The LIVING THINGS Leak

[GraDoN]

i'm very impressed overall with the album. powerless, LITE and BID are the tracks i usually skip, but the rest are all good with COG and RU being standout tracks for me. Overall i would give this a 8/10. Some pretty unique and fresh moments, enough to enjoy for a while. This would probably rank as my third favourite LP release behind reanimation and HT.

[Geki]

I don't think that I've bashed the band Oo I just wrote down my opinion, and I also said that I'm pretty happy with Living Things. That doesn't mean that I've got no right to criticize them.

I just wonder if you really read my review, as I said in no uncertain manner that I totally loved Minutes to Midnight. TLTGYA, No Roads Left and Bleed It Out definitely belong to my favourite LP tracks of all time. I just didn't like A Thousand Suns and I don't know why it should be wrong to mention that.

 

"Do you like all your songs poppy and full of friendly radio structure?" - could you explain me this sentence? Just because I absolutely dislike Victimize? That's not forbidden, as far as I know. Yes, I don't call it a song because I think it's a stringing together of a few parts who simply don't match. It sounds weird in my ears.

 

And finally, that doesn't mean that I don't have some respect for the band. Again, read my post and you'll see I wrote that I'm thankful for Living Things, that I appreciate their new work and that I call it a progress in comparison to ATS. As someone who really doesn't like electronic music at all, imho I respect them as much as possible right now.

It's not that you dislike VICTIMIZED, SKIN TO BONE or UNTIL IT BREAKS, but it's the fact you said they were 'absolutely disgusting' and 'not a real song', or 'crap' and 'I don't know why they wrote this'. Kind of harsh, eh?

[Blackbird]

First of all, I didn't write anything like this about Skin To Bone.

 

And yeah, it is harsh, but why should I use other words when this is my honest opinion? Victimize IS disgusting to me, and this is no disrespect for LP or their work, it's a simple, yet clear statement about a few of their songs. You could just accept that, just as I accept that many people like Victimize, Until It Breaks or Burn It Down, although I feel different.

[[AndOne]]

Sorry if I'm asking again but I'm still curious, how did we get the link to the itunes stream in the first place? Does anyone remember for sure?

[vrblitz]

Sorry if I'm asking again but I'm still curious, how did we get the link to the itunes stream in the first place? Does anyone remember for sure?

They posted it themselves.

[[AndOne]]

I mean last Friday.

[hahninator]

Like he said they posted it themselves. LP's Facebook posted a link but it was taken down almost immediately. But 1 second is all it takes when you have over 40 million fans.

[iamthecentury]

Well, after listening to the album for a while I have just one question left about it, and since the FLAC-version of the album already appears on the net, I guess someone who has some good sounding speakers at home can answer me properly, since I can't do it myself, so the question is:

Does "Victimized" really have double bass drum lines in it(though they put 'em on the very background in the mix), or is it just some kind of sample thing or somewhat like that?

 

I turned low end to the full throttle on my speakers and music-players equalisers, though I still couldn't get it, does it appear here, or not, haha.

[[AndOne]]

Like he said they posted it themselves. LP's Facebook posted a link but it was taken down almost immediately. But 1 second is all it takes when you have over 40 million fans.

Everyone seems to ignore this fact, and blame it completely on apple.

[hahninator]

Everyone seems to ignore this fact, and blame it completely on apple.

Very rare case of a band leaking their own album, LOL

[[AndOne]]

Very rare case of a band leaking their own album, LOL

Bands leaking their own albums happens more often then we all think. I heard it about a few bands.

[gtrnowak4tkd]

Does "Victimized" really have double bass drum lines in it(though they put 'em on the very background in the mix), or is it just some kind of sample thing or somewhat like that?

 

I turned low end to the full throttle on my speakers and music-players equalisers, though I still couldn't get it, does it appear here, or not, haha.

