'From Zero' Album Discussion

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

Does anyone think that I Give You has a sample of Fire Starter by the Prodigy ?

[leftshoe18]

3 hours ago, porfir said:

no homage/tribute to chester is also not something i like.

 

Were the tributes in the Hollywood Bowl show, Post Traumatic (and its tour), HT20, M20, and Papercuts not enough? They can't just be doing Chester tributes the whole rest of their career.

[Stranger]

2 minutes ago, leftshoe18 said:

 

Were the tributes in the Hollywood Bowl show, Post Traumatic (and its tour), HT20, M20, and Papercuts not enough? They can't just be doing Chester tributes the whole rest of their career.

 

true. if they keep using Chester's name in the releases, people will easily said they're using him for profits, cash grab or something. let it be FROM ZERO as something new, moving forward chapter. Chester will forever and ever be in our heart. RIP Chester!

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

After playing this album over and ovet again this is my top

 

1 IGIYEIH

2 Casualty

3 Good Things Go

4 Over Flow 

5 Two Faced

6 Emptiness Machine

7 Heavy Is The Crown

8 Over Each Other 

9 Stained 

10 Cut The Bridge

 

[linkindan]

My Rankings, From Zero

 

0. From Zero (Intro)

1. The Emptiness Machine*
2. Good Things Go

3. Two Faced

4. Heavy Is The Crown

5. Over Each Other

6. IGYEIH

7. Overflow

8. Stained

9. Cut The Bridge

10. Casualty^

 

* TEM gets return/lead single points by default, but it would have edged out GTG without that

 

^ sigh… Casualty should be a great track but it’s empty. If it had more audible depth and richer vocals, this would be much higher

[mattyice318]

Seems like Mike felt he had to do the heavy lifting, but they made an album that played to new strengths. Many great songs, nothing I disliked, just overall felt slightly forced or empty.

1. Heavy is the crown

2. Good Things Go

3. Two Faced

4. Cut the Bridge

5. IGYEIH

Missed Rob more than I thought I would.

6. Over Each Other

7. Stained

8. The Emptiness Machine

9. Overflow

10. Casualty

 

 

Edited Friday at 05:32 AM by mattyice318
Changed mind

[GC377]

Such a good album, easy contender for album of the year for me. Hard to rank and this isn't definitive by any means, but right now my ranking is:

 

1. Good Things Go

2. Two Faced 

3. Heavy Is The Crown

4. Overflow

5. Casualty

6. The Emptiness Machine

7. IGYEIH

8. Over Each Other

9. Cut The Bridge

10. Stained

[Chesterisinmyblood90]

Geki here. 
 

Now that I’ve had days to digest the album, I want to give a better review. I was listening to a shit quality rip before on my laptop. Now that I’ve been able to listen to the album in my car and on Apple, it’s much better. 
 

Let me say first off, I didn’t want to to like this album. Everyone knows I’m the most obsessed as fuck Chester fan out there. But I couldn’t not like it. It’s too good. 
 

From the first moment I heard The Emptiness Machine, I liked it a lot. That song slays. But the whole albums slays, actually. It is for sure the best album the band has put out since Minutes To Midnight, which was their last masterpiece. This album destroys anything made after Minutes To Midnight era. For real. And that’s cool for me because I don’t listen to anything or collect anything from the band after the Minutes To Midnight era, so this is like a fresh start for me. Like two different eras.

 

I’m so happy that the band brought back the rock side of the band. I hope they don’t change their sound in the future, I want this sound on every album moving forward. This is what Linkin Park is; this sound. Minutes To Midnight is my favorite album of all time and nothing will ever take it’s place. And on that album, they still had a ROCK base. It was different but still had that rock edge aside from maybe a few tracks, but those outliers were still very Linkin Park, because Minutes To Midnight was a perfect blend of rock and hip hop but done differently. I hate everything after Minutes To Midnight because I feel like the band lost their way so to speak, their identity, they went too crazy with some of the music they made. For me, Linkin Park will always be 1996-2008 and all of the memories I have of the band from that time frame. However, this new album slays, like I said, and I’m glad I separate the past and the future and now enjoy this.

