The Hunting Party Leak + iTunes Stream

[hahninator]

Mike's Twitter commentary was cool once again!

[southpaw818]

I'm very curious to what "I'm not allowed to say certain things" was supposed to be.

[Mapapwomatic]

I also thought at Victimized as I heard Line in the Sand. But the good thing is, I never liked Victimized so I can listen to ALITS and pretend like Victimized never existed. (For me Victimized is just a song on an album which just doesn't fit in it. Its like it's just made for the sake of have a really heavy song on LT)

[Rasputin 93]

(For me Victimized is just a song on an album which just doesn't fit in it. Its like it's just made for the sake of have a really heavy song on LT)

+1

[Geki]

It's interesting, but I feel like Victimized could fit in well with The Hunting Party songs, it sounds like a lot of the songs on the album, just with maybe a little less of the electronic stuff going on during Victimized during Mike's parts.

[southpaw818]

Is there an edited clean version of The Hunting Party? The original doesn't have the explicit content label.

[lpliveusername]

Is there an edited clean version of The Hunting Party? The original doesn't have the explicit content label.

Yes. It's on iTunes.

[Astat]

Time for one of my ridiculously in-depth album reviews! Took me a while to get around to doing this.

I open my review of The Hunting Party with a question: Why is new music from Linkin Park always met with a mix of overwhelmingly positive ad overwhelmingly negative reactions from fans? More so with this album than any other I can remember, I look around the fanbase and see people who seem to either be salivating over new Linkin Park music to the point that Mike Shinoda could fart into a cassette recorder and people would love it, or people who seem to be determined to write everything the band does off as "not Hybrid Theory, therefore it's garbage." I know the band has said the "love/hate" reaction is what they're hoping for every time they release new music, but I'm not sure this is exactly what they had in mind...if you can't justify why you rated a song a 0/10 or a 10/10, I shudder to think of what your decision-making process is like when it comes doing things like voting for the next President. a little objectivity will go a long way towards improving the quality of your life as a whole, people.

Anyway, enough life advice, and on to the review!

01. Keys to the Kingdom
On my first listen through the album, I honestly didn't know what to think of this song. It grew on me quickly after a few listens, but it's still not one of my favorites on the album. I think what hurts this song most is having it as the opener. Having no build-up whatsoever before you have Chester blowing your eardrums out with a bunch of over-processed screaming is really hard on the ears, particularly through headphones. I feel like having some kind of build-up into the first song is one of those time-tested things that shouldn't be messed with. As it is, any moderately curious fan who picks up this album without knowing what they're getting themselves into is likely going to skip this song after hearing about 3 seconds of it. Getting into the rest of the song though, I love it once the guitars kick in. The riff gets a little repetitive, but it works. Rob kills it on this song...and basically every other track on the album. The dreamy-sounding harmonies that Mike comes in with to start the first verse are a brilliantly deceptive move, and I like how the instrumental section under the verses is very A Thousand Suns-like, but you also have the guitars chugging along in the background to remind you that something's different this time around. The little bursts of noise/static that interrupt the song at various points...yeah not sure what to think of those. Not a fan of cutting off a vocal in the middle of a word. I know Chester's chorus vocals were improvised, and I can appreciate keeping the lyrics he spontaneously came up with, but he really should have re-recorded them. His screaming on this song is the most strained I've ever heard him sound, and the voice cracks that occur on "casualty" and "futility" are just downright sad. Chester's been having vocal issues for years, but this is the first album where I think it even showed in the studio. A shame that one of the great voices in modern rock is starting to show so much wear. Mike's rap in the second verse is pretty cool...not sure where the "half-fried panko" line came from though, haha. I LOVE where this song goes after the second chorus. The breakdown with the mellow-sounding guitar that builds into the guitar solo, then things just EXPLODING after that is one of the coolest moments on this album. The only fault I find in the outro of this song is Brad's lead work when Chester comes back in. What the FUCK was Brad doing there, and even better, why on earth did they decide to leave it in the mix? Random chromatic run that doesn't fit in the context of the song whatsoever. He "finds" the right scale again after a couple bars, but it's still the most distracting thing ever. A modern guitar god, you are not, Brad Delson. The "hard rock version of Until It Breaks" description of this song I heard the day it leaked is still probably the most accurate summary I've seen of it. Very disjointed, a few things I don't like about it, but overall not a terrible song.

