"One More Light" Turns Three

[LPLStaff]

Happy Birthday to Linkin Park's latest album, "One More Light, which turns three today.

 

It's hard to believe that it has been three years already since the album came out. However, there likely won't be three years until the NEXT Linkin Park album if things go well with the band writing new music.

 

How have your perceptions of OML changed since the album came out?

[xxHybridXeroxx]

My perception has changed certainly since the album came out. At first I really didn’t like it. At least until I heard the songs live. The songs translated extremely well live. Now OML is my 3rd favorite LP album (behind ATS and MTM). What hits me hard about the album is the extremely personal lyrics. The lyrics have helped me in some dark times. 

Here’s  my track by track review:  Nobody Can Save Me is my absolute favorite song on the album, it describes exactly what goes through my head sometimes, and how I’m the only one who can help myself. Not a fan of Good Goodbye’s studio version, but the live version absolutely slaps. Talking To Myself is one of my favorite live songs, and the studio version is pretty good too, although the live version puts the studio version to shame. Battle Symphony is okay, not my favorite on the album, but not my least favorite either. Invisible is great. Love Mike taking lead vocals, and this song, along with Sorry For Now, gives me hope that when LP does come back, Mike can front the band. Heavy is my least favorite song on the album, but the live version with just Chester sounds great, wonder if there’s a demo with just Chester singing. I’d love to hear that. Sorry For Now is good as well, Again much like Invisible, I love Mike taking lead, and I hope this song will be a mainstay in LP sets for years to come, sounded excellent on the Post Traumatic tour. Halfway Right is a good one as well, I can relate to the lyrical content in ways, always fighting with myself in my head. The title track, is super super emotional, I got tears in my eyes listening to it even before Chester passed. Now it’s brutal to listen to, still one of my favorites though. Sharp Edges is a great one too, reminds me a lot of Mumford and Sons. Sounds almost folky as well. 

If you read this all, you’re the real MVP! 

 

Edited May 19, 2020 by xxHybridXeroxx
Wanted to add review

[leftshoe18]

I like it about as much as when it first came out. It's not my favorite Linkin Park album but it's got some great tunes on it (Nobody Can Save Me, Invisible and Sorry For Now being my favorites).

[castro78]

Hasn’t changed at all. I thought it was an embarrassing mess when it came out, and I still do. TTM and SE are fine, but the rest of it is boring, generic pop music. I understand that bands have to release what they feel is right for them at a certain time, but I’ll never understand why they landed on this. 

[Somebodyangry]

Never changed my mind on the album, fully enjoyed it since day 1, definitely my favorite post-ATS Lp album, as a whole I'd put it in 3rd/4th place. Absolute favorites are NCSM, Halfway Right and OML, but there's not a single song I fully dislike. 

[bloodbath]

Some songs like NCSM, GG and Heavy have grown on me during these years. But in general I'm still feeling this album as very generic in terms of sound, despite the lyrics. For me, the their weakest work to date. 

Edited May 19, 2020 by bloodbath

[Masterli]

Still the worst album in my opinion. Only One More Light (song) ang Talking to Myself are my favourite. I thought maybe someday this album will sound better in my ears. But nothing changed.

[RogueSoul]

Crazy that it's been three years already. For me, what really makes an album special is the memories that come with it. I think I can say with certainty that I may have the most memories attached to One More Light than most of my other favorite records.

 

For better and for worse, this record was filled with tragedy, but by the same measure it was also filled with relief. Music has always been my therapy, and this record unlike many others didn't try to hide its pain behind strange metaphors or walls of sound. Every song is a recollection of some painful memory, in which by performing you can feel the band accept that these emotions are a part of them, and instead of reveling in the pain of having experienced them, we should celebrate the fact, because in the end, it makes us who we are.

 

OML has been my 2nd favorite LP record since it came out, and I don't really see that changing any time soon (I guess it all depends on what comes next). But I can say without a doubt that the songs on One More Light really showed me the power of music and the genius of Linkin Park. Be it a forward pop song about life bringing you down at every turn or a heartfelt ballad for lost friends and family, LP wrote these words from the heart, just like they did any record. It may not be for everyone, but I think this record was certainly for me. Lord knows where I would've ended up after 2017 had I not had some of these songs to confide in.