 

I am 100% going to the Boston show, how could I not? I’ve been to every Massachusetts show that the band has done since 2007, as well as all side projects. My first ever concert of my life was Fort Minor at the Avalon Ballroom on Feb. 3rd, 2006 in Boston. I went to both STP with Chester shows in Boston. I saw Chester play with Kings Of Chaos in Boston in December of 2016 and that was the last time that I ever saw Chester perform live sadly, because he took his life a week before they were set to return to Massachusetts in Mansfield. Of course I was at the Boston show for Mike’s Post Traumatic tour too, which was a fucking awesome show. I’ve lived in Massachusetts my entire life (not that I haven’t traveled, I’ve been to 3 other countries and many other states), but I’m Massachusetts as fuck. So I have to go. Hope to see some people from the site at the show. I love how it’s a summer show, too. Always a good time. 
 

Anyways, this album kicks fucking ass. People need to get over the fact that Emily and Colin have replaced Chester and Rob. Nobody is Chester, ever. Let me make that clear. Which is why I’m happy the band chose a female vocalist, and Emily is the best female vocalist there is. She does Chester proud, if you don’t like it, fuck you. As for Rob, I respect his decision to leave the band. Maybe it was too hard for him to continue without Chester, I get it. I understand. Colin is a good replacement. It took me a while to come around, to accept Emily and Colin, but I finally have. I wanted to hate them, but I couldn’t. Fuck it. Let’s go. 
 

Casualty is the heaviest song the band has ever recorded, IMO. It’s fucking awesome. I love it. Good Things Go is so fucking good. Stained is amazing. I love the entire album. It took a minute to grow on me but I now love it. I had to open myself up and move on with the future. Fuck it. This is Linkin Park now and it sounds fucking awesome. 
 

I just hope that they don’t revert to making music like One More Light, A Thousand Suns, The Hunting Party or Living Things again. I hate those albums a lot. This new album utterly destroys those albums. Of course the first three albums are my babies and will never be defeated by anything but yeah. 
 

EDIT: I forgot to add, I love how Joe is now present in the sound again. The last album he was present on was Minutes To Midnight, IMO, and it’s awesome to have him be back in the music. I love the nu-metal nods on the album, too. I love the heavy shit on the album, as well as the pop rock stuff. I just love that no matter what, everything has a rock base at the end of the day. That’s why I hated everything after Minutes To Midnight. I’m so happy that the band chose to go in this direction. And oh yeah, PVris as a support act for the Boston show, I don’t mind Lindsay. She is good. And she is also Massachusetts as fuck like myself so it’s all love. 

Edited Friday at 08:23 AM by Chesterisinmyblood90

[Qwerty18]

The album is great. First no-fillers/no-weak tracks record since ATS, for me.

 

The way Mike and Emily share vocal duties on 90% percent of the tracks, alternating back-and-forth and between different singing styles, rapping styles, yelling, screaming, whispering, it's really what this band was always all about. It is what makes record like HT and ATS so special. It's great to have that chemistry back. There are no moments where I felt like "ok, here comes the Mike song", "ok here comes the Emily song". It's all fluid and constantly evolving. 

 

The album feels like a journey through LP discography, but yet, it has a very strong distinct identity on its own. There is no LP record that sounds like From Zero. And it achieves that cohesive tone despite being a very diverse record in term of genres. It's genius.

 

The songs are strong, all of them.

• TEM is an anthem that deserves all its praise and more
• CTB is a grower, the more you listen to it, the better it gets. It's catchy af.
• HITC is super fun banger
• OEO is super vibey and evolves quite a bit through its short run time, and Emily is awesome in it
• Casualty fucking rips
• Overflow is mindblowingly good, love the atmosphere
• Two Faced is the band giving their sweetest tribute to their beginnings yet, and they aced it 100%
• Stain is an earworm
• IGYEIH is a banger,  reminds me of Tool at times
• GTG is stunning and emotionally super intense

I loved my first few listens. Welcome back LP.

[HT_lash]

After a long wait, From Zero is finally here. I fell asleep listening to it and woke up listening to it again. I'm so happy that Linkin Park is back. I can say that, for me, it's the best since Living Things.

If I had to list favorite songs to least favorite, this would be it (but it will certainly change as I listen to it).