Are you talking about during the first singing part where it sounds sorta sampled. and there are quads and triplets every few beats. It sounds like the same bass thats being used on In My Remains. If that is played on a bass pedal it could be either double or single. There are plenty of drummers talented enough to play that bass part with one pedal. The second pedal would just take the strain off their leg. It would be something to ask at a M&G

 

The bass in the rest of the song different. What you're hearing in the rest of the song is the bass being on the up-beat which makes it seem doubled when it's played correctly. It's a common thing in hardcore punk music, when someone doesnt want to use a double bass but still wants it to sound aggressive. As well Rob is doing some quick doubles which sound like it's a double bass as well.

[iamthecentury]

Are you talking about during the first singing part where it sounds sorta sampled. and there are quads and triplets every few beats. It sounds like the same bass thats being used on In My Remains. If that is played on a bass pedal it could be either double or single. There are plenty of drummers talented enough to play that bass part with one pedal. The second pedal would just take the strain off their leg. It would be something to ask at a M&G

 

The bass in the rest of the song different. What you're hearing in the rest of the song is the bass being on the up-beat which makes it seem doubled when it's played correctly. It's a common thing in hardcore punk music, when someone doesnt want to use a double bass but still wants it to sound aggressive. As well Rob is doing some quick doubles which sound like it's a double bass as well.

I'm talking mostly about parts in the chorus(00:53-00:56, 00:27-00:29) and the part in the end of the song(01:43-01:45), because it just something I didn't even expect to appear on the Linkin Park record, if it appears, of course.

It seems like it should be there in this place and time, but I'm not really sure about what I'm hearing in the background here under the cymbal that is soo at the front of the mix.

Rob has never even used the second pedal, so that's pretty much interesting if he started doing double bass in his 30s(well, on the record, at least).

 

The part in the first verse sound sampled, but it's a top work from Rob if it's not, because, again, I have a lot of doubts about him using the double bass, which makes that beat simplier to play.

 

And..if it's really double bass in the parts I mentioned, then I highly doubt that "Victimized" would be played live in a 100-% record-like version, though it would be really interesting.

Edited June 21, 2012 by iamthecentury

[sahinz]

powerless is kinda boring... the song doesnt fit in this album i think.

lost in echo, lies greed misery and until it breaks lead this album...

and mike sings more slow song than chester... it makes this album good, cuz mike is better than chester as slow vocalist

 

I unhappily have to say that I'm one of those guys who were really disappointed by ATS. In fact the only song I like out of that album is The Catalyst, 'cause it's good enough to ignore those two hard electronic parts.

After ATS I kinda lost my belief in Linkin Park. When I first heard them in around 2004/2005, they instantly became my favourite band and until the end of 2007 I did not hear any other music. And although I loved the sound of Hybrid Theory and Meteora, I also loved Minutes To Midnight as much as their previous work, 'cause in terms of melody and harmony it probably was their best work ever.

Whatever, like I mentioned before, I was and I am very disappointed by ATS, so I did not really have expectations on Living Things (and if I did, they were really low). And probably that's the reason why I'm pleasantly surprised. I now listened to it several times and it's definitely not as good as HT, Meteora or M2M were, but in fact it is WAY better than ATS was and although I'm really not a friend of electronic music, I kinda like most parts of Living Things, and that's a big advance, isn't it?

I'm thankful that Linkin Park made it possible for me to make something like a restart with their new style of music, as it's more powerful than ATS and kind of a symbiosis between their old heavy music and their new eletronic stuff. I'll probably never love them as much as I did in the past, but maybe Living Things can help me to become more familiar with what they're doing right now.

 

If anybody read through this block of text, here's my song-by-song-review, although I'm pretty sure my opinion about a couple of songs may change a bit after I heard them more often.

 

01 - LOST IN THE ECHO - 9/10

I'm totally in love with this song. Although it has got some heavy electronics on it, they don't annoy me (which is remarkable), as this song is so energetic and melodious and probably got one of the greatest choruses they've ever written. The only reason why I don't give it 10 points out of 10 is that I know songs which are still definitely better, musically and emotionally, but Lost In The Echo nevertheless is a great track (although I didn't like it that much when I listened to it the first time).

