So can we say that critics' reception to the album is negative or mixed? I don't really know at this point.
While I agree criticism is warranted towards the album, as its far from perfect. I'm curious whether the positive reception comes from people who are slightly more knowledgeable about the band personally? One More Light is a very honest, sincere record but perhaps people who haven't followed the band don't recognize the full meaning behind these songs? What I'm trying to say is although the album has the most accessible, universal sound in their discography, perhaps the content itself is for the most niche fanbase thus far? Or perhaps the majority of these reviewers are not in the position to relate with getting married or raising children or what not.
A lot aren't knowledgable on how lyrically it's very personal for the band, or how fans can see from miles away that they're eventually going to make a pop album, so their criticisms are understandable since not every reviewer is a fan. It doesn't help that several people dislike mainstream music, which OML uses a lot.
This is my favorite review. "WORST ALBUM OF ALL TIME: Linkin Park will never be the legendary nu metal band again." Review: By Deliveranze "With classic songs like "CUT MY LIFE INTO PIECES," LP stormed the scene with their 2000 classic, "Chocolate Starfish Theory." Nowdays, the band is so lost that ya might say they are "Halfway Right" that this album is shit. It's so shit, that I'm sorry for now that I almost gave this album an F- when I should just give it a Z-."
So NME made a blog defending LP's decision to change direction despite them not liking OML. Good on them. http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/linkin-park-gone-pop-one-more-light-2078851
Again though, a lot of the criticisms isn't "What the fuck, it's... pop?!?! RAGAGAGAGA!!!" as much as it is "Ok well they've always been pop it's just that this is really weak pop...". In fact I've seen very few negative reviews that haven't gone out of their way to commended/defend the stylistic shift.
And yet I feel like most reviewers just hear the music, think "this is just boring pop bullshit" write a couple paragraphs noting some bad points in the album, give it somewhere around a 1.5/5 and publish it. I feel like many of them are just skipping over any high points of the songs, ignoring the lyrics, and even just leaving out One More Light, and I highly doubt all of those reviewers are so apathetic that OML did nothing for them.
How many reviews do you actually see where someone will go "Ok, the instrumentation is uninspired and song after song reminds me of long since pased fads in music but... my god these lyircs are exceptional!"? I'm really asking, because I see that brought up constantly as evidence reviewers are seemingly "picking on" the band and I find that a cop-out. Especially when a handful of reviews have pointed to the lyrics... in a negative light.
Many things can be said about the new sound but lyrics are interesting and something people can relate to, they're very personal and tangible, speaking about real experiences. I'm not saying previous ones didn't but they were vague and more socially oriented on the last few albums. These are quite different and sometimes work better with the sound.
Not sure where I ever said reviewers were picking on the band... It just seems to me that the band is getting way more flak than deserved. I can easily see people thinking this album is generic or not for them, but some of the ratings they are getting seem a bit harsh (this applies to critics and fans).
Glad to know you do. That's interesting, I expected them to jump on the LP hate bandwagon considering their previous coverage on them in the pre-album period wasn't that good. That's really respectable to be honest.
I feel like the reviews were quite a backlash even before many of the fans did have themselves a backlash on the songs and on the band. In the concert I went to in Prague people were singing in almost all the songs, a bit less in OML songs, but still sang at least the choruses, but still 3 or 4 people in front of me left when the band started playing Heavy, like 6 or 7 songs before the end, if I´m not mistaken. In my view, those are not true fans, true fans are those who learn to accept new music from their favourite band without criticizing so heavily, you can dislike, but still give the album another try for it to grow on you, and to a certain extent educate your music taste. This album certainly has a lot of potential to grow on people as time passes and has a lot of sing along potential, so I feel like critics and most fans didn´t give the second chance the album needed because it´s an album that gets beter and better with each and every listen.