Two Faced
The Emptiness Machine
Stained
Heavy is the crown
Good Things Go
IGYEIH
Over Each Other 
Casualty
Overflow
Cut the Bridge

 

[HybridSoldier.LP]

My ranking, but dificult set

 

1.Two Faced 
2.Cut The bridge
3.Heavy t crow
4.Stained
5.Empty machine
6.Igyeih
7.Over The other
8.Go things go
9.Overflow
10.Causualy

 

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 01:16 PM by HybridSoldier.LP

[auburntiger]

I've only listened to it once so far.  My thoughts anyway after first blush and reflecting:

 

Elements of the album definitely make it a Linkin Park album, like the guitar riffs, MIke's wrapping, and Joe's work.  Many of the songs are reminiscent of Hybrid Theory and Meteora.  Heavy is the Crown, to me, anyway, has that guitar melody from the chorus of "Faint" in it.  Again, my point of view, and so what if it does?  It works.

 

Having said that, it's also a different enough collection of songs that you can tell that progression is there to still try new ideas and playing with melodies.  More tracks with Mike either singing or screaming.  Emily also screams a fair bit of her lyrics; I'm not sure if that was a common thing with Dead Sara, so I'm ignorant there.  It does feel like the band is "keeping up with the times" this time around.  I occasionally think about Spiritbox as I listen, as well as other groups in that same vein.

 

I get those who are disappointed in a lack of a Chester tribute, but it was done through the Hollywood Bowl (which should get some kind of official release).  Chester will always ben synonymous with Linkin Park.  I can't help but think for the rest of the band, though the chorus from "Heavy":  "I keep draggin' around what's keeping me down, if I just let let go, I'd be set free," and feel that eventually let go of grief.  I know Rob didn't feel comfortable moving forward, and I also respect that. 

 

I do hope more live material does get released, so we can hear more of Emily's take on the older songs with Chester's vocals.  I don't know if it will happen (hell, Springsteen even does it now via nugs.net).

 

tl;dr - It is definitely a Linkin Park album, but at the same time continuing to try new things to avoid the expectation of each and every release being identical to Hybrid Theory and Meteora.

 

p.s. To Shinoda:  thanks for leaving Alvin & The Chipmunks at home this time around.

[leftshoe18]

2 minutes ago, auburntiger said:

 Hollywood Bowl (which should get some kind of official release)

 

Doing an official release of that show would feel gross. Nobody should profit off of what was essentially Chester's (public) funeral. Having it available on YouTube like they do is plenty. 

[Chazy987]

After days of listening, I've included From Zero in my personal - and expanded - ranking of the band's catalog. Where do you place the guys' eighth studio effort?
ps. it's clearly a game and over the years the position could change.

 

 

01. METEORA - 5/5

•   LOST DEMOS (METEORA 20TH ANNIVERSARY)

02. A THOUSAND SUNS - 5/5

03. HYBRID THEORY - 4.5/5

•   FORGOTTEN DEMOS (HYBRID THEORY 20TH ANNIVERSARY)

04. ONE MORE LIGHT - 4/5

05. MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT - 4/5

06. FROM ZERO - 4/5

07. NEW DIVIDE - 4/5

08. REANIMATION - 4/5

09. THE HUNTING PARTY -3.5/5

10. HYBRID THEORY EP - 3.5/5

11. FRIENDLY FIRE - 3.5/5

•   PAPERCUTS (SINGLES COLLECTION 2000-2023)

12. LIVING THINGS - 3/5

13. MALL OST - 3/5

14. NOT ALONE - 3/5

15. COLLISION COURSE - 3/5

16. WE MADE IT - 3/5

17. XERO DEMO CASSETTE - 3/5

18. RECHARGED - 3/5

19. DARKER THAN BLOOD - 2.5/5

XX. LPU 2-16

XX. DEMOS, B-SIDES, BONUS & UNRELEASED MATERIAL (1996-2024)

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

[baumxyz]

God, I love Good Things Go
Emptiness Machine remains my favorite
Casualty is an absolute disappointment. I want to like the song, but at the moment it's by far the worst song on the album for me

[AParallelogramInTheSand]

re: no Chester tribute, what do y'all want? Do you want an album full of another eulogy after PT? I feel stuff like this is better for them to properly tribute.