 

Thank you One More Light, and thank you Linkin Park for not being afraid to be vulnerable. Time to blast Sorry For Now in their honor!

[Casey29]

This is how I currently feel about each song on the album...

Nobody Can Save Me - Great song overall, but it feels unfinished. It's also kind of hard to listen to that song and not relate it to darker things...

 

Good Goodbye - Worst LP song on an actual record to date. The lyrics are awful and Mike sounded like he was trying way too hard when he really didn't need to.

Talking To Myself -  My opinion on this song constantly changes. I like it but I feel like it would have fit in better on another album. I also never would've guessed how well this and BID back to back live would've been opening the set. Great, great song live!

 

Battle Symphony - It starts out strong but doesn't really go anywhere, and that's too bad because I really like the intro. Just like NCSM, it feels unfinished and I don't like it in a live setting.

 

Invisible -  Mike sings exceptionally well on this but the music feels like an afterthought. It came off really well live though, especially with the longer intro.

 

Heavy - Not a bad track overall, but it was way too short and shouldn't have been the lead single. It was obvious they made this to be a radio hit. The video was done really well, however.

 

Sorry For Now - My favorite track on the album. I hate saying that because this is primarily a Chester album, but Mike sounds so good here and I like the overall feel of it.

 

Halfway Right -  I really like the lyrics, just not the execution of them. This was definitely a result of Chester being into Twenty One Pilots while making this album. 

 

One More Light - Just like with Invisible, great singing and lyrics, but the music feels like an after thought. I am thankful this song exists, though. It's so relevant and powerful and I'm sure it's helped so many people get through these past few years. 

 

Sharp Edges - My other favorite track on the album. My only complaint with this song is that it didn't feel like an album closer without an epic ending to it. Love it otherwise.

 

 

 

My overall impression with this album is that if they had spent more time on the actual music side of things as they did the lyrics, it would've came out so much better. It feels like they worked really hard on lyrics and then just slapped some instrumentals on top of them. I don't hate the album, but it is their weakest effort. Also just like Soul said, I have a ton of memories both good and bad attached to it and because of that, it'll always be an important record to me.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Casey29

[Broman]

Still enjoy this record as much as I did the first time I heard it. Hands down my favorite LP record to date. 

[LPSoldier1]

Hard to believe that this album came out 3 years ago, but when I look back at everything that has happened since, it feels longer than 3 years, if that makes sense. 
 

I don’t have a personal connection to this album like some fans do. It’s not my favorite album by the band. But it’s not the absolute worst one, that spot is saved for The Hunting Party. This is probably tied with Living Things and A Thousand Suns for me. It has some good songs. NCSM and BS are my favorites. I hate the chipmunk vocals on GG and SFN but yet I love them on NCSM, no idea why. GG is just a really cheesy song to me. But SFN is pretty good despite that. Mike’s vocals are good on Invisible and SFN. He’s no Chester but he’s pretty good and he seems like he finally has expected his singing voice on these songs, which is good for the future of the band if they continue with him singing. OML, the song, is touching and I understand why so many fans love it, because they relate to it with what happened to Chester. The only thing that ever annoyed me about it is that the band wrote the song for someone they worked with for a long time who died of cancer. Some people (mostly non hardcore fans) seem to think it was written by Chester as like a ‘’goodbye note’’ or something, but he actually didn’t even write the song and even if he did help with lyrics, it was about that friend who had died. But people can relate the song with whatever they want, that’s what music is for right? Heavy wasn’t a good choice for a lead single, IMO. I would have chose TTM for that. I really enjoy the live version of Heavy that has only Chester singing the whole song, I think that would have been better for the album than the version with Kiiara, which could have been cool as like a remix or alternate version. Heavy was one of two songs Chester wrote, and I feel like that is really the true song for his goodbye, as he has described the lyrics as being very personal to him and his last few years of life. And with the live version with only him singing, it gives you a more complete story for him. Just my opinion. Sharp Edges also is a good song but does not work as a closer for me, I would swap that and OML, OML would have been a great album closer. 

[Legend]

The album still sucks after all this time.  I just appreciate it more now after the loss of Chester.  However, the album still sucks.

