Living Things is my favorite album. It's the album that truly made me a soldier. I love all Linkin Park songs and albums, but there's something special about Living Things. I can tell that LP lyrics have been getting better over the years, and Living Things have some of my favorite Lyrics. I love the metaphors in Castle of Glass, and the bridge of Roads Untraveled always strikes me home. Lost In The Echo is so relateable, and I can interpret the chorus two different ways. The raps on Until It Breaks are badass, and I know all of it by heart, I'll be Gone is probably the most happy LP song I've ever heard. And the instruments really work well, for I love the acoustic guitar in COG. And yes there is electronic, but I don't know why people are complaining about that. LP has ALWAYS had a electronic theme. And I think the mix of soft rock, hard rock, electronic, and rap in LT is amazing. I only wish they did more LT songs live. For some reason I'll Be Gone doesn't really work for me. When I listen to the acapella, I love it, same for the instrumental, but together, it doesn't seem to work. And I think Chester's vocals are a bit too forced, they should be softer, this is why I love the Primo demo more. The number one reason LT is my favorite is because it's like a personal narrative, it tells a story.
I'm both surprised and delighted to see a lack of disdain for Living Things in this discussion. I feel as though the album is incredibly underrated and bashed because it just so happened to follow A Thousand Suns. I think the easiest way to describe it would be to quote my conclusion to a review I wrote for it: In attempting to convey a sense of their entire discography over the course of a single record, Linkin Park traversed a lot of musical territory. As a result, Living Things faltered when the band tried to play it too safe, delivering standard poppy alternative anthems that have been done better before. The instinct to turn the guitars up to eleven in the mix also caused an unfortunate lack of balance, as the blaring noise left the best parts of the instrumentation in the dust. Linkin Park also attempted to wet their feet in the world of folk music, and displayed brilliant results that were unfortunately lost in their coveted walls of sound, whether electronic or rock. Fortunately, there are also several triumphant moments to reiterate, including the sublime vocal performances on Castle Of Glass and Powerless, the malevolent death-metal-punk-folk monstrosity Victimized alongside the bittersweet Lies Greed Misery, and the entirety of Lost In The Echo. Yet the most unforgettable moments of the album lie in the most-subtle and comforting seconds of Roads Untraveled, where Bennington welcomes you with open arms, and Until It Breaks, where Delson evokes complete serenity. Living Things neither completely succeeds nor utterly fails. It humbly falls in the midst of the band’s discography, superior to its aged nu-metal companions, while never quite realizing its full potential found in Linkin Park’s newer, more explorative material.
This album I think will also be the album that everyone comes back and realizes it was actually better than everyone made it sound like. The same thing happened to ATS. Everyone hated ATS at first, then everyone came to realize that it was one of the most unique albums ever made. I think it will hit people in a year or two. Overall the album was good. But not to it's fullest potential. I mean really primo is my favorite song off of the LT era. I feel like this album could have been something special if they spent an extra 3 months on it. It would have been great. It just feels rushed. THP sounds organic and not rushed. LT also sounds like it was made to be made (except COG). This album is still good. The demos are my favorite parts. BID I thought was also good. But now, I feel like LT was needed in LP's band life. It just needed to be there as a "transition album" between ATS and THP. I am really curious of what LP will do next. It just makes me wonder and wonder.
"Living Things" almost tops the charts for favorite LP album for me. Only slightly below Meteora & Hybrid Theory. I feel like LP reinvented themselves with Living Things and made a new, unique sound that I've never heard before, similar to what they did in 2000 with Hybrid Theory. A fantastic follow-up to "A Thousand Suns". Everyone always says that "Castle of Glass" through "Powerless" are the best, but I actually think the first 5 are the best. "Lost in the Echo" is a brilliant way to start off the album - A "no backing down" type of track to lay the foundation for the rest of the project. Then "In My Remains" kicks in. It blew me away the first time I heard it. It still gives me chills every time I hear it. It's one of the most "perfect" songs ever written by Linkin Park. The backing instrumental is fantastic, and when the "Like an army" part rolls in, I get excited. "Burn It Down" is another great song. Chester's vocals are extremely powerful in the chorus. A very "dancey" sounding track, and that isn't a bad thing considering the interesting and creative mix of sounds heard throughout Living Things. "Lies Greed Misery" is another intriguing song. Not one of the best but is a nice song to scream-along with. "I'll Be Gone" is beautiful. Probably my favorite song on the album, musically at least. The rest of the album is wonderful, too.
I'd really like the names of the bands that make other songs like this, if it's as generic as you say. Anything that sounds like Living Things would be worth giving a listen to me.
We swim against the rising waves And crash against the shore The body bends until it breaks The early morning sings no more So rest your head It's time to sleep And dream of what's in store The body bends until it breaks And sings again no more 'cause time has torn the flesh away The early morning sings no more There's just something about this part that captures me every time I listen to it. Whether it is because Brad singing is surprising or how it's melody contrasts with Mike's aggressive rap, I don't know. To me, UIG is a great example of the uniqueness of LP. Same goes for KTTK, TLTGYA, ALITS, WTCFM, Blackout etc.
I interpret those lyrics as being pretty dark and morbid and, I guess, ominous, so there's that dissonance between the lyrics and the way that they're delivered as well
So rest your head It's time to sleep And dream of what's in store The first time I heard this I thought it was about the CD coming into stores.
Structurally? Probably, but the entire thing is essentially a Chester vocal performance, and I can't think of anyone who could do it that well.
It made all the sense in the world to me. Album leaked June 15, and it was logical to me that he's singing about the CD coming into stores in 9 days.
I like how my topic has already got a lot of replies and people are having discussions on it a lot. That doesn't happen on any other forum I have been on.