[RentEznor]

Just finished now and I honestly thought it was going to be HT 3.0, thankfully it wasn't.

 

I had fun, quite solid. I greatly appreciate the Fuse & Joe sample references from his Tasty Gas Station vinyl as a person who when someone says 'old school LP' instead of thinking 2000-2006 I sometimes go back to 1996-1999/pre-HT release, it's funny how brains and perspectives work 🤠. I totally get why they decided to go back to basics but again, my brain played tricks on me and I got used hearing the band experiment for so many years after 2003 that for whatever reason I'm still stuck on that mindset, maybe I'm getting old or maybe cause I listen to lots of different stuff I'm used to variety over always wanting to hear one specific type of sound. 

 

Can't choose a fav for now, I need multiple listenings to make up my mind, hearing these songs live helps too (ATS became my personal favorite LP record due to also how fucking awesome the songs sounded live). Very excited for the chance of seeing them next year.

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

15 hours ago, Chesterisinmyblood90 said:

Geki here. 
 

Now that I’ve had days to digest the album, I want to give a better review. I was listening to a shit quality rip before on my laptop. Now that I’ve been able to listen to the album in my car and on Apple, it’s much better. 
 

Let me say first off, I didn’t want to to like this album. Everyone knows I’m the most obsessed as fuck Chester fan out there. But I couldn’t not like it. It’s too good. 
 

From the first moment I heard The Emptiness Machine, I liked it a lot. That song slays. But the whole albums slays, actually. It is for sure the best album the band has put out since Minutes To Midnight, which was their last masterpiece. This album destroys anything made after Minutes To Midnight era. For real. And that’s cool for me because I don’t listen to anything or collect anything from the band after the Minutes To Midnight era, so this is like a fresh start for me. Like two different eras.

 

I’m so happy that the band brought back the rock side of the band. I hope they don’t change their sound in the future, I want this sound on every album moving forward. This is what Linkin Park is; this sound. Minutes To Midnight is my favorite album of all time and nothing will ever take it’s place. And on that album, they still had a ROCK base. It was different but still had that rock edge aside from maybe a few tracks, but those outliers were still very Linkin Park, because Minutes To Midnight was a perfect blend of rock and hip hop but done differently. I hate everything after Minutes To Midnight because I feel like the band lost their way so to speak, their identity, they went too crazy with some of the music they made. For me, Linkin Park will always be 1996-2008 and all of the memories I have of the band from that time frame. However, this new album slays, like I said, and I’m glad I separate the past and the future and now enjoy this.

 

I am 100% going to the Boston show, how could I not? I’ve been to every Massachusetts show that the band has done since 2007, as well as all side projects. My first ever concert of my life was Fort Minor at the Avalon Ballroom on Feb. 3rd, 2006 in Boston. I went to both STP with Chester shows in Boston. I saw Chester play with Kings Of Chaos in Boston in December of 2016 and that was the last time that I ever saw Chester perform live sadly, because he took his life a week before they were set to return to Massachusetts in Mansfield. Of course I was at the Boston show for Mike’s Post Traumatic tour too, which was a fucking awesome show. I’ve lived in Massachusetts my entire life (not that I haven’t traveled, I’ve been to 3 other countries and many other states), but I’m Massachusetts as fuck. So I have to go. Hope to see some people from the site at the show. I love how it’s a summer show, too. Always a good time. 
 

Anyways, this album kicks fucking ass. People need to get over the fact that Emily and Colin have replaced Chester and Rob. Nobody is Chester, ever. Let me make that clear. Which is why I’m happy the band chose a female vocalist, and Emily is the best female vocalist there is. She does Chester proud, if you don’t like it, fuck you. As for Rob, I respect his decision to leave the band. Maybe it was too hard for him to continue without Chester, I get it. I understand. Colin is a good replacement. It took me a while to come around, to accept Emily and Colin, but I finally have. I wanted to hate them, but I couldn’t. Fuck it. Let’s go. 
 