 

Oddly enough, I hate the track One More Light but do enjoy it now.  Mostly because of the attachment it has to Chester (the death and music video and all).  However, I don't go out of my way to listen to it (or any song of this album).

 

To be honest, this whole album is forgettable. There is not one song on this soda can coaster that I will go to war far.  Give me reanimation and inject that shit into my veins.

[martinez]

This is a still their worst album.

 

3 hours ago, Legend said:

Oddly enough, I hate the track One More Light but do enjoy it now.  Mostly because of the attachment it has to Chester (the death and music video and all).  However, I don't go out of my way to listen to it (or any song of this album).

 

I also hated that song some much. Now I'm neutral about it, but the main reason I hated it was because it was too much of it over the entire internet.

[JZLP-NaughtyNottingham]

By far their most unpleasant album, the replay value fucking sucks, the trendy sounds that they used now sound very outdated

 

LP is all about a hybrid mix of styles but they tried so hard to copy other bands

 

By saying they of course i am talking about Brad & Mike this is their side project 

 

OML = 10

NCSM = 8

 

The rest of the album = 2

 

Mark if you wanna listen to an overproduced album listen to this crap

 

Sharp Edges is beautiful in some versions that fans made from multitracks where they only used vocals and guitar 

 

They fucking wrecked the track with all the stupid unnecessary sounds 

 

Thanks god that the last track that Chester recorded was Cross Off, that one is gem. 

Edited May 20, 2020 by JZLP

[Cesar656]

I can feel the saltiness of many due to the record being more poppy, but it has some really good songs in it.

Nobody can Save me, Invisible, Sorry for Now, OML...

I didnt like the chipmunk sounds at all, that made me cringe, but overall it is really enjoyable, to not have screams or loud guitars for once. Not that i dislike them, but its also nice to have chilled lp songs

[Somebodyangry]

As a fan, the thing that I always thought and most music critics and fans didn't admit is that the album is SUPER RISKY for a band like LP.

I mean, it's super pop ok, but if you are Linkin Park and for the 1st time in your career you decide to put out a record with no screaming at all (even ATS had Blackout on it), only one rap verse from Mike, no heavy distorted guitars and go full pop, well kudos. 

[eXoBlackOut]

Such a mixed album. Like other people here said it has some great songs:

 

NCSM, SFN and OML are top tier LP songs for me. Heavy has grown alot on me, just love the melody on that one and the Kiiara vocals give it a nice touch.

Good Goodbye was a song were I expected more considering the features, but the live version banged hard so its fine now.

Talking To Myself is alright, same as Invisible. Sometimes I like them and want to listen to them and other times I don't care for them. After three years I still haven't settled I actually like these songs. Very strange...

Battle Symphony has some great vocals from Chester but in the end just falls flat for me. The songs offers not enough besides the vocals. 

Sharp Edges is a song I never understood. I can't stand the album version, but after seeing the live version I kinda liked it more. Still only listen to the live version.

And at last we have Halfway Right, my least favourite LP song. Nothing I like about it. 

 

After all I feel like this album could have been much more, but just stays mediocre. I don't think I ever listen to the album in full, but certain songs I keep playing. 

I do have great memories of this album cycle. The promo tour with Mike and Chester was amazing to follow. The shows were great, with many livestreams and the Amsterdam show was the best concert I ever went to. 

 

Here's to hoping the next LP album will bring the same sort of joy! 

[Somebodyangry]

19 minutes ago, eXoBlackOut said:

Such a mixed album. Like other people here said it has some great songs:

 

NCSM, SFN and OML are top tier LP songs for me. Heavy has grown alot on me, just love the melody on that one and the Kiiara vocals give it a nice touch.

Good Goodbye was a song were I expected more considering the features, but the live version banged hard so its fine now.

Talking To Myself is alright, same as Invisible. Sometimes I like them and want to listen to them and other times I don't care for them. After three years I still haven't settled I actually like these songs. Very strange...

Battle Symphony has some great vocals from Chester but in the end just falls flat for me. The songs offers not enough besides the vocals. 

Sharp Edges is a song I never understood. I can't stand the album version, but after seeing the live version I kinda liked it more. Still only listen to the live version.

