So for me after a few listens.... GOD LEVEL: Keys To The Kingdom Rebellion Mark The Graves A Line In The Sand AWESOME LEVEL: All For Nothing Guilty All The Same War Wastelands GOOD LEVEL: Until It's Gone Final Masquerade Whatever? Level: The Summoning Drawbar
The album (like any other good piece of music) needs scores of listens before I can appreciate it fully.
Album's decent, but I really don't see myself listening to it much. I respect the tracks that go new places for the band, but there are too many generic-sounding ones for me (FM, UIG, Wastelands, AFN) even though I don't dislike most of them. And even the ones that are more experimental I feel have such weak moments that really drag the entire track down for me. Like ALITS. IMO it has one of the least appealing choruses the band has ever written. Also, was pretty bummed when I didn't hear Mike in Mark the Graves. That was probably the most disappointing thing for me, given almost every review mentioned him singing and I was most looking forward to that. My overall thoughts: I wish the lyrics were less hit-or-miss, less v/c/v/c, and that Mike had sung more and rapped less.
Well it's better than Living Things. My first reaction is it needs more getting use to, sometimes that can lead to better things but will see. I can safely say I thought AFN was terrible though
My reaction... Upon reflection, within the first few seconds Chester had bitten my dick off and shoved it up my ass repeatedly, while I stood drueling in utter shock. Everything since has been a blur...
im on All for nothing now, it sucks. but KTTK was great, far from the ultra heavy badass level people described it. but i loved it
Solid and a million times better than LT. Worst part - UIG and the hook in Wastelands. My opinion on the album may drastically change in 1 or 2 months. Gotta see how it stands the test of time. Till then its all my #visceral reaction.
My opinion ain't gonna be a popular one, but it doesn't matter. I think there's too much shouting and screaming just for shouting and screaming's sake. I really enjoyed ALITS until Chester started yelling and... It feels like they're doing this because they said to themselves 'we have to be hardcore and have lots of violent choruses. Rob and Brad, gimme a hard-rock beat in 3,2,1...'. I love HT, so it's not like I'm an LP-ballad-guy-fan. My personal favorite is ATS, followed by Meteora and HT, then MTM, then LT, and unfortunately - THP at the far back. I seriously doubt I'll change my opinion, this album just makes me depressed and hurts my ears. FM definite #1, followed by Rebellion and AFN (big surprise there). After ATS, everything went completely south. If they feel like a completely different band with each record, what's the point, really... Hybrid theory and the combining of alternative, rock, rap and electronic elements is the sole reason I find LP to be unique, this is generic hard-rock with bits and pieces sprinkled here and there so people know it's not that generic, really. But...yeah.
exactly what i'm thinking so far. not impressed at all, it really seems like a forced change in their sound.
Does anyone else really love Drawbar? After the ferocity of the preceding songs, it's almost your first chance to take a breath, and that piano outro is beautiful. I'm still confused about Tom Morello's contribution though, because it doesn't sound like there's anything special going on guitar-wise.
It's such a livestage-inspired album so to me all the screams and shouts seem to make sense. If they weren't in the studio album I feel like Chester would add them in on stage at the exact same moments. In fact, I feel like GATS is a song that needed that extra X-factor that Chester's screams bring to an LP song, that vocal performance in particular feels bland without them.
It's a great fucking solid record. I won't make a detailed review for now, as I think I will be too biased because of the initial excitement. But right now, I feel like this record could eventually become my favorite from them. UIG and Wastelands are probaly the "weakest" tracks to me, but even then, I like both of those. Now, time for a second listen Drawbar is great, really beautiful stuff. Definitely more interesting than what I expected. Yeah, I don't agree with this at all. I feel like in the past, LP never really "let it all out", and some screaming parts sounded too mechanical and calculated. Like "hey, let's put 10 seconds of screams here, and then, back to chorus!". This time, and especially in MTG / ALITS, I can actually feel like they didn't held themselves back. When the mayhem begins, it really gets to the most abrasive point, if that makes sense.
just finished all the songs on the album, not consecutively but i finished the album nonetheless i can't contain myself. this album is brilliant
It is awesome. Right now I feel like it is their second best album(next to ATS), so yeah i really enjoyed it. I can't believe Brad actually played some of the things on this album It's mind blowing. A few generic songs(Like Wastelands and UIG) didn't ruin the record at all.
really dissapointed with chester's performance on the whole album, his voice is fucked up, only on Final masquerade he sounds really good
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeestoyer
Was hoping for a thread like this as I'm not one to write up reviews. I would say to any fan wondering about the #visceral-ness of this album, don't worry. Truly, I was skeptical. I love loud rock and metal. This album IS visceral. It's loud. It's fast. Their decision to go to tape was a good one. I like the sound of the record. On Mike's raps you can hear sort of a room sound on them. It feels like them in the studio and not a super close mic'd, super edited modern rock album. Some parts are even sloppy (in a good way). Now about ATS. I don't hear a lot of ATS in the sound of the record (guitars, synths) but I hear it in Mike's singing and some of the melodies. He has a gravity to his singing. Think of Iridescent. His singing parts on THP have a nice weight to them. Mark the Graves' intro sounds like an evolved, guitar based riff of the end of Blackout (just the music) when it comes to the melody. (Mashup imminent!) Let's be clear though, it's not a weighty, political record like ATS revolved around. It sounds more like the party after the riot rather than the guy standing in front of the oncoming tanks. It's fun, it's loud, it's fast. Personally it reminds me of the best 90s and 00s rock I love. Sum 41, POD, Story of the Year, Thrice (I hear a lot of late era Thrice). We all have our own list of bands. All those bands that you thought "man they're not amazing bands but they are loud and have those concert anthem songs!!" (Like Thrice's Image of the Invisible). This is Linkin Park's record for that all the way. Mike: He's all over the record. Rapping and singing. Chester: Screams and sings aggressively more than on any other album (and probably more than the last three combined, seriously). Don't be fooled by Final Masquerade and Until It's Gone. Brad: Killed it. Brings the heat. They use some of their common chord progressions but always make it more interesting. Every time I thought "Oh I know exactly what chords he's going to play" he would throw something interesting after it. Solos seems spontaneous and a lot more "soulful" than before. Not blues soulful. But soulful like he actually hit record and just played a solo. Joe:I'm happy to hear him all over the record with odd little sounds and samples. Every some parts I think were guitar seem to be him live. Phoenix: Nothing groundbreaking BUT LET'S BE CLEAR. He does what a rock bass should do. You may not notice him when he's there but you notice when he's not. He holds down the low end. Rob: Holy shit. Rob killed this record. Killed it. End of story. You think you like his drumming on the officially released songs??? Haha just wait!