02 - IN MY REMAINS - 6-7/10

Depends on if it's able to grow on me after some time. Solid, but not very special song. I like it, though.

03 - BURN IT DOWN - 1/10

Most of you will disagree with this opinion, but I personally kinda hate Burn It Down. It's way too electronic for me and I REALLY don't like the harmony, especially in the chorus. Everytime I hear it, it makes me wanna disappear immediately. Horrible.

04 - LIES GREED MISERY - 4/10

This could've been a great song, but like Burn It Down it's too electronic for me. I heard it live at the Telekom StreetGig in Berlin and it was way better than the studio version, which simply doesn't sound good for me, although the chorus is, theoretically, very powerful (would be with better drums and better singing).

05 - I'LL BE GONE - 7-8/10

Cannot say much about this song. I like it.

06 - CASTLE OF GLASS - 6-7/10

Something like a better version of In Between to me, "better" being the operative word. I like the breakdown between chorus and verse, and I like the verse more than the chorus. Nice song.

07 - VICTIMIZE - 0/10

Crap. Worst "song" they've ever written, and I'm not pretty sure why I'm calling it a "song".

08 - ROADS UNTRAVELED - 5-6/10

Lyrically the sequel of No Roads Left, but to be honest, NRL is definitely better. Has got an interesting harmony, but it's a little too boring.

09 - SKIN TO BONE - 4/10

Same harmony like Roads Untraveled... but it's the worse than it's predecessor. I don't really like it, although I could imagine that it will grow a little on me. Not much, though.

10 - UNTIL IT BREAKS - 0/10

One of the big questions of Living Things: What's worse? Victimize or Until It Breaks? I don't know, but both songs are simply disgusting.

11 - TINFOIL - /

Won't rate this song as it's more an intro to Powerless for me. Nice short piece of music.

12 - POWERLESS - 9/10

Second best track on Living Things in my opinion, because of it's epic ending. Reminds me of The Little Things Give You Away, although it's not that superb (TLTGYA is a nearly 10). Verse and Chorus are good, but not great, which is why I actually wasn't sure about giving it an 8 or 9. But, like I said, the ending is wonderful, and it definitely calls up those big emotions inside of me that are the reason why I'm loving music that much.

 

Living Things has it's positive and negative sides, but in conclusion, I find it a lot better than A Thousand Suns and I really fell in love with Lost In The Echo and Powerless. <3 I wanna thank Linkin Park for giving me this possibility to come back to them. And I hope they'll continue at this point, 'cause although I'll always be a little sad because they changed their style so rapidly, I really don't want to lose my connection with this amazing band.

you are NOT a real LP fan... no doubt... you have to listen just mtm... so far away from lp

[Blackbird]

Give me one good reason why I'm not.

[sahinz]

Give me one good reason why I'm not.

victimized and until it breaks are real old-school LP style, like first times of LP... you shouldve like that...

we are LP fan now cuz we've started HT and Meteora... if lp begun with mtm then we'd not be here.. dont forget that..

and powerless is not LP style song... to grill yourself a little..

[Blackbird]

That's not what I'm thinking about these tracks. I absolutely love Hybrid Theory and Meteora, in the end this was the reason why I was so disappointed by A Thousand Suns. I was not happy with their new style, I just wanted them to continue making their good old music.

But as I said, I disagree with your words calling Victimize and Until It Breaks old-school LP style tracks. Victimize is absolutely unmelodious, completely different from their old music which was hard but still harmonious. And Until It Breaks is just freakin' gangsta rap, they NEVER did that. Even Step Up and Dedicated are (and I'm not talking about the lyrics) not comparable to UIB.

 

I would climb on my rooftop and scream out the lyrics of Papercut if they'd decide to make a new HT-style album. In 2007, when they finally came back to Germany, I went to their concert in Hamburg with my shin broken one day ago without even visiting a doctor before! I did not hear anything else but Linkin Park for years, and this was before they released M2M. So don't call me not a real LP fan.