And at last we have Halfway Right, my least favourite LP song. Nothing I like about it. 

 

After all I feel like this album could have been much more, but just stays mediocre. I don't think I ever listen to the album in full, but certain songs I keep playing. 

I do have great memories of this album cycle. The promo tour with Mike and Chester was amazing to follow. The shows were great, with many livestreams and the Amsterdam show was the best concert I ever went to. 

 

Here's to hoping the next LP album will bring the same sort of joy! 

Wow Halfway Right is my fav song on the album and a top 20 Lp song for me  love how we fans can have sooo different thoughts

[hahninator]

4 hours ago, JZLP said:

Mark if you wanna listen to an overproduced album listen to this crap

 

That's funny you mention that because the OML album has probably one of the best production sounds in the entire LP catalogue. The production quality and sound of each track is enormous. Crank it in the headphones and sonically it all sounds really fantastic, even the versions on the LP YouTube. You can tell whoever is responsible for the final sound really put a lot of work into it. It's refreshing compared to the deliberately raw sound of The Hunting Party. I will get into the production issues with Amends in another thread, but not in this one.

Looking back at the One More Light album on my iTunes, quite a few of the songs have under 10 plays (Heavy, Good Goodbye, Battle Symphony, Invisible, Halfway Right) three years later. There isn't much replay value in a majority of the album for me and so inevitably, this is Linkin Park's weakest album for me. The Hunting Party is pretty close. For my personal tastes, the band peaked creatively with ATS and then slipped downhill with Living Things (a portion of which was composed of shortened ATS demos), further downhill with The Hunting Party, and even further downhill with One More Light. I personally enjoy Post Traumatic much more than those three albums.

 

It's odd to me that after such a lengthy down time (canceled 2015 USA tour), all of 2016 off, etc, they came out with only ten songs. Mike wanted Place to Start to open it and we know they have other songs completed.... I'm just surprised the album was so short. Chester has two writing credits on the entire album - we are talking about the guy who is behind the Waiting For The End chorus (maybe the best in their catalogue?) and other highlights... I mean that just doesn't even make sense to me.

 

Tracks like Halfway Right and Battle Symphony are some of the worst in the catalogue to me, alongside tracks like Lies Greed Misery, Hit The Floor, etc. Good Goodbye doesn't fit on the album at all as the only song with Mike's rapping, something the album actually lacks but with just GG on it, it feels so out of place. The "live from the genesis" verse is pretty good, and is leagues better than the two guest verses so I am surprised they cut it. I think the guests aren't noteworthy and actually contribute to the songs they are on being worse (Pusha, Stormzy, and Kiiara).

 

Highlights: I do think Nobody Can Save Me is a fantastic track (loved seeing Mike play it on the Post Traumatic Tour), I love Talking to Myself as well (but it is better live), Sorry For Now is A+, and One More Light and Sharp Edges are great. So that's half the album, ha. You can't deny that the song OML is one of the best songs they have ever written. However, the weaker part of the album just drags it down so much and combined with how short it is, I just don't ever listen to it. Meanwhile, A Thousand Suns for me has had tremendous replay value in the past few years and I jam that album frequently. While the initial response to ATS was a huge backlash, the album aged extremely well and I think that OML is not going to age even half as well in seven more years.

 

OML was an experiment with them to learn from other songwriters and I fully understand that (and even support it) but I know these guys can write better music solely on their own.

 

With all that said, I thought the touring cycle was actually off to the best start since MTM. The small Chester and Mike shows were really cool and the band was in epic form on stage in South America and Europe. The European shows were next level for LP, playing the longest shows in the history of the band, changing the setlists to take some fan requests (APFMH, FTI, POA, SIB, etc), and I thought the set was structured well. While I think the album was not great, the touring cycle was a monster. While covering the tour and watching it show by show on YouTube I was shocked how many shows they would "hit a home run" in a row. Check out Rock Werchter into the next show in Sweden... some truly good LP stuff there.

 

If you want to look at something positive that came from OML, it's that Mike can take some of these songs and sing them on future LP tours. Nobody Can Save Me, Battle Symphony, Invisible, Sorry For Now, Good Goodbye (some sort of mashup), and One More Light at the very minimum are able to be used for their new shows and I think that's very helpful.

