Linkin Park return with new singer Emily Armstrong, new album From Zero out Nov 15, new tour dates

Mike played some OML songs on his Post Traumatic tour. So I think its possible they are played.

 

OML songs, I can see just OML and maybe Heavy being played. Heavy already had a female vocalist, so it'd fit right in.

 

Oooooooh. We're back.

 

Coming back to this site during all this made me feel like the old days. I really enjoyed it and am happy to be back here discussing the band with everyone.

I will admit, in my initial viewing of the stream, that I was not overly impressed with Emily’s vocals. I only was able to listen to the first two songs and I had to leave, but I didn’t have the best taste in my mouth as I walked out the door.

I came back home and decided to give it another chance. She really picked up steam when the setlist made it to WFTE. I think she did an amazing job on that and it definitely evoked a few tears. I also commend her performance on OSC and Faint. Those are the true tests that a singer will need to pass in order to front this band and I think she nailed it. She even kneeled on the speaker a couple times.

I am rambling here but I think on my first viewing I was just shocked to be hearing the soundtrack of my life being sung by someone else. When I watched later, I decided to give it a fair shot and I am glad I did.

My other nitpick- having a hard time getting on board with the new single. But I’ve said that many times about this band in the past and it’s almost like they know what kind of music I like before I actually like it. Looking forward to the new album.

 

I know you said no more discussion, but this is a point that I feel like NEEDS to be made because it reflects the broader interplay between us and the band, so I'll make it. If you know anything at all about Scientology, you'll know about their "Fair Game" policy. This is used to shut down and absolutely bury anyone who might be at odds with the church, using any method at all to do it. (This would include, say, manipulating people who have negative views of the church itself-- literally anything goes). The second you put Scientology in the picture, and things are ambiguous, you absolutely MUST consider that what you are reading might be part of them enacting a "Fair Game" policy against an individual for any reason at all. Buying into all of this might not actually be this whole anti-Scientology thing, especially given that the source of all of this appears to be a Reddit post rather than anything actually verifiable.

Shields up, everyone.

 

I hope not, don't think they should return to that sound but some of those songs deserve to be played again. Plus they never played Halfway Right, though it could be weird having Emily sing that since it has the most personal lyrics Cheater ever sang so having anyone but him singing it would feel strange.

 

Ok so now we gotta talk about Brad

 

This is the last thing I will say about this situation: yeah the things that worries/confuses me is that a lot of the controversial stuff about Scientology and Emily seem to start off from... another Scientology member? A former one? That other singer whose name I can't recall. In-groups dynamics that honestly I don't even wanna hear or know about. Let's just bury it for now and hope nothing really bad comes out.

 

Regarding playing songs from One More Light, I think it would be weird to exclude a whole album just because it happened to be the last one released before Chester's death. With that said, I don't expect to hear much of OML or THP going forwards, simply because they're probably the band's least popular/most obscure releases, and setlist space will be limited.

The song One More Light itself is a bit different though. It has become inextricably tied to Chester's passing in a way no other track has. Some bands in similar situations have a song that's played every night in honour of a deceased band member. If Linkin Park decide to do the same, then One More Light is the most obvious choice. Alternatively however, I could see the band avoiding playing the song regularly for the same reason - they might reserve it only for special occasions to honour Chester.

 

Could it have been better?
Could it have been crazier?
LP forever ❤

 

I think Emily would absolutely nail Talking to Myself.

As for One More Light, I'd rather hear Mike sing it again honestly. She never had a personal connection with Chester apart from idolizing his voice. She was a fan just like us. I don't think it would come off nearly as sincere.

 

Woweeee - Emily is absolutely fantastic, TEM made me cry during the livestream. No she wasn't perfect, but Chester was also not perfect live. Its live music, there will be errors and bung notes every now and then.

Very excited - the Brad situation is surprising, but at least we still get to hear his music and songwriting.

The rumours are ridiculous - Todd and Derek have said everything that needs to be said there.

Ultimately, this new chapter FEELS like Linkin Park, and I'm extremely grateful it's happening.

 

First of all, I think the decision to add Emily to the band was a great one, not only because of her vocal performance but also because of her energy and personality. She clearly fits well with the band. Some mistakes were probably due to nerves, but I was impressed by how she stepped on stage for the first time in front of an unfamiliar audience and performed so well. Honestly, I was blown away by her performance on "Crawling"—I think she even did better than Chester post-2010. She also showed that she has a great clean voice, like in "Lost" and "What I've Done."

I'm really happy with her and with the band's return. I was surprised by the announcement of the new album, and it's coming out in just 2 months! Regarding "The Emptiness Machine," I think it's a safe song to come back with. It has that classic Linkin Park formula but with a modern twist. I hope they experiment a bit more with the rest of the tracks. Whatever they do, I’m just happy to see Linkin Park back and to return to this forum. It's great to see Mike, Dave, and Joe happy on stage. It’s a shame about Rob and Brad, but we have to respect their decisions.

 

I feel like some of the lyrics in TEM could be a reference to Scientology, with lines like 'gave up who I am for who you wanted me to be, falling for the promise of the emptiness machine', 'there's a fire under the altar' and 'I only wanted to be part of something'. She could probably never distance herself from them publicly without putting her loved ones in danger, so that might be another way of doing it. But then again, maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Anyway, I love this whole comeback so far and I think the new song is spectacular!

 

I’ve been saying this to people on twitter. I 100% agree with you. The lyrics match denouncing Scientology way too well. I’ve also been telling people it might be dangerous for her to denounce it. Kind of like how Taylor Swift cancelled the Vienna shows because of a terrorist attack but said nothing about it.
Emily likely can’t denounce it without putting herself in danger from what I understand about Scientology.
And now that she is in Linkin Park her making a statement on it could put the rest of the band in danger.

“Flashing your favorite point of view
I know you're waiting in the distance
Just like you always do”
-point of view as in Scientology point of view

“Gave up who I am for who you wanted me to be” especially makes me think this.

“I only wanted to be part of something” as well

“Don't know why I'm hoping
So fucking naive
Falling for the promise of the emptiness machine”

basically she might have been promised lots of great things like Scientology does and fell for the trap.

Also I personally think “The Emptiness Machine” they are talking about in the lyrics = Scientology

 

I hope you guys talked about track names. I will read it later.

 

Looks like The Emptiness Machine was written before Emily joined.

"The song was - at that point - was pretty written, and we had been making new songs with her from scratch. And we were like, you know what, will you sing on this one that we've already done, like, just learn the words and whatever? And she came in and crushed it. And we were like, that's a Linkin Park song."