"sunlight burns the skin of sleeping men" It's weird, when I was younger I always thought there was something vaguely homoerotic about that line.
Things I'd like to see on the new album: 1) Longer songs. Linkin Park has experimented with almost everything, but they have kept all the experimation packed in 3.5 minute songs. The songs on HT and LT were good for what they were, but they really shine on their longer tracks like those in ATS, and a few of the ones in MTM Reanimation (Catalyst, Iridescent, WTCFM, TLTGYA, Krwlng, 1st Klosr, She Couldn't). Those are all some of the most creative and best LP songs ever imo. It would be great to stray away from the radio scene and make more longer, more complicated, creative songs, because they haven't reached their potential in this area. (maybe somewhere between 4 - 6 minutes.) I'd like to see an epic that's 7 minutes long. 2) More guitar prominence. I was a little upset to see that the guitar was buried down in the mixed so much for most tracks on LT. Don't get me wrong; I love their "guitar-less albums", but I think it should be turned up higher in the mix, for more energy and heaviness. I definitely don't want the electronics to completely disappear though. 3) More instrumental periods. The vocals have always dominated the LP songs. I would like to see the instrumentals have more stuff to do for a change. Brad should learn how to play more advanced stuff on the guitar and do some guitar solos. A bass solo or a drum solo would be really nice too. An electronic solo like the one in She Couldn't would be awesome as well. 4) More Chester and less Mike on singing. Mike is a great singer and he did really well on LT, but tbh, by the time Skin to Bone rolled around, I was kinda missing Chester. I would prefer Chester to do the majority of the vocals on the next album, and let Mike focus more on his rapping. 5) Stronger rapping. My favorite raps from LP are in Hybrid Theory EP because Mike shows the most power there. I liked some LT raps, (LiTE, V, UiB), but I disliked others (BiD, LGM). I liked when he rapped about emotions, because the braggy raps on LT seem to throw off the meaning of certain songs, like LitE and UiB. That said, I don't want watered down lyrics like, say, Lying From You. I want powerful stuff like HT EP, and most of HT. I will probably be fine with whatever they decide to put out next, but this is the direction I'd like to go: Longer songs, heavier guitars, and more extended instrumental parts.
I honestly don't know if I can see LP doing another record after their contract with Warner is over. Think about, there are still 2 albums left for them before that contract expires, that's 7 full length albums, not to mention Reanimation, Collision Course, Live in Texas, Road to Revolution, and all their LPU albums. That's A LOT of work put into a band. A lot of records, a lot of songs, and a lot of touring. I'd love to see them continue as LP after Warner, but I think Mike might go on with Fort Minor or something else, and Chester could go on with Dead By Sunrise (that's a long shot though). No way of knowing what the future holds though. As far as their sound goes, I don't have a clue where it's headed.
I could see them keep going but I understand your point. Seven albums is a lot of albums but I could also seem them going to 10 albums and then quitting, that would be something crazy. But if you look at some of the classic bands, Oasis- 7 albums. The Who- 11 (10 in their prime). The Beatles- 12. Red Hot Chili Peppers- 10 so far. Lots of classic bands hit around 10, and LP is not a classic band. I mean I like them beyond no belief but they will not get the classic band status. LP does seem to work a lot harder than some bands as well which could ware them out more, so I see max they go is 10 album, and probably less.
Many bands that have been less successful than them even have lasted much longer than that though. I think Rush is on album number 19 or something (not saying they're not a successful band).
