There have been a lot of useless necro-posting and sub-par threads that have been making the rounds lately, and I thought I would at least give some input on a topic that I had thought of a while ago. Linkin Park has been my favourite group artist for approximately eight years now, just after the release of Minutes to Midnight. As an angst-ridden pre-teen back at the time, the album that I particularly enjoyed was Meteora for its post-production and the perfected sound quality that appealed to probably every 12 year old at the time. I've seen them progress as artists and as people longer than any other artist consecutively, even when my style has changed from rock, to EDM, and now mostly Classical and post-swing Jazz music. It is interesting to see them age and change, and it is sometimes to believe it has been eight years. During this journey, I have found that there were two albums that had a huge impact on Linkin Park - not just in their music, but in their musicianship and attitude towards music itself. These two were Minutes to Midnight and A Thousand Suns. During Minutes to Midnight, they ultimately stripped off their signature sound and rebuilt themselves. There is this newly-found ambition in their music that indicates a new beginning on every single track, particularly the ballads. In result, there is a sense of melancholy and sadness that reaches musical depth that has never been found in a Linkin Park song before. The effect that this album has had onto the band was extremely propelling and interesting for me to see, especially considering they wanted to leave the rap metal scene completely behind and rebrand themselves into something that is completely different. There are artists that change themselves as they progress, but I do not think I have seen anything so radical from any artist other than Linkin Park, especially considering such fast change. This attitude of ambition and wanting to truly achieve something revoultionary would carry onto A Thousand Suns. Now, A Thousand Suns is an album that is a favourite among the LPAssociation, and it was definately a favourite of mine for some time. It contains interesting sounds, and many praise the musical progression from every track that flows so seemingly when listening to it. However, this album was really a "catalyst" in the direction that Linkin Park would take to, and in some ways I dislike the fact that this album was ever released in late 2010. And here is why: Prior to the release of the album, there was this drive in Linkin Park that they wanted to progress as musicians and push their boundaries further and further. However, it seems that A Thousand Suns has worn them out due to Label and fanbase pressures, resulting in more frequent releases that are less polished and ambitious. The last two releases have been very tiring to the ears after certain listens, without much lyrical depth at all. Living Things sound increasingly bland and boring when stripping away its electronic sound. The Hunting Party seems as if they had a fetish for power chords and decided to make heavy songs without considering the fact that there are other aspects of music that are more important than just "heavinness". This notion that they create music for the live setting is simply hypocritical and lazy, because hardly any Living Things and The Hunting Party songs ever get played live. Compare that to A Thounsand Suns, where the album (along with Hybrid Theory) takes up most of their Live Sets since 2010 in the first place even when the album was specifically made not to play live. When Linkin Park specifically made music for the sake of music and not to appeal to a live crowd, that is when their songs were the most sucessful in a live setting. And perhaps this history is partially why Minutes to Midnight will probably be my favourite Linkin Park album. It was written and released during a stage where they had the creative ambition both before and after the release (the only time they've done this other than Hybrid Theory days), while creating music for the sake of propelling themselves as artists. It is when they took their music more seriously more than any of their career, even prior to their Hybrid Theory days. This seriousness is extremely evident in the melancholic nature of so many of their songs. And the result is a product of beauty that is stripped away from their signature sound. I don't care what critics think of it, considering they found the album slow. To me, that is what makes the album so sincere, and it is an album that requires careful listening to appreciate. A Thousand Suns may have interesting sounds, but when stripping away the electronics, it does not have the same material that Minutes to Midnight has had. It would be nice if Linkin Park did not care about their live fanbase once again and made music carefully and wisely. I truly believe that A Thousand Suns wore them out, and they do not want to do something so risky again considering it seems like the entire band nearly broke up based on their documentary. Some would not say that, but when they speak of cancelling their album contract, that is something pretty serious. However, the ambition of Minutes to Midnight and A Thousand Suns - especially Minutes to Midnight - is what made them able to stay in the musical limelight and not fade away like any other Rap Metal band. My greatest concern is that if they continue to create sub-par material, they will have the same result to some degree. That was my rant. There will be people who disagree, but I do not care, considering Minutes to Midnight is beautiful to say the least. Do you agree, or think that this opinion was a complete waste of your time? Feel free to comment below.