Score: I'M NOT ALLOWED TO SAY CERTAIN THINGS. AUGHHHHHHHH...but there's nothing that says I'm not allowed to give this one a 7/10.

02. All For Nothing
The discordant droning guitar at the start of this track is totally Page, haha. There's some really cool guitar stuff throughout this song. Great groove in the verses, Mike sounds really good on this track. Love the count-in to the choruses too. The chorus itself is the weak point of this one, though. Page sounds...not like Page at all. Leave it to Linkin Park to over-process a traditionally raw-sounding guest vocalist's voice on an album that generally has more raw production on the vocals! His vocals are so polished that they actually seem out of place on the track. Lyrically, it's not a very good chorus either. Cool gang vocals help redeem it somewhat, but I was pretty underwhelmed by this one. The high point on this track is the guitar solo, it's my favorite one on the album. Brad actually sounds like he put some thought into doing something melodic that still covered a lot of ground, I LOVE the quick little ascending pattern he does at the end of the solo. Best interlude on the album is after this track too, the "put the heavy shit here" commentary that goes into GATS is hilarious and brilliant. I also REALLY hope we get an official release of that waltz-y instrumental in the background at some point too, sounds interesting (Mike confirmed on Twitter that the background music there was an original composition). As for my final summary of this song, great piece of music with a tremendously disappointing chorus, and a guest spot that wasn't handled the right way (go listen to Unsung - THAT'S what Page Hamilton's voice should sound like).

Score: 6.5/10 (I normally don't do half points, but I like this one better than Wastelands but less than KTTK, so I gave it a 6.5)

03. Guilty All the Same
How weird is it for me to be saying that the first single on an album is actually where it starts getting good?! I still haven't grown tired of this song. Love the way the intro progresses, love the harmonized guitar melody, love the drumming, love how they incorporated a bunch of synth-y stuff into such a heavy song and made it work. Rakim's verse is a highlight too. Not a big fan of Brad's solo during the outro, but it's probably my second favorite one on the album. I can't find much fault with this one other than Chester's vocals again sounding pretty strained.

Score: 9/10

04. The Summoning
I've heard some theories that this song has samples of a bunch of other LP songs in it...I don't hear it. This is one of those tension-building things that sounds like it should be on a horror movie soundtrack. Comes across as being sort of filler-ish at only a minute long and not really going anywhere, but if they were trying to put something on this album that's creepy enough to make people physically uncomfortable, they accomplished it with this track. I feel like they could've potentially opened the album with this and War.

Score: 7/10

05. War
The first thing that instantly popped into my head when listening to this track was Motorhead. This TOTALLY reminds me of a track like Ace of Spades. Chester supposedly "wrote this song in like 5 minutes," and I definitely get that vibe from it, but it works. The production values on this track are probably intentionally bad, which I can appreciate for a song of this nature. Love Chester's delivery on this track, it's not really a vocal style we've heard from him before and he pulled it off. I love how perfect the 8-count break after the first verse is, having that gap of silence there only to be interrupted with "WAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!" is brilliant. Brad's solo on this track is so WTF-inducing that I start laughing most of the time I hear it. It sounds like he's doing some cool stuff in there, definitely more complex than the solo at the end of GATS, but like GATS, the effects on the guitar solo are so over-the-top that they practically render the solo incomprehensible. I will most likely never be able to transcribe this solo without the multitracks for this song, so if Brad was trying to come up with something I'd never be able to tab, congratulations to him on succeeding. Overall, I love this song, I just wish the guitar solo was easier to make sense of.

Score: 8/10

06. Wastelands
This is by far the biggest "throwback track" to the Hybrid Theory/Meteora era that the band has done in recent years. The structure, the instrumentation, it all screams "throwing a bone to people like Joe_LP who have hated everything we've done for the last 7 years but still hang around LP fansites for some reason." ...Oops, did I say that out loud? LULZ. Anyway, there's still some cool "newer LP stuff" in this track too, I love the crazy synth in the bridge and the clanky-sounding drum samples. Mike's pretty good on this track too. Another weak chorus hurts this one though, and I don't know why, but I just find it to be one of the more forgettable tracks on the album. Maybe being so stylistically reminiscent of the band's nu metal days makes this song seem really phoned-in to me, like they didn't have to try very hard to write it. I'm already skipping this song on most of my listens to the album.

