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[ghost]

Linkin Park is back again and earlier than usual with LIVING THINGS. Usually Linkin Park likes to completely change up the game and release an album that has a whole bunch of new sounds and ideas, but this time they blended all of their sounds from the past to create an energetic explosion of an album. The first half of this album is straight-forward and in-your-face, with compact and fast-paced songs. The second half of the album feels much more unique and shows heavy experimentation and progression of the band's original sound.

 

The album opens with "LOST IN THE ECHO" which opens with airy synths and the rap/rock formula that everybody is familiar with. Mike boldly states that he "won't back down" and "won't roll over / don't know how" while Chester emotionally sings "promises broken / deep below / each word gets lost in the echo" before screaming the refrain. The song gets all glitched out in the bridge, a la Blackout. The second track "IN MY REMAINS" has contrasting lyrical themes with the previous track with Chester singing "wash away the worst of me". While the first track gives off a reincarnation of the old Linkin Park, the second song seems more electronic rock which looks back on Minutes To Midnight and A Thousand Suns. The lead single "BURN IT DOWN" is a mix of old and new, all packed into one high energy track with danceable melodies and soaring vocals. "LIES GREED MISERY" is a chaotic track. While the music starts off with a warm indie-rock vibe, it evolves with swirling synths and heavy beats