LIVING THINGS review - Artist Direct Options

[FleshIntoGear]

Artist Direct posted a review of LIVING THINGS:

LIVING THINGS comes to life with a blip of cackling feedback on "LOST IN THE ECHO". Soon, everything is subsumed by earth-shaking beats from drummer Rob Bourdon and airy synth sorcery by Joe Hahn. Brad Delson's guitars gut the swell as Mike Shinoda launches into an airtight verse beginning with the words, "You were that foundation". Chester Bennington sounds potently pristine during the stadium-size refrain, locking into an impenetrable harmony with Shinoda. They remain the most intriguing duo in music at large, and their interplay here is utterly mind-blowing. A cybernetic frenzy sizzles during a scratched out bridge before Bennington echoes, "This time I finally let you go". Phoenix's bass rumbles throughout the landscape, and suddenly you're plunged into a world ruled by these six individuals.

A torrent of scratching fuels massive danceable percussion on "IN MY REMAINS" as Bennington's divine delivery entwines with shimmering electronics. Military drums punctuate the song's mid-section as Shinoda elegantly croons a haunting harmony over piano announcing, "Like an army falling one by one".

"BURN IT DOWN" is already a timeless anthem in its own right, boasting that inescapable and irresistible refrain. Shinoda sounds like he's rapping from another universe on the skittering and staggering "LIES GREED MISERY". A majestic 21st century bitch slap, it's glitched-out, pissed-off hard rock.

Subtle handclaps bounce with the keyboards during the beginning of "I'LL BE GONE" before another instantly incisive hook. It's a firestarter with more snappy riffing from Delson. There's a folk elegance to the spacey "CASTLE OF GLASS", evincing some of Shinoda and Bennington's most poetic lyrics to date—"I'm only a crack in this castle of glass." The band manages to harness that indie vulnerability moments before their heaviest track ever "VICTIMIZED".

They've never done anything this bruising and brutal. Thrash paranoia steamrolls with tribal drums before a throat-slashing scream on the hook. It's vicious, violent, and vibrant. This unexpected drop is just plain fucking sick. You can practically envision festival crowds tearing up the ground to this one.

"ROADS UNTRAVELED" nods to classic rock, but it's unlike anything you've ever heard, especially once that big distortion hits. There's a glimmer of electro spunk to "SKIN TO BONE" before everything gets all tripped out on the refrain—another welcome surprise. On the other end of the spectrum, "UNTIL IT BREAKS" stands out as the band's most poignant ballad ever.

Everything culminates on the cinematic closer "POWERLESS". It has the heft of a John Williams score and the power of any of Linkin Park's best output.

Not only is Living Things one of the best albums of the decade, it's a new classic. Once again, Linkin Park raise the bar. This is a hybrid like you've never heard and won't again—until their next album.

The world's been crying out for a great rock album, and this is it.

EDIT:
@master360: @rickflorino So on Living Things NO SKIT? all SONGS?
@rickflorino: @master360 there's an instrumental interlude called "TINFOIL" that's killer

TINFOIL is confirmed to be an instrumental.

Thoughts?

This post has been edited by Hahninator: May 11 2012, 05:16 PM

[High_Voltage]

cam't wait for "Victimized"

[FleshIntoGear]

"In My Remains" sounds like it's going to be really good.

I noticed they forgot the last two tracks.

[HybridThe0ry97]

That's a strong review. I'm excited.

This post has been edited by HybridThe0ry97: May 10 2012, 06:01 PM

[F0RG0TT3N]

cam't wait for "Victimized"

I can't wait for the album!!!

[FleshIntoGear]

Everybody they just added POWERLESS to the review! I edited the main post

[HybridThe0ry97]

I'm very excited for this album. It appears as though there is one instrumental (judging from only 11/12 reviews).

[MONDREUS240]

I keep telling myself that this album won't live up to my expectations like ATS did. But after reading this review, we'll just have to wait and see.