Score: 6/10

07. Until It's Gone
Musically, I love this song. Lyrically, this is one of the biggest steaming piles of crap the band has ever put out. Sorry, Cinderella did the whole "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" cliche better...and Cinderella was one of those laughably-bad '80s hair metal bands that people like to pretend never existed. Not to mention the same lyric was basically regurgitated by Mike when he did Where'd You Go back in 2005. Never heard a more unoriginal-sounding set of lyrics in my life. Knowing the story behind this song too, it really pisses me off that a better song was likely left off the album just so this one could get released (Hint: This song was NOT meant to be on The Hunting Party originally). They should've just canned the vocals and released the instrumental as an LPU track. I could jam to this all day if it was an instrumental but I'm practically embarrassed to play this song when anybody's around because the lyrics are THAT bad.

Score: 5/10 (taken as an average between a 10/10 for the instrumental, and a 0/10 for the lyrics)

08. Rebellion
Daron Malakian brings us back to the good shit here. Lyrically, this is probably the best song on the album. Very thought-provoking, I didn't initially interpret it as straight-up sarcasm like Mike said during the Twitter listening party, more of just a commentary on people with a sense of entitlement that feel "oppressed" over stupid shit. I can't say enough about Daron's contribution to this song, though. Great riffs, nothing EXTREMELY complicated, but he made an absolute monster of a track with these guys. Mike's singing on this track is my favorite singing I've heard him do, and Chester brings it as well. Chester sounds a little weird on the bridge, his screams are a lot higher-pitched than normal and he doesn't really sustain them like you'd expect (particularly on "we lost," he cuts that one off practically instantly). I'm on the fence as to whether or not Daron should have done some vocals on this track too, I think he would've sounded good on this song but his voice is also definitely an acquired taste. This song is definitely in my top 3 on the album.

Score: 9/10

09. Mark the Graves
This song is a trip. It covers more ground thematically than any other song Linkin Park has ever done. Love how distorted the bass is, and how it's cranked way up in the mix for a change! This song's really deceptive with its chord changes too, nice to hear something this unpredictable from LP. There's some awesome guitar and drum work on this song, I also love Mike's little whispered count-in during one of the breaks in the intro, nice touch to leave in the mix. Another good song lyrically, and I still love hearing Mike and Chester singing in unison, there's something about havig their voices synced up like this that sounds perfect on certain songs, this being one of them. The chorus on this one is as simple lyrically as you can get, but it works PERFECTLY on this track, particularly with Chester and Mike both belting the words out the way they do here. Brad gets two solos on this one, and actually puts in some solid work. Love the little tapping thing at the end of the first solo. My biggest complaint with this song his how Brad's lead guitar work gets completely buried at the end of the song. Still, this is one of those tracks that makes a big statement about how talented these guys can be when they choose to do something challenging.

Score: 9/10

10. Drawbar
I fully agree that Tom Morello's talent gets kind of wasted on this track, all he plays is some arpeggiated E minor chords throughout the whole song. Still, the SOUND of the guitar part is totally him, it's got a trippy ring modulator effect on it or something, and it stands out from any of the other guitar parts on the album. The highlight of this track is actually Mike, though. This is easily the best piano stuff we've heard from Mike on an album. Rob's drums add a lot to this one too. Definitely sounds like an improvised jam, which is basically what it was, to my understanding. The way this song ends is the absolute highlight of the album, though. Having everything but the piano fade out for a brief period on an album that's so raw and in-your-face like this is just STUNNINGLY brilliant. And when that chord progression morphs into the chorus from Final Masquerade, it's one of the most beautiful moments in the entire Linkin Park catalog. The first time I listened to the album was the way I always do my first listens - with my headphones on in a completely dark room so I have no distractions. Having heard Final Masquerade prior to the full album leaking, when that chord progression suddenly emerged from the mix, it was such an unexpectedly touching moment that I actually got a little choked up. I'm not a guy who gets overcome emotionally by music a lot, but the Drawbar > Final Masquerade transition does it for me. The rest of Drawbar is kind of forgettable in comparison, but the ending more than makes up for it.

Score: 8/10

11. Final Masquerade
This sounds like one of those songs that should be an album closer, it's everything a Linkin Park ballad should be. Until It's Gone sounds even worse with this track on the same album! I'm very excited to see this as the next single, I know people will get sick of it and be bitching about how it needs to be dropped from the setlists in favor of some forgotten turd like Hit the Floor or whatever, but I can see this one being a highlight of the live show over the next few years. I've been pretty hard on Chester throughout this album, but he puts in one of the best vocal performances of his career on this track. This song just has that "something" about it that makes it stand out, like everything just came together perfectly on it. Rob's drumming is great without being overly flashy, the keyboards add a ton of color to the song without being too in-your-face like the synths on the last two albums were at times, the vocals are great, the guitars sound great...this is about as perfect of a song as I've heard from Linkin Park, and definitely the best ballad of their career. I really hope this one does well on the charts.

