Yeah exactly, Victimized is easier for me to listen to than Skin To Bone and I'll Be Gone, the sound quality just seems to suck on those songs.
I personally think Skin To Bone is one of the better songs on the album. I love the beat, and it's a lot different than most LP songs in terms of style. I wouldn't worry about LP going in the direction of Skin To Bone honestly, that is only one song from the album. That's like saying back in 2003 that you think the next album might sound like Nobody's Listening, or saying in 2007 that the next album might sound like Hands Held High.
I will be a so happy fan if they release a Heavy album. Not like Nu metal or something, but maybe heavy metal songs, a industrial influence, different stuffs... but won't happen. Anyway, a few months ago I dream with a LP album, and I liked a lot... Linkin Park - Distorted Dreams (Date Release: Never ) 01. Breakdown (A different intro, 2 minutes long, with scratchs and samples by Hahn, but with interrupted Mike vocals, and "quick" guitars in the background) 02. A Little Taste of Carrion (Linkin Park's common-structure song, Mike's rapping and a little of Chester's screamings at the end) 03. End of Silence (Drums in the most of the song, the Bennington voice starts so quiet in the first verse, so blow the mind in chorus with the loud screams. The lyrics seems like depreciate the old material. Mike appears in the bridge and end) 04. Emptiness (Piano driven song, seems a lot like Roads Untraveled, but with more lyrics) 05. Hidden in the Basement (Darker song, Chester sings like in "System" in the Queen of the Damnned Soundtrack. Mike in the backing vocals, basically making echo. Guitar solo in bridge). 06. Change Places (With epic intro. A rock and roll song. Chester uses a lot of your grunge vocals on this.) 07. Analogy (Mike's rap in the most of the song, like "I Have Not Begun". Transition to the next track.) 08. Vanish (Hard to define. Has a folk vibe, but isn't like Castle of Glass or something. The 'different' song from the album) 09. Delighted (Mike sings in the most of the song. In the chorus, Chester start to sing and Mike start to screaming... weird) 10. The Conjecture (amazing heavy to soft song, no screams or anything. Mike and Chester sing the chorus alternately (like Forgotten), in same tone in all the song, just the instrumental changes itself) 11. Friendly Fire (Lyrics about war, but with emotional/political mix. Hahn works a lot on this. Drum Solo at the end) 12. The Leader of One (Bass is listen a lot in this song. All them sings on this. Robot Boy 2. Slow to Fast end, including the vocals) 13. ... (Only a warning by Mike, with ramdom (dubstep?) background: "You will have more...") The names I choose before the dream. How I said, crazy stuff (and a crazy mind I have XD) and terrible English...
[audio=artists=&titles=Hybrid Theory is my life]http://www.lpassociation.com/upload/audio/062213-101342_HybridTheoryIsMyLife.mp3[/audio]
Personally, I would hope for the band to return to the mentality they had prior to A Thousand Suns. Try to do different things. LIVING THINGS wasn't a bad album, but it was hard for me to appreciate fully because I felt they abandoned a mentality that revealed some incredible creativity. I understand that they felt they could finally create music in comfort and confidence, but absolutely nothing on LT rivals what they produced on ATS for me. Each of the songs on LT have qualities that I really appreciated - and oftentimes it was the music. I thought the instrumentals for songs like "LOST IN THE ECHO," "LIES GREED MISERY," and "SKIN TO BONE" were great but lyrically I felt they regressed. Granted, they have improved as lyricists since Meteora, but they hit their peak on ATS. I've come to really appreciate bands that put some thought into their words and try to express the same feelings but in different ways. As such, I think Linkin Park needs to really start trying new things and maybe use the comfort to trust themselves to do something different. They've proven that they can write the short, exciting songs time and time again - and the electronic element gave LT an edge. But I can't say I'm satisfied - I want something I've never heard before.
I'd like a collection of everything, songs like TLTGYA, Given Up, Papercut, Robot Boy, Lost In The Echo, High Voltage. A collection of songs that defines Linkin Park & what they're about. Maybe even a metal song? i'm not talking about 'BACK TO DA ROOTZ' i'm talking about something similar to the outro here.[video=youtube;oir4i7QfJ60]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oir4i7QfJ60[/video] All though Living Things was elements from all their previous records put together, I don't believe it defined what the band was about (At least not for me anyway) but yeah, it'll be interesting to see what they come up with for their next record.
For me it would be perfect to hear an album with these elements: -The chemistry between Mike and Chester from Hybrid Theory -Guitars from Meteora -The Organic from Minutes To Midnight -Experiments like in A Thousand Suns -less(!) electronic than in Living Things -a lot of darkness -and Mr. Hahn scratching again