[Astat]

This interview reads like something written by a total LP fanboy with little knowledge of actual musical composition. Pretty amateur stuff here, wouldn't be surprised if this falls into the "deceptive track descriptions" category that Mike's mentioned.

[FleshIntoGear]

This interview reads like something written by a total LP fanboy with little knowledge of actual musical composition. Pretty amateur stuff here, wouldn't be surprised if this falls into the "deceptive track descriptions" category that Mike's mentioned.

Everybody likes to play the "unexcited" role these days. When a positive review comes out I see people trying to keep their enthusiasm low and I don't get why. It doesn't make sense.

When an A Thousand Suns article came out with six song descriptions everyone was like "oh this is beautiful! four minute songs? mike singing more? odd structures? omgomgomg!" but when these articles for LIVING THINGS come out there are some people that are like "meh Mike said that 50% of these are wrong so i'm sticking with his opinion". I haven't seen one bad review of any of Linkin Park's new material yet. So why the pessimism?

[Rocky]

Everybody likes to play the "unexcited" role these days. When a positive review comes out I see people trying to keep their enthusiasm low and I don't get why. It doesn't make sense.

When an A Thousand Suns article came out with six song descriptions everyone was like "oh this is beautiful! four minute songs? mike singing more? odd structures? omgomgomg!" but when these articles for LIVING THINGS come out there are some people that are like "meh Mike said that 50% of these are wrong so i'm sticking with his opinion". I haven't seen one bad review of any of Linkin Park's new material yet. So why the pessimism?

Artist Direct writers seem to get boners while listening to anything, so it's kinda "eh....we'll see"

[Astat]

Everybody likes to play the "unexcited" role these days. When a positive review comes out I see people trying to keep their enthusiasm low and I don't get why. It doesn't make sense.

When an A Thousand Suns article came out with six song descriptions everyone was like "oh this is beautiful! four minute songs? mike singing more? odd structures? omgomgomg!" but when these articles for LIVING THINGS come out there are some people that are like "meh Mike said that 50% of these are wrong so i'm sticking with his opinion". I haven't seen one bad review of any of Linkin Park's new material yet. So why the pessimism?

I'm not pessimistic about the album. I'm pointing out that this review sounds like it was written by a 15-year old kid who's never played a note of music in his life.

[Wilderness]

I'm not pessimistic about the album. I'm pointing out that this review sounds like it was written by a 15-year old kid who's never played a note of music in his life.

Don't need to be a musician to appreciate good music.

[MacGyver]

What about 'Tinfoil'?

[Final Destiny]

No, I think Astat's right here. Dude labeled the album a "modern classic." This reads like the kind of thing an LP fanatic with an inability to review music impartially would write. No thanks. I'll wait for the actual album to come out.

Also, the "best album of the decade" label strikes me as idiotic because we're not even three years into the decade.

[Ducko]

Being an ArtistDirect review, I'm not going to pay much attention to it. They give 5 stars to EVERYTHING.
Having said that, if Victimized really is their heaviest track to date... *ugh*.

[Hahninator]

I'm not pessimistic about the album. I'm pointing out that this review sounds like it was written by a 15-year old kid who's never played a note of music in his life.

The guy is as biased as it gets, lol

[LPxDC]

I'm not pessimistic about the album. I'm pointing out that this review sounds like it was written by a 15-year old kid who's never played a note of music in his life.

Being an ArtistDirect review, I'm not going to pay much attention to it. They give 5 stars to EVERYTHING.
Having said that, if Victimized really is their heaviest track to date... *ugh*.

The guy is as biased as it gets, lol

lolol

wait till you read a review from RichardThinks.Org, if it sucks I'm not afraid to give something a 1 star!

[Hahninator]

I learned last time from the ATS reviews of "oh Rob fucking rapes the drums on the end of that one song, oh it's so good" -> Iridescent. FML. I learned don't judge anything until you hear it yourself lol, ATS reviews taught me people on first listen tend to think it's way more epic than it really is.

[Jawnson]

I'll just wait to i hear the album.