Score: 10/10

12. A Line in the Sand
So here we are, last song. And it's a monster. Mike's singing on this one gives me chills EVERY time I listen to it. And then when it gets heavy...oh man. The guitar comparisons to Victimized and Guilty All the Same are definitely warranted, but does that really matter when the song is this fucking good? Chester's rough vocals really suit the chorus on this and serve as a nice contrast to Mike's singing. Like Mark the Graves, the lyrics on the chorus are normally something I'd complain about, but they work so well in context with everything else in the song that I can't complain about them. I feel like Mike's rap part in the middle seems a little forced, like it didn't NEED to be there, but I think there's an intentional lyrical reference to Rebellion in it, and it really gives the song depth. The "I had never seen blood/you had sold me an ocean/and I was lost in the flood" part is one of those things that almost CAN'T be accidental. I also love the piano underneath the rap verse. About 2/3rds of the way through the song, there's a point where it sounds like it's over...and then it kicks into the heaviest fucking guitar riff Linkin Park has ever recorded. It's a thrash breakdown that sounds like it was pulled straight off an '80s Metallica album. Then we get one more chorus with modified lyrics, and an outro with fantastic drumming, Chester giving it everything he's got, and Brad going off on a maniacal two-hand tapping lead part. I'm pretty sure it's the most emotionally aggressive moment in the Linkin Park catalog. Mike's reprise of the intro at the end is the perfect way to end it. The first time I listened to this album, my reaction after hearing this last song was to just get up and pace around my apartment for a few minutes because I literally had to catch my breath and try to process everything I'd just heard. I honestly didn't think that Linkin Park was capable of a song like this. It still blows me away every time I hear it. This song is such a profound statement by the band that if they were to break up tomorrow, I'd be perfectly content with this being the last song on their last album. I don't know how they'll ever top this one...but damn am I excited to hear them try.

Score: 10/10 (I'd literally give this one 11/10 if I could but I have to draw the line SOMEWHERE)

Overall, this album really impressed me. It gets off to a little bit of a rocky start, and there's one forgettable song and one absolute turd of a song in the middle of it, but the rest of the album makes up for those moments. I'm incredibly impressed with Rob's playing on this record, not so much with Brad but I hope he uses it as a stepping stone to do even greater things in the future, and I'm getting kind of concerned for Chester's voice but he still puts in good performances most of the time on this record. I listened to all 6 Linkin Park studio albums in a row today, and WOW does Living Things ever stand out as a weak point when it's bookended by A Thousand Suns and The Hunting Party. THP is almost the yin to ATS's yang, they're definitely cousins in terms of progressiveness, one is just very synth and beat-driven while the other is guitar and drum-driven. Living Things sounds like the kind of album that would've come out 6 or 7 years ago to me, not one that's only 2 years old...jeez, how did the band do this big of a turnaround in 2 years?! I know they won't continue in this direction in the future, but I hope they keep pushing themselves creatively like they did on this album, rather than doing a "comfort zone" album like Living Things again.

 

Top 3: A Line in the Sand, Final Masquerade, Rebellion
Bottom 3: Until It's Gone, Wastelands, All For Nothing

Rather than give the album as a whole a rating, here's my new ranking of the 6 albums: Hybrid Theory > The Hunting Party > A Thousand Suns > Minutes to Midnight > Living Things > Meteora.

Edited June 28, 2014 by Astat

[hahninator]

Before I go through and list what I love, like, dislike and hate about your review....how in the world can you say Living Things is better than Meteora? I know everyone has an opinion but damn. Don't Stay, Lying From You, From The Inside, etc shit all over Lost In The Echo's regurgitated "let's be like Hybrid Theory & Meteora again, BUT WITH ELECTRONICS! ROB TAKE A SEAT ON THIS ONE!" nonsense and stomp a hole straight through Living Things.

