Agreed. The demos were further proof they made a big mistake on that album. Listening to 'Sharp Edges', there is so much potential and material they could dive into the folk genre(and sub-genres in that). Let me turn it the other way now. Kidding, but there are still some things that I do dislike about the album though. I still think 'Heavy' and GG are absolutely bad even after listening in the full album context. Also I would have love SFN more if there weren't any chipmunk voice effects. Yes, it is a staple in pop music, doesn't mean they have to put it to make it feel more 'poppy' or unique. It's like putting too much whip cream on a cake with enough icing on it imo.
It makes me feel sad the fact LP used to be my favorite band, they definitely abused of that "experiment" they have been doing for ten years. What a shame!
Well me personally, being born in the 80s, my usual listening trends lately have been Rumours, Led Zeppelin IV, a smattering of NIN, Kendrick Lamar, Dave Brubek, and Carly Rae Jepsen. And if you really think that LPA users are always positive about everything LP puts out, you must not have been reading through this entire thread. I literally blasted how shitty THP and LT were in my initial post.
I'm realizing how off Good Goodbye is, it doesn't match at all. If they replaced it with another song that fit the album i bet everyone would be liking it much more. It really is a stand out song, doesn't belong on this album. I think i'm deleting it of the playlist.
@Non-Pattern: off-topic, did you listen to the playlist I linked you to? Some people don't like our community because they feel we're too critical of what the band does, and others because they feel we're not critical enough. Anyway, your assessment here is way off - this thread alone is proof that the reaction on LPA is not unanimous (putting it very lightly)
Okay, as I get older, I realize that it's so dumb to try to solidify something new and shiny as truly "great", because I'm so hyped on the newness. I straight up think this is one of my favorite LP albums ever. I still don't have my computer so I don't wanna write a whole review, but I need to point out moments I find beautiful: 1) chorus of NCSM 2) layering of the vocals when the words "and I know and I know and I know" are sung in TTM 3) the pre-chorus and bridge of Invisible. Love the way the line "I'll pick you up right off the ground" is sung 4) start of the final chorus in Heavy when Chester sounds at his most vulnerable 5) the "bleeps" and "bloops" that play out through SFN 6) the final chorus of SFN. The buildup and payoff in that chorus reminds me of the payoff in the final chorus of WFTE 7) the pre hook in Halfway Right when Chester sings "all you said to do was slow down. I remember, now I remember". Love the variation between the two times it's sung in the song 8) the entirety of OML 9) the bridge and outro of SE I really love this album. When I was a kid, I loved HT and Meteora. Ever since then, most LP albums have had songs I adored, and a few I had trouble getting behind. For MTM the hard songs to love were In Between, HHH, and SOTD. For ATS it was Robot Boy and The Messenger. For LT it was Lies Greed Misery, Skin to Bone, UIB, and Powerless. For THP it was War, AFN, and Mark the Graves. I legitimately adore all 10 of these songs. Everything makes this album sound complete and cohesive. I haven't been this excited while listening to an LP album since I was 11 years old on Christmas morning back in 2003 popping my new copy of Meteora into my CD player. I owe this band so much lol.
So I've listened to the album several times and I think it's awesome. Some of the best melodies they've written in years. I have a feeling this album will always be a go to for me. I never listen to THP anymore and I only listen to a couple songs on LT occasionally. That being said, I haven't been this happy with LP music since 2010 lol. LT and THP are fun albums but the songs on OML already mean a lot to me. I also agree with most people who say the singles are even better when you listen front to back. Except Good Goodbye lmao...it's a fun track but compared to the other songs i find myself skipping it all the time. Also, I made a comment on the thread talking about the NCSM clip at the end of that video and I was like " this sounds exactly like Battle Symphony". Little did I know it ended up being one of my favorites on the album lol. There's a small similarity but my god it's soooo good. I love the chorus cause it's sooo different from a typical LP chorus IMO. Instead of Chester belting out it's more mellow and unbelievably catchy. And of course, Sorry for Now....what a song. I know that song is being hyped up but I think it deserves the hype. Soooo good.
Shinoda pressed the "generate shitty fake generic mainstream sellout pop garbage" button in the Linkin Park Studio Edition of Pro Tools and the whole song just came out fully-formed. The others band members haven't heard it, nor have they realised that Shinoda made a whole Linkin Park album without their knowledge or involvement
Saying this forum is generally positive about everything from LP is just hilarious. Especially given the fact that so many here dislike Meteora and LIVING THINGS.
Care to elaborate? Is this building on top of what you were saying in the shoutbox about essentially "harping on" criticisms or do you feel the opinions are inherently incorrect to begin with?
One More Light is definitely my favourite record since A Thousand Suns.. Nobody Can Save Me, Invisible, Sorry For Now and Halfway Right are so good lyrically and instrumentally. I dig the high-pitched (chipmunk effect) in Sorry For Now, it adds another layer to the song. I hope they will continue this direction but in a more experimental and cutting edge. I like A Thousand Suns but the tone of OML is more uplifting.
I wish on the OML song, after the guitar solo, Chester's "i dooooo" were more powerfull and raw, not stuffy. That would create some big chills down the spine.
One good thing I can say about the album is, at least so far, the live versions of every song are infinitely better than their studio counterparts. Chester pretty much does what you're saying when singing the song live and it does make a massive difference to the feel of the song. I think if I get decent recordings of live performances on every song my overall impression on the material might improve substantially.
@minuteforce yes i listened to some of it! Some of them are really good, like Phantogram, Flume and HAIM. I have to say though that one reason that prevents me from liking/loving today's 'pop' songs would be the vocal delivery/style - most of them sound....similar in my opinion. Although Chester's vocal delivery was one of the few main reasons why I hated 'Heavy', it still stands out a bit compared to most of the songs in the playlist. It might be due to my bias experience with the band but some of the singing just drones me out to boredom quickly.
I got confirmation that my One More Light CD arrived from Amazon this morning, so I will be blasting it when I get home from my girlfriends tonight... only 5 hours to go... so excited! My Deluxe edition should arrive by Hermes tomorrow and I'm looking forward at looking at all the goodies that comes with it. Anyway, I've been intently reading a lot of the feedback to this album, I've reached page 21 so far on this thread and it is making me look forward to listening to the album; the sound, the vibe, the lyrics, the personal message, the catchy choruses even more! I'll be giving my entire review hopefully tomorrow but I will definitely be listening to this album a few times before giving my overall thoughts and score.