'm sure labels usually play a big role in picking singles, but I believe Linkin Park have a lot of artistic freedom from Warner. There's no way Warner decided almost 6-minute weirdly structured The Catalyst would be a successful single. And Linkin Park did it because they wanted to shock the world and show how different they had become. Same goes for GATS - 6 minutes, heavy, unpolished, the embodiment of non-mainstream. The guys wanted to be surprising again. Yes, tracks like WID and BID were the ones with most commercial appeal, but ATS and THP prove Warner listens to Linkin Park's ideas for certain records.