[RentEznor]

2 hours ago, Hahninator said:

 

That's funny you mention that because the OML album has probably one of the best production sounds in the entire LP catalogue. The production quality and sound of each track is enormous. Crank it in the headphones and sonically it all sounds really fantastic, even the versions on the LP YouTube. You can tell whoever is responsible for the final sound really put a lot of work into it. It's refreshing compared to the deliberately raw sound of The Hunting Party. I will get into the production issues with Amends in another thread, but not in this one.

Looking back at the One More Light album on my iTunes, quite a few of the songs have under 10 plays (Heavy, Good Goodbye, Battle Symphony, Invisible, Halfway Right) three years later. There isn't much replay value in a majority of the album for me and so inevitably, this is Linkin Park's weakest album for me. The Hunting Party is pretty close. For my personal tastes, the band peaked creatively with ATS and then slipped downhill with Living Things (a portion of which was composed of shortened ATS demos), further downhill with The Hunting Party, and even further downhill with One More Light. I personally enjoy Post Traumatic much more than those three albums.

 

It's odd to me that after such a lengthy down time (canceled 2015 USA tour), all of 2016 off, etc, they came out with only ten songs. Mike wanted Place to Start to open it and we know they have other songs completed.... I'm just surprised the album was so short. Chester has two writing credits on the entire album - we are talking about the guy who is behind the Waiting For The End chorus (maybe the best in their catalogue?) and other highlights... I mean that just doesn't even make sense to me.

 

Tracks like Halfway Right and Battle Symphony are some of the worst in the catalogue to me, alongside tracks like Lies Greed Misery, Hit The Floor, etc. Good Goodbye doesn't fit on the album at all as the only song with Mike's rapping, something the album actually lacks but with just GG on it, it feels so out of place. The "live from the genesis" verse is pretty good, and is leagues better than the two guest verses so I am surprised they cut it. I think the guests aren't noteworthy and actually contribute to the songs they are on being worse (Pusha, Stormzy, and Kiiara).

 

Highlights: I do think Nobody Can Save Me is a fantastic track (loved seeing Mike play it on the Post Traumatic Tour), I love Talking to Myself as well (but it is better live), Sorry For Now is A+, and One More Light and Sharp Edges are great. So that's half the album, ha. You can't deny that the song OML is one of the best songs they have ever written. However, the weaker part of the album just drags it down so much and combined with how short it is, I just don't ever listen to it. Meanwhile, A Thousand Suns for me has had tremendous replay value in the past few years and I jam that album frequently. While the initial response to ATS was a huge backlash, the album aged extremely well and I think that OML is not going to age even half as well in seven more years.

 

OML was an experiment with them to learn from other songwriters and I fully understand that (and even support it) but I know these guys can write better music solely on their own.

 

With all that said, I thought the touring cycle was actually off to the best start since MTM. The small Chester and Mike shows were really cool and the band was in epic form on stage in South America and Europe. The European shows were next level for LP, playing the longest shows in the history of the band, changing the setlists to take some fan requests (APFMH, FTI, POA, SIB, etc), and I thought the set was structured well. While I think the album was not great, the touring cycle was a monster. While covering the tour and watching it show by show on YouTube I was shocked how many shows they would "hit a home run" in a row. Check out Rock Werchter into the next show in Sweden... some truly good LP stuff there.

 

If you want to look at something positive that came from OML, it's that Mike can take some of these songs and sing them on future LP tours. Nobody Can Save Me, Battle Symphony, Invisible, Sorry For Now, Good Goodbye (some sort of mashup), and One More Light at the very minimum are able to be used for their new shows and I think that's very helpful.

 

200% this.

 

Aside of that, if this album didn't had the poppy sound many would've praised it very hard, kinda how I see Mike's Twitch chat at times people asking for guitars because as everyone knows, only 'real' instruments work for music.

[DirtyLittleHamster]

Definitely the worst album by the band. I hate all the songs. They didn’t even write the songs. It also sounds EXTREMELY outdated in 2020 after only 3 years with all that pop sound and style it had. Like Anthony Fantano said when it dropped, the style of pop that was OML was popular in like 2013, not 2017, and by 2020 it sounds ancient. It’s sad this was the last thing released with Chester. Should have been THP. If after the tour cycle for THP they felt burnt out and didn’t want to write their own songs anymore they should have just never did a new album and toured for years on end. 

Edited May 21, 2020 by DirtyLittleHamster

[Somebodyangry]

6 hours ago, DirtyLittleHamster said:

Definitely the worst album by the band. I hate all the songs. They didn’t even write the songs. It also sounds EXTREMELY outdated in 2020 after only 3 years with all that pop sound and style it had. Like Anthony Fantano said when it dropped, the style of pop that was OML was popular in like 2013, not 2017, and by 2020 it sounds ancient. It’s sad this was the last thing released with Chester. Should have been THP. If after the tour cycle for THP they felt burnt out and didn’t want to write their own songs anymore they should have just never did a new album and toured for years on end. 

THP is their worst record by far, the first half is Empty and dull, it recovers from Wastelands on. 

[leftshoe18]

12 hours ago, DirtyLittleHamster said:

Definitely the worst album by the band. I hate all the songs. They didn’t even write the songs. It also sounds EXTREMELY outdated in 2020 after only 3 years with all that pop sound and style it had. Like Anthony Fantano said when it dropped, the style of pop that was OML was popular in like 2013, not 2017, and by 2020 it sounds ancient. It’s sad this was the last thing released with Chester. Should have been THP. If after the tour cycle for THP they felt burnt out and didn’t want to write their own songs anymore they should have just never did a new album and toured for years on end. 

Mike has writing credit on all the songs and Brad has credit on 7 of 10. They've always been the main songwriters in the band so I'm sure that's pretty similar to the actual writing of previous albums (though they've always been just credited as written by Linkin Park). They worked with other songwriters but it's exaggerating to say they didn't write their own songs. They wanted to make a modern pop album (for some reason) and part of that process is working with other songwriters.

[Stranger]

6 hours ago, Comfortinthepanic92 said:

THP is their worst record by far, the first half is Empty and dull, it recovers from Wastelands on. 

 

THP always better than OML. that's my opinion. OML is like an album where the label really wanted/force the band to do it after THP didnt do so well in the commercial market. gotta say WBR is the mastermind of everything. they literally make THP failed so badly by having worst marketing, tour and more. so, the band had no choice by following the order to make this pop rock record which most of the fans really disappointed. personally, the album is good but not better than the rest of their catalogue.

[Somebodyangry]

20 minutes ago, Stranger said:

 

THP always better than OML. that's my opinion. OML is like an album where the label really wanted/force the band to do it after THP didnt do so well in the commercial market. gotta say WBR is the mastermind of everything. they literally make THP failed so badly by having worst marketing, tour and more. so, the band had no choice by following the order to make this pop rock record which most of the fans really disappointed. personally, the album is good but not better than the rest of their catalogue.

I was super into THP when it dropped, but to me even tho it was a "fuck the label we do what we want" type of album and I can understand  and respect the idea, to me it has aged horribly, it's my least fav in terms of Chester's vocals, he basically yells in some songs and I've got big problems with the first five.

KTTK and AFN might be my least fav LP songs to date  (alongside with HTF, Nobody's Listening and In Between), GATS has cool instrumentation but the verses are so formuliac and  lirycally it comes of as the stereotypycal "anti" song, except for the Rakim part that's cool, The Summoning is ok (quite useless but ok), War is fun but again, Chester basically yells "WAAAAAAAAR DESTROYERRRR", then from Wastelands on I like it (especially Rebellion and FM, amazing songs), ALITS is good but overrated IMO and the rap verse is out of place.

OML to me feels the opposite, I always felt they were all on board with the project and, even if it's not super creative in terms of music, it's super enjoyable, I remember liking every song upon the first listen sooo, yeah, it's very personal  

Plus, the fact that Chester took singing lessons (vocal coach or stuff like that, you know better than me) was something really effective on OML, I love his delivery on the title track, NCSM, BS (that bridge is awesome) and Halfway Right (probably my fav song) 

    

Edited May 21, 2020 by Comfortinthepanic92