Casualty is the heaviest song the band has ever recorded, IMO. It’s fucking awesome. I love it. Good Things Go is so fucking good. Stained is amazing. I love the entire album. It took a minute to grow on me but I now love it. I had to open myself up and move on with the future. Fuck it. This is Linkin Park now and it sounds fucking awesome. 
 

I just hope that they don’t revert to making music like One More Light, A Thousand Suns, The Hunting Party or Living Things again. I hate those albums a lot. This new album utterly destroys those albums. Of course the first three albums are my babies and will never be defeated by anything but yeah. 
 

EDIT: I forgot to add, I love how Joe is now present in the sound again. The last album he was present on was Minutes To Midnight, IMO, and it’s awesome to have him be back in the music. I love the nu-metal nods on the album, too. I love the heavy shit on the album, as well as the pop rock stuff. I just love that no matter what, everything has a rock base at the end of the day. That’s why I hated everything after Minutes To Midnight. I’m so happy that the band chose to go in this direction. And oh yeah, PVris as a support act for the Boston show, I don’t mind Lindsay. She is good. And she is also Massachusetts as fuck like myself so it’s all love. 

 

mom, can we keep the geki please? 

@LPLStaff

 

@RogueSoul

[rsw2010]

Holy shit, I absolutely LOVE Stained. This is the kind of pop-style music that I can fuck with. I'm also loving how Casualty is pretty divisive among the fanbase lol. It feels like this is an "either you love it or hate it" track. Personally, I love it. But maybe that's my punk rock side coming out lol. 

I honestly never thought we'd be back here. New LP album, world tour, it's all still very surreal. Honestly, this makes up for the absolute fucked past 2 weeks. This album supplanted Saviors by Green Day as best rock album of the year for me. The only downside is I wish it was longer (ironic, due to my punk side lol). Maybe longer songs, or even more songs. I hate this trend of bands only putting 11 songs on albums. I miss the longer tracklistings. Hopefully if the band does another album, they'll put more than 11 on there.
 

9/10 album. Thank you for coming back, LP.

[Chesterisinmyblood90]

10 hours ago, AParallelogramInTheSand said:

re: no Chester tribute, what do y'all want? Do you want an album full of another eulogy after PT? I feel stuff like this is better for them to properly tribute.

That’s interesting. I knew it was a nod to Chester’s long scream in GU the first time I heard it. What’s funny is that in the Making Of MTM Webster Hall version that was shown in theaters, when Mike said he was recording that vocal, Chester said ‘’I can go longer if you want’’ and Mike was like ‘’so crazy!’’. So funny Emily could have gone longer too. I like that he acknowledged that vocal being an iconic Chester vocal. 
 

I do wish they wrote a song for Chester, just one final proper song, but it’s ok, the album kicks ass. I guess Looking For An Answer was Mike’s own song to Chester, and I don’t blame him for not revisiting the song, must have been too hard, for sure.

[nickishere12345]

wanted to finally post after sitting with my thoughts for a few days.

 

First of all, I love it, it's great. It's a tour of their entire career, from straight up Meteora worship on Two Faced to a One More Light track in Over Each Other and the experimental electronic Living Things vibes on Overflow.

 

Reintroducing the world to Linkin Park, and who they are now in 2024, was always going to a be a tricky question, and I think Mike & co. nailed that as best as they possibly could. This record unmistakably sounds like Linkin Park, even with a new lead vocalist.

 

I don't want this to be the future of the band though, if that makes sense. LP was at their best imo from MTM through Living Things when they were taking absolutely massive risks with their sound. Then they released Hunting Party which was still great but wasn't quite up to the same standard as the previous 3 records. And then One More Light which was just a total disaster.

 

I want the next LP record to be a big artistic statement again. Something that really sounds like nothing we've heard before. Since the OML sessions Mike has been trapped in this pop music mindset, where the songs have to be no longer than 3 minutes with the same structure. It just feels like he's been stuck in this rut where the songs never take left turns anymore, the way a song like Blackout does after the bridge or the way Castle of Glass builds from a quiet folk song to a massive anthem.

 

For the next record I want him to purge all of the modern pop influences from the songwriting. Write something anti-commercial again. Let me be clear I'm not equating that with loud guitars and metal. I just want something that feels like a real artistic statement the way ATS does again. I know MIke still has it in him.