[vrblitz]

you are NOT a real LP fan... no doubt... you have to listen just mtm... so far away from lp

lol really? don't want to be rude, but that is a very very silly opinion. calling an album "far from lp" is disrespectful too. you're less of a fan than him

Edited June 21, 2012 by Lucid A. Works

[Blackbird]

lol really? don't want to be rude, but that is a very very silly opinion. calling an album "far from lp" is disrespectful too. you're less of a fan than him

he probably wanted to say that I am "so far away from lp" - but I'm not sure ^^

[jakolp]

Very rare case of a band leaking their own album, LOL

It's not that rare..

[Mr_wil5on]

Everyone seems to ignore this fact, and blame it completely on apple.

Yeah If Apple was Responsible, Warner would be all over them with a lawsuit, this was all very planned out by "The Chemist" and Spike Minoda. True Story

[gtrnowak4tkd]

I'm talking mostly about parts in the chorus(00:53-00:56, 00:27-00:29) and the part in the end of the song(01:43-01:45), because it just something I didn't even expect to appear on the Linkin Park record, if it appears, of course.

It seems like it should be there in this place and time, but I'm not really sure about what I'm hearing in the background here under the cymbal that is soo at the front of the mix.

Rob has never even used the second pedal, so that's pretty much interesting if he started doing double bass in his 30s(well, on the record, at least).

 

The part in the first verse sound sampled, but it's a top work from Rob if it's not, because, again, I have a lot of doubts about him using the double bass, which makes that beat simplier to play.

 

And..if it's really double bass in the parts I mentioned, then I highly doubt that "Victimized" would be played live in a 100-% record-like version, though it would be really interesting.

Like I said before, what your hearing in the during 00:53-00:56, and 1:43-1:45 is all single bass. Rob is hitting the bass on the upbeat rather than the downbeat. Like think of it this way. count to 4 but go 1and2and3and4and (For simplicity purposes). Rob is hitting between the number and the and. Like as his snare hit starts to come up the bass hits half-way between the beat and the next snare hit. This makes it seem like he is hitting during the snare hit as well, just because how heavy he is hitting the snare and how heavy the music is behind him. Like I said ALOT of punk/hardcore/metalcore bands use it if they don't have a double bass. LP has dabbled into hitting on the upbeat on In Pieces. That entire guitar line is hit on the upbeat, which is a huge characteristic of Ska music.

 

During 00:27-00:29 That might be sampled drums like I said, but again sounds like the bass drum in alot of the other songs on the album. If Rob did actually play that, it can be played using a single. the Double just makes it easier, since playing 8th notes at that speed with a single bass actually takes a tole on your leg haha, plus there are quads and triplets, sometimes back to back which is possible but extremely difficult.

[gorast]

Yeah If Apple was Responsible, Warner would be all over them with a lawsuit, this was all very planned out by "The Chemist" and Spike Minoda. True Story

A lawsuit? A lawsuit? Against the tech giant that could probably go toe-to-toe with Warner for years without breaking a sweat? Give me a fucking break. It was a screw-up, the employee that let it happen probably got fired, end of story. If Warner sued Apple, Apple would probably respond by immediately pulling every single Warner artist from the iTunes store.

 

And wow, sahinz, I guess you don't get how things work around here, we don't tell people they're not fans because they didn't like ATS. Pull your head out of your ass.

[Blackbird]

Thanks, SomedudeRemix. Unfortunately it seems like there are a lot of people in the LP fanbase who just idolize them too much and react absolutely immoderate on criticism.

 

One more word to Living Things... I love it more and more (:

Powerless...... Ooooooooh.... <3

[lgr]

i think if you're a member of this site, you're likely to be a big fan of the band. there are lots of different sides to the band so we're likely to have lots of different kinds of fans too.

so let's have none of this "you're clearly not a fan" nonsense please!

 

at Woco, damn that chemist!