I think MTM is good, but very inconsistent at the same time, it goes too much everywhere. And it's just not that special either, most of the songs sound like clumsy attempts at imitating a sound other bands do way better. That said, TLTGYA remains, in my opinion, one of their best tracks. Regarding your comment on THP : well sure, there are other important aspects to music than heaviness. An example would be technicality. And it just happens that THP is easily the most technical LP record ever, instrumentally. It's so easy, and wrong, to categorize THP as being just "heavy".
Yesterday, one of my roommates and I were talking about Minutes To Midnight and how important it was to Linkin Park. Following the hiatus after Meteora, in which Mike created Fort Minor and rumors circulated about the band breaking up, the goal was clearly to redefine what Linkin Park meant. It was a creative step in the right direction, since they were well aware that the nu-metal fad would never last forever. Their careers would be prolonged if they push songs like Shadow Of The Day or Leave Out All The Rest instead of songs like Faint or Papercut. Mike sums up the impact of Minutes To Midnight on the band's trajectory, as well as other factors, here: http://mikeshinoda.com/2010/01/02/my-linkin-park-decade-list/ This is what Make had to say about Minutes To Midnight, specifically:
You're right at some point but you're wrong at some parts of what you've said, Yeah, LIVING THINGS & THP suffered from some sort of Post-Traumatic Syndrome after ATS. Though, LT had built on electronics and sounded buried, the original demos were pretty good and had the potential to be better songs like Primo, Warm Spell, etc. The only problem is that the band is overproducing some of the tracks, that's why, the final product becomes so bland and becomes generic. Okay, let's compare in the case of both Final Masquerade's studio & acoustic version, both are good song but I say the acoustic version is the best. Why? because of it's beautiful instrumentation, you don't need a bigger soundscape or complex, weird sounds to make it unique, just make it simple.
I've never understood the notion that Minutes To Midnight is anything but consistent. What I've Done is as iconic as Linkin Park can get Shadow Of The Day is a gorgeous ballad Hands Held High is highly ambitious and experimental Bleed It Out is pure fucking fun no matter what Valentine's Day shows great promise before being butchered with the outro Given Up and No More Sorrow deliver heavier songs and better screams than anything the band had before with both songs fitting right at home on The Hunting Party In Pieces is one of the most well designed alternative anthems I've ever heard The Little Things Give You Away is a fucking masterpiece That leaves Leave Out All The Rest and In Between. Two "meh" songs out of 12. Yes, very "inconsistent". Maybe 7 years ago when everyone was still in the fetal position begging for more nu-metal, but this album STILL stands the test of time.
I think that "Minutes To Midnight" is very cosistent, that little bit more so than "A Thousand Suns" is. That's probably my favourite thing about it and what makes it a solid album in spite of my or anyone else's changing tastes. It's a good example of a sonic/stylistic approach that can produce a lot of different songs which, in spite of their differences, feel like a unified body of work
This is why the first three albums appealed to me, you never knew what the band was going to do next. I totally agree with the OP and we're on the same page, the band have been trying too hard since A Thousand Suns when they really should have gone on hiatus for a while imo
Naah, MTM is such a vanilla record. Everything seems so clean, even on heavier songs like Given Up. Like the instruments were wrapped in plastic or something. It's just a too simple and minimalistic for me. It's lacking the layers(both instrumentally and structurally) that ATS and THP have. And I personally don't think the album flows very well(in terms of how the different genres of music are presented), not until we hit the last portion of the album(which is the strongest part). But I am a fan of all the songs from HHH to TLTGYA.
Go listen to Given Up's bridge again. I'd argue if it gives them an extra dimension of vulnerability on the record that hasn't quite been found since. This I agree with. Which is probably why I usually listen to the album mixed in with B-sides and with a switched-up track list.