 

But I will say Living Things is hands down the worst album in the band's catalogue and stands out as a huge sore thumb after hearing The Hunting Party. I can't express enough how disappointing that album is start-to-finish, especially after hearing an ATS-esque Primo on LPUXIII. I am still facepalming about that song becoming I'll Be Gone. The only song on the entire album that is GREAT to me is Powerless, and In My Remains can certainly be a middle-of-an-album song for an LP release, but that's it. You think Hit The Floor is bad? Listen to Burn It Down, Lies Greed Misery, Until It Breaks, Skin To Bone, and Roads Untraveled. Sure, there are portions that are great on the album like Mike's verse on Victimized, but even the guitar on that song sounds 100x better on A Line In The Sand (which I agree is the best song in their catalogue now).

 

I'm beginning to think the reason why they ended up not playing so many of the Living Things songs live is because the band now understands how badly that album flat out fucking sucks.

 

I will take your review and comment on it tomorrow.

[Geki]

Before I go through and list what I love, like, dislike and hate about your review....how in the world can you say Living Things is better than Meteora?

 

I think that as well, as do a lot of LP fans. Everyone has their own tastes in music.

[Astat]

Before I go through and list what I love, like, dislike and hate about your review....how in the world can you say Living Things is better than Meteora? I know everyone has an opinion but damn. Don't Stay, Lying From You, From The Inside, etc shit all over Lost In The Echo's regurgitated "let's be like Hybrid Theory & Meteora again, BUT WITH ELECTRONICS! ROB TAKE A SEAT ON THIS ONE!" nonsense and stomp a hole straight through Living Things.

 

But I will say Living Things is hands down the worst album in the band's catalogue and stands out as a huge sore thumb after hearing The Hunting Party. I can't express enough how disappointing that album is start-to-finish, especially after hearing an ATS-esque Primo on LPUXIII. I am still facepalming about that song becoming I'll Be Gone. The only song on the entire album that is GREAT to me is Powerless, and In My Remains can certainly be a middle-of-an-album song for an LP release, but that's it. You think Hit The Floor is bad? Listen to Burn It Down, Lies Greed Misery, Until It Breaks, Skin To Bone, and Roads Untraveled. Sure, there are portions that are great on the album like Mike's verse on Victimized, but even the guitar on that song sounds 100x better on A Line In The Sand (which I agree is the best song in their catalogue now).

 

I'm beginning to think the reason why they ended up not playing so many of the Living Things songs live is because the band now understands how badly that album flat out fucking sucks.

 

I will take your review and comment on it tomorrow.

Easy, Meteora's had over 11 years to fail to hold up, Living Things has only had 2, LOL. The only Meteora songs I can stand to listen to anymore are SIB, LFY, Figure.09, and FTI. Faint's good but I don't like the album version anymore, and I had a soft spot for Easier to Run for years but lyrically I just can't stomach that one anymore.

 

Until it Breaks is pretty good and Roads Untraveled is an A+ song, easily the best on Living Things. I still love IMR, IBG, COG, and Victimized too. LITE album version is dull as hell but it's a beast live. Only songs I don't like on Living Things are BID, LGM, and STB. Pretty indifferent to Tinfoil/Powerless but I don't really hate it.

 

Final version of I'll Be Gone is 100x better than Primo, BTW. Would've easily been the worst song on A Thousand Suns if they had released it in that form.

[Geki]

Final version of I'll Be Gone is 100x better than Primo, BTW. Would've easily been the worst song on A Thousand Suns if they had released it in that form.

 

Funny you say that because I literally just messaged Mark like 10 minutes before you posted this saying that I think Primo sucks compared to I'll Be Gone!

[RogueSoul]

 

Funny you say that because I literally just messaged Mark like 10 minutes before you posted this saying that I think Primo sucks compared to I'll Be Gone!

I see a ./ban in your near future

 

EDIT: Astat, AWESOME review. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it!

Edited June 28, 2014 by Søuł

[JZLP-NaughtyNottingham]

Am I the only one who thinks that IBG and Primo are just two different songs?

It's like P5HNG and Pushing or FRG10 and Forgotten.

Edited June 28, 2014 by LIИKIИ JŽЁ

[Derbyster]

Thanks for the in-depth review!

You reveal interesting things about certain songs, which I can't identify myself.

[Geki]

I see a ./ban in your near future

 

EDIT: Astat, AWESOME review. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it!

 

No ban, me and Mark talk about LP a lot. I don't think he is that immature that he would ban someone over a difference of opinion on a LP song. Lol.