Here's how I see the line ''Cut myself free, willingly stop just whats killing me'': I'm gonna escape, not care what you think... It's like a rapped version of the Runaway chorus: ''Gonna runaway, and open up my mind''
What I want is for Linkin Park to give absolutely zero fucks about the fans who do not understand their evolution with A Thousand Suns, and make the most artistically impressive, uncompromising and musically evolved work they can create. Don't focus on "being familiar" and just go full force into the unknown, worrying little about what critics or narrow minded fans will think. I'm saying this because I've had about 3-4 weeks to digest LIVING THINGS and while I find it a rather good album, it has it's flaws that cant be avoided. For starters, there are quite a few "good" tracks that are unfortunately far too short and could've been actually AMAZING had they just been given a little more time to truly grow into the ideas that the band were trying to accomplish. A good example of ideas being given space to mature was their previous album. ATS was an album that didn't focus on singles or being "song based" and instead wrote songs based on "movements", with each movement being written to blend seamlessly into the next, and have the right amount of space, even if it called for an almost 6 minute playtime. LIVING THINGS tries in earnest to take the creativity of ATS and mix it with the accessibility of earlier albums, smashing multiple parts into 3 minute firecrackers and it leads to some tracks feeling chaotic. A good example is UNTIL IT BREAKS. Although it's one of my highest played tracks from LT, the song changes direction so much that it feels almost chaotic and like a clusterfuck. It's essentially 4 songs in 3 and a half minutes or an average of a minute per part basically. To illustrate: UNTIL IT BREAKS MOVEMENT 1 - 1 minute 07 seconds long Intro - 0:00 to 0:06 Rap Part - 0:00 to 1:07 MOVEMENT 2 - 18 seconds long Rising Sun Verse - 1:08 to 01:26 MOVEMENT 3 - about 47 seconds Second Rap Part - 1:26 to 2:13 MOVEMENT 4 - 1 minute 29 seconds Brad's Part - 02:14 to 3:43 Barely any of the movements are given more than a minute and a half to breathe, with some given less than a minute. The song truly takes off and finds it's footing when Brad's part comes in, which by then unfortunately...the song is already over. In comparison: THE CATALYST MOVEMENT 1 - 1 Minute, 19 Seconds Long Instrumental intro - 0:00 to 0:32 Verse 1 Part 1 over instrumental intro music - 0:32 to 0:42 Verse 1 Part 2, Guitar starts over instrumental intro music, blends into first chorus, same instrumental - 0:42 to 1:19 MOVEMENT 2 - Almost two minutes Instrumental changes. Instrumental break. - 1:19 to 1:33 Verse 2 and Chorus, with varying instrumentation - 1:33 to 2:30 Instrumental Bridge - 2:30 to 3:00 Chorus - 3:00 to 3:15 MOVEMENT 3 (LIFT ME UP) - Approx 2 Mins, 20 Seconds Lift Me Up Lead In - 3:15 to 4:10 Climax Of Song - 4:10 to 5:42 == The Catalyst was a great track because the song organically progressed from one part to another. UNTIL IT BREAKS, while a good track, feels smashed together, as there are no instrumental lead ins or bridges between the parts (except for a brief lead in to Brad's part). They just start suddenly, and at times jarringly, which unfortunately is the case also with VICTIMIZED, LIES GREED MISERY and also many other tracks from LIVING THINGS. Many of these tracks would've benefited from just having even an extra minute or two to stretch their legs. Does this mean LIVING THINGS is a bad album? Not at all. I quite enjoy it. However; I'd really like to see a return to the idea of ATS (organic songs with fully realized movements) on the next album, instead of more firecracker songs that suffocate the song's creativity with deliberately short runtimes.
Well, as I'm so glad you said in the shoutbox that one day, we can only hope their Sgt. Pepper is around the corner.
Only one thing Derek. Victimized was designed to be short and explosive. The band said it themselves that they wanted it to be like "Battle Axe" to hit you hard and finish. However, I do agree with you on how some songs feel short. I don't agree on Until It Breaks because I honestly feel like the length on that is perfect. I feel that way about In My Remains where the first part seems unfinished and the song rushes suddenly into Mike's outro. Here's the last part of my subjectivity. Now let's set this straight: I LOVE these songs. Powerless however get's long and a bit boring with the same lines. The band could have definitely changed it up in the middle to give it just a slight twist. Maybe one new line or something or a slight new short synth. The same goes to Skin to Bone, just add in a quick distortion randomly through to give the song a twist. Even Castle of Glass almost feels to have a need for it...ALMOST. I'll Be Gone is still that song that's growing on me. And as a reminder: I LOVE THIS ALBUM .
I agree with your points concerning IMR. The "like an army" part seems to come out of nowhere. LIVING THINGS is a good album, but some tracks are too long and begging for more variations (like you said) while others could've been longer to start with. Hopefully LP finds that happy balance on the next record. I really hope the next record, now that they're comfortable in their own skin...they just say fuck it and throw the rulebook out the window. Even more so than ATS.
I agree with you that the songs are too short for their potential, so to speak. Nonetheless it's a great album, and even though the band could have elaborated it more, the lyrics are amazing and the music they did with the short time (and withIN the short time they did it in) they made an incredible album that I can't stop listening to! About a week ago I took a break from the album (I just wanted to listen to some other music for a while) and then a couple of days later I decided it was time for some more, and LITE was the first song, I got goosebumps and just fell in love all over again! (The CD is now in my car-stereo and will stay there for a while ) I do hope, though, that they elaborate the next album more. But I'm not really worried, whatever LP chose to do, and however they do it, I'm proud to call myself a Linkin Park fan!
Yeah, I think this album goes by way too fast and it should have been made just a little bit longer. I understand it was very intentional, though, and like everyone seems to agree, it's a very solid album. I was on vacation yesterday talking to my girlfriend about the album and mentioned specifically there are two parts of the album that I don't like. It's the "Like an army falling one by one by one" part and the "Your body bends until it breaks" part. Until It Breaks is definitely my least favorite song, it sounds like a weird ATS outtake but very disjointed. It seems to lack any direction or go anywhere, the best part is Chester's "Give me the strength of the rising sun" part. Other than that, the album is really good and I'm excitedly anticipating their next release! I think A Thousand Suns is their masterpiece, however, it's going to be hard to beat. The songs on A Thousand Suns sound very evolved, mature, organic, real and powerful. This album sounds powerful, mature, but is missing a lot of the organic feel, I guess, that ATS had. For me, nothing beats Waiting For The End, The Catalyst, When They Come For Me or Blackout. That album is brilliant, I doubt I'll ever tire of it.
On the chaotic feel subject: I personnaly enjoy that feel. The short movements in victimized or UIB just make me feel like " WTF is going on", when the longer movements in ATS sometimes bored me (see: Robot Boy, or the Catalyst outro). To me, those felt too long and monotomous. On the 'I hope that LP will do what the fuck they want on next record, and not listen to fan pressure" : well, I think LP already did what the fuck they wanted with this record. They didn't used old tools because of fan pressure or for the sake of being familiar, but simply because they were excited by using those old tools again. They didn't wanted to be familiar, they were just not afraid if something sounded familiar in their creative process.They wanted a short energetic record, not a long progressive one ,it's just....what they wanted (captain obvious !).
Yeah, the chaotic feel can be cool. It was like that a lot on ATS, Blackout has a lot of movements, all of the songs actually seem to have a lot of movements but it's not as choppy feeling as Living Things, like random ideas thrown together. They seemed more coherent, like a complete song, while these seem like multiple demos thrown together or something. Victimized and Until It Breaks feel comfortable for me when listening to the album all the way through, but individually they seem a bit lacking. And I like the chaos of a lot of artists, System of a Down and The Mars Volta come to mind, but I think it just depends. Brad's part that he sings at the end of Until It Breaks just doesn't connect for me that much, while the "So come down far below, we've been waiting to collect the things you know" from Blackout is unbelievably epic to me.
I will be REALLY surprised if LP calls it quits after album 7. Why should they? Radiohead have 8 albums and are still going strong. Foo Fighters have 7 and don't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. And they're all about the same age as LP is. I foresee them going as long as they can. Also I'm still sceptical if/when Fort Minor ever return. Mike seems hell bent on funeling its energy into LP at the moment, making the side project obselete. Not to say it hasn't got a future at all of course, but personally I reckon we'll get another DBS album before a FM one. Even chester and Julien-K both have expressed interest in making another one at some point in the future. Basically a longer album then? Amen to alot of what you've said. (I'd go as far to say the Catalyst could have been even more stronger if they combined it with Fallout into one epic track) Alot of the songs on LT could have been left to breathe a little more I think. However, UIB's song structure is really unquie in my opinion. Sure its a song with like 3,4 demos stitched together but that's what makes it interesting. The curse of the short album I guess... I think one of the reason Blackout worked so well was because it utilized the same instrumental backdrop for the ending/mikes part of the song. That's why it didn't jar or sound out of place (although i do recall some people thinking it weakened the song, but i digress). Yet i still love UIB's ending too, mainly because of how beatuful it sounds. It really reminds me of something, that I can't place.
Just thought I'd chime in to voice an quick opinion I have on Chester Bennington. Ever since Minutes to Midnight, a majority of Chester's singing no longer feels as genuine or heartfelt as he once made it sound. There's a certain disconnect. It's almost as if he's deliberately trying to put a different spin in his performance, or hit the precise notes, as opposed to singing from the heart. Then again, perhaps he's just singing from a different place in his heart of which I cannot connect with. In any case, if the band ever decided to dabble upon a more 'soulful' vibe as Bennington did on this track..: [youtube]jiOSU3BDh60[/youtube] I'd be content.
^ Amen to that. I can still feel the emotion on some new tracks, I definitely hear it in Powerless, but for the most part, not as much.
Lol guys Linkin Park will not quit making music. Their fanbase is currently way too big for them to just break up and go solo.
I don't think anyone said they were gonna call it quits anytime soon. We have no idea how long it will be before they crank out another couple albums.