Just finished my first listen of the record. It's kinda funny. Besides Invisible, literally every track that wasn't a single is so much better than the singles. Sorry for Now literally made my jaw drop, the guitars on One More Light were fucking gorgeous, and Sharp Edges is so fucking fun. I enjoyed this record so much more than I thought I was going to. I think a lot of the second half of the record resonated so much with me because it actually sounds like Linkin Park doing something different. When I listen to songs like Good Goodbye and Battle Symphony, it feels like standard LP fare. It sounds like a song I've heard a million times from them. But tracks like Sorry for Now and Sharp Edges actually caught me off guard. They introduced elements I've never really heard from them before, and they actually sound surprising in the song. They don't sound like formulaic songs where I know exactly how the track is going to play out. In short, Mike needs to sing a hell of a lot more on LP songs, and I will be DEFINITELY picking up the Urban Outfitters vinyl edition of One More Light once I get paid.
Haha yeah, I'm like moving left and right with the rhythm. It's funny because based on the reviews I had zero hype for it
I'll say that even though ATS still ranks higher than OML for me, one thing that the latter is better than ATS in this aspect is that, as Derek has mentioned, you can listen to those songs more easily or be in any mood that you are and it'll somehow fit in(e.g: happy, sad or angry). ATS requires you to be in a more focused solitude to enjoy it more most of the time. At least for my experience.
Just listened to it all the way through. I'll post more in depth thoughts later. But this is a really special album. I enjoy all 10 songs. Legitimately dig them all. No other LP album falls into that same category for me. One More Light...wow...
It's awesome to see the feedback on this album being so positive so far. Can't get enough of Talking To Myself and Sharp Edges.
Why does my order say it's still in process and hasn't shipped yet? Anyone else have that problem? I'm really starting to get alittle worried I won't get this Friday. Working nights all weekend I won't really have time to sit and give the album the proper time to run through it deserves
Seriously can't get over how awesome Sorry For Now is. I can't stop playing it. I wish this was the lead single but also nothing on the album tops it. It's perfect to me.
I've listened to the album a few times already. To sum it up, I like this record more than I thought I would (thanks LP for releasing the weak shit earlier?) but it´s definitely on my bottom 3 (with Meteora, and Living Things) While I enjoy listening to most of these tracks, a common denominator for me is that a lot of times I feel like the songs end up going nowhere. What I mean by that is that they start slow, build up, get louder, and then right after the 2nd chorus I just kept on waiting for the "oh shit" moment that never happened. It´s almost like they are incomplete. 01 Nobody Can Save Me: I like this song but the chorus sounds like a verse to me. I wished it had a stronger chorus and a better breakdown/bridge. 02 Good Goodbye: Not a fan of the features. Mike could have just had his own verses. Chorus is catchy. 03 Talking to Myself: Great song! I wished the production was better. I feel like it lacks the energy we´ve seenon the live performances. 04 Battle Symphony: I still like this song, even though it´s one of those that sound flat since it just never "explodes" 05 Invisible: Not a huge fan, but after listening to the official instrumental, I really like the subtle details in the background. 06 Heavy: It's catchy, I'll give you that, but it´s definitely my least favorite on the album. 07 Sorry for Now: I really like this one. It has a great vibe, although I wish those chipmunks weren't there. It´s probably the only song that develops and takes you to different places until the very end. 08 Halfway Right: I also like this one, but it's another example of a song that I wish had a better bridge. 09 One More Light: Probably my favorite song on the record. Beautifully done, even though I wished that last chorus had a full band and some strings. Still solid. 10 Sharp Edges: Another song that I really like. And just like most of the album, I feel it lacks a better bridge at the end. Overall a decent collection of songs (I don't see any of them making it to my top 10 or 15 LP tracks of all time though). Besides the chipmunks, and the lack of surprise on these songs, I still wonder why in the hell Shinoda can´t just have a real acoustic drum sound on these songs. What is the point of having a drummer track songs if on most of them, it{s going to sound like they were made on a computer. I feel like a lot of these songs (Battle Symphony, Invisible, Sharp Edges, to name a few) would have an extra "punch" and energy if they had Rob´s original drum track.
Probably on my 6th or 7th listen. This album is amazing. Definitely an album I feel like listening to again right after it just ends.
For everyone originally complaining about the length of the album, I think the fact that it's so compact is a great strength rather than a weakness.
I personally never got the whole "short album" thing, as I mentioned in a previous post. The album is the perfect length for what it is, and instrumentally there's so much going on that it feels much longer than it really is. I've more or less been listening to the album on repeat since 8:30AM (for reference, it is now 9:52PM for me), and about an hour ago Dave pointed out an instrumental part in Invisible that I had never noticed. Despite having the album on repeat since 8:30AM. And I'm still discovering new shit in the songs. I will never understand how people can say the instrumentation is bland when I'm still discovering little cool things 12+ hours later.
So glad they didn't release it before the album lol, or everything might pale in comparison. I feel like Heavy's getting a lot of hate right now just because it was chosen as a single. If Halfway Right was the single and Heavy was the one you didn't hear til the album, people would probably call Halfway Right a lazy radio single and say Heavy was a pleasant surprise. To me, Heavy feels just as not lazy and just as interesting as most of the other tracks. If there was any track that feels kinda rushed and uninspired to me, it's Battle Symphony.
I have to agree with @Minus on the album length. At first I wished there was more than 10 tracks and it was a bit longer after waiting for 3 years but after listening to the album I can't imagine it being any longer. It's literally the perfect length for the album.
I can almost guarantee you that your opinion of NCSM won't decline over time. It is very much a grower. The more you listen to it, the better it gets. I can promise you that.
I agree. That's how it is with most songs that are unpredictable and don't really have super identifiable hooks. Super catchy stuff wears off, but flowing melodies that don't have a predictable structure almost always get better with time to me. That's how I felt about WFTE for sure. First couple of times I heard it nothing stuck, but damn if it isn't one of my favorite songs now.
If that ends up being the case I won't be upset, trust me. I noticed in the shout box you mentioned this being a good driving album. I concur.
One thing I love about this album is that the lyrics are noticeably better than The Hunting Party's lyrics. Songs like Heavy and Battle Symphony maybe don't compare to Mark the Graves and Rebellion in terms of lyrics but the overall album has better lyrics. I really love the Lyrics of Nobody Can Save Me, Talking To Myself, Good Goodbye, One More Light, Sorry For Now, Halfway Right and Sharp Edges. That's 7/10 songs with really quality lyrics I feel. They definitely weren't lying when they said they focused on lyrics.