[FearOfTheDuck]

Final version of I'll Be Gone is 100x better than Primo, BTW. Would've easily been the worst song on A Thousand Suns if they had released it in that form.

 

On the one hand I completely agree with this.

 

Don't Stay, Lying From You, From The Inside, etc shit all over Lost In The Echo's regurgitated "let's be like Hybrid Theory & Meteora again, BUT WITH ELECTRONICS! ROB TAKE A SEAT ON THIS ONE!" nonsense

 

But I also completely back this haha.

 

Very interesting review Astat, I disagree with some of your opinions but share your love of Final Masquerade and the fact that you can hear the bass guitar on Mark the Graves in particular.

[Kirstie]

Amazing review Astat! Really enjoyed reading it and totally agree on 99% of what you said, especially on Final Masquerade.

 

Thank you

[sublimeric]

I've read people on other boards say that the band just doesn't know how to write heavy music anymore, and come across as a self-important imitation of their past selves. I agree 100%, even if I like most of the album. I think that with the next LP release, I'll ignore any interviews they do, because LP can't back up any of the hype they put out. There's nothing wrong with the music they make, and I love most of it, but people won't be talking about how "Guilty All The Same" brought alternative rock back into the mainstream 20 years from now. So that's my rant against the band over promoting their work, lol.

 

Personally, I skip "Final Mascerade" just as quickly as I skip past "Powerless", "The Messenger", and "Little Things Give You Away", along with any of the other LP power ballads. Same goes for anything Mike sings on. I don't want 10 "Hybrid Theory" sequels, but prefer to have Mike rapping, Chester finding a balance between singing/screaming, and the band musically mixing it up in the studio like they do on the current setlist: rap and rock mashed up with a DJ using samples and beats to bridge the gap. They do a far better job blending their styles together in the live show than they do in the studio, where tracks like "Until It Breaks" sound like a clusterfuck of an amateur mashup.

[JZLP-NaughtyNottingham]

 

 

 

Personally, I skip "Final Mascerade" just as quickly as I skip past "Powerless", "The Messenger", and "Little Things Give You Away", along with any of the other LP power ballads. Same goes for anything Mike sings on. I don't want 10 "Hybrid Theory" sequels, but prefer to have Mike rapping, Chester finding a balance between singing/screaming, and the band musically mixing it up in the studio like they do on the current setlist: rap and rock mashed up with a DJ using samples and beats to bridge the gap. They do a far better job blending their styles together in the live show than they do in the studio, where tracks like "Until It Breaks" sound like a clusterfuck of an amateur mashup.

 

You definitely want HT3 LOOOOOOOOOL

[gorast]

That literally sounds like Hybrid Theory 3, bro.

[GlassCastles]

Guys, don't be silly. He wants Meteora 2

[Geki]

HT3.

[Jesper]

I've read people on other boards say that the band just doesn't know how to write heavy music anymore, and come across as a self-important imitation of their past selves. I agree 100%, even if I like most of the album. I think that with the next LP release, I'll ignore any interviews they do, because LP can't back up any of the hype they put out. There's nothing wrong with the music they make, and I love most of it, but people won't be talking about how "Guilty All The Same" brought alternative rock back into the mainstream 20 years from now. So that's my rant against the band over promoting their work, lol.

 

Personally, I skip "Final Mascerade" just as quickly as I skip past "Powerless", "The Messenger", and "Little Things Give You Away", along with any of the other LP power ballads. Same goes for anything Mike sings on. I don't want 10 "Hybrid Theory" sequels, but prefer to have Mike rapping, Chester finding a balance between singing/screaming, and the band musically mixing it up in the studio like they do on the current setlist: rap and rock mashed up with a DJ using samples and beats to bridge the gap. They do a far better job blending their styles together in the live show than they do in the studio, where tracks like "Until It Breaks" sound like a clusterfuck of an amateur mashup.

I think that is people's own fault though. People buy ('blindly') what interviews or quotes say. The artist loves his or her work. They felt that this album is a statement against what is hot out there atm. People should take anything they hear with a grain of salt anyways. Just like when people trust in reviews. Most reviews are made by people who hear the album once, or some songs, then they write their first thoughts and their first feelings. It doesn't says anything/ Music is an artform, and art is something that everyone experiences differently. Whether it is the artist, a lover, a hater or a random listener.

[JZLP-NaughtyNottingham]

HT3.

 

Back in 2004 I would be waiting for HT3, for sure.