I can kindasorta see it in the last four songs maybe? But it really feels like there's experimentation sprinkled throughout, judging from this review. A more even-handed approach than Living Things, at the very least.
Hey, Derek! How many guitar solos are we looking at here? Sounds like Brad's stepping up for sure on this side, I'm hoping he can pull it off life better then he has been lately with a little practice.
Glad to see the lyrics on Final Masquerade and A Line In The Sand sound far better than the 3 tracks we've heard so far. I was beginning to think this album would be weak as far as lyrics go. I'm most excited for Final Masquerade and A Line In The Sand, those descriptions makes them sound so promising. Only ten more days, even less if it leaks. I'm not expecting another MtM or ATS, but I'm sure I'll find something in it to like.
Oh boy oh boy oh boy. My hype level had gone down the last couple of months but this brings it back up there! So excited for ALITS and FM. Thanks a lot, Derek!
Not trying to bash anyone here, but this a review coming from a guy who loves Linkin Park, so it's expected to have an extra amount of praise in it. Whether that is right or not, we won't learn until we hear the album ourselves. On another note, I can't remember a pre-release review of any LP album since M2M (that I've been following) that was negative, even from big music sites/magazines. Reviews are just opinions, even though this one does a great job describing the sound rather than critisizing it. And that's the part I mostly take under consideration. That being said, the thing with the same single note in intros/outros of diferrent songs of the album reminded me of what NIN do in Downward Spiral or Fragile, where little piano parts repeat throughout the whole album. That seems cool. I'm skeptical though about everything else, cause I've read reviews saying "LP are experimenting and going crazy on this and this track" and it turned out nothing special. PS. Final Masquerade sounds just like another LP ballad like Iridescent or Shadow of The Day...yawn.
Im so hyped after reading this review. thx derek! but i dont want to get my expectations too high as it happened with until it's gone :'D
Hey Derek, Thanks for the review! Quick question... how do you rate Chester's voice on this album? especially after some people here started to say his voice is getting weaker after the auto tune thing. I've read what turtle said the other day that Chester's voice on KTTK will blow people's minds! what's your thoughts about that?
From the point of view of the three public tracks, I can say that it's less of a problem with his voice as much as the mixing of the tracks, he feels very much in the background and sounds rather hollow and... Not very present. His voice has also changed a lot, which you can notice going through all of the albums. His voice has a lot less intensity, a lot less idle rasp and he is forcing a lot less anger into the tracks these days. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, and for soft songs, he has gotten nothing but better.
Oh! i can't wait for this Album man. sounds promising and mind blowing. Especially the experimentals ones (War, MTG, FM, ALITS). And also i'm curious for THE DRUMS, ROB IS A BEAST.
I've noticed that also, especially at on live shows. But that's why I was wondering what Derek thinks about it. Turtle already said he is amazing.
I didn't wanted to be overhyped, 'cause i don't want to get disappointment of this record. But... it's happening right now. I'm looking forward to hear this album, descriptions for KTTK, Summonig/War and tracks 8-12 winding me up goddamn high.
Another nod to Derek for what he does here. Seriously. I trolled this site/board A LOT in its early days and around the Meteora album cycle.. trolled it more during The Rising Tied cycle and then finally joined the boards around Minutes to Midnight. I don't exactly post much since I seem to think my opinions more than I voice them.. but 12 years later this is still the only fansite I frequent (or really even visit at all). I like a lot of bands/music, but I generally just glance at official sites/wikis/facebook for news tidbids. When it comes to Linkin Park news: I check the LPA. I probably haven't been to LP's actual website in at least 3 years, but this site is fixture of my daily (or multi-daily) browsing routine. I think it says a great deal about the quality of service / content that this is a better source than the band's official channels. The whole team here deserves a share of commendation, but I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one to say that the above/beyond Derek puts into the site really makes it what it is. I really appreciate/respect it; you do great work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Topic: This track-by-track has me feeling pretty positive about the record. I'm not too concerned with being over-hyped as I'm less prone to that.. I think I have a fairly-balanced hype level, positive overall expectation. Thanks for the insight. Silliest thing I'll say today: If this album does turn out to have a bit of a conventional-vs-experimental split like Living Things did then I suppose the fans who prefer convention will have a solid Living Party to listen to, and the experimentation crowd will have Hunting Things.. roughly one album's worth each?
I'm definitely looking forward to Mark The Graves, since TLTGYA and NRL are two of my favorite LP songs. Keys To The Kingdom, A Line In The Sand and Final Masquerade also sound very interesting. My excitement for this album has been fully restored. Thanks Derek!
Maybe UIG into Rebellion (Baby laugh) And also KTTK into AFN (Derek just said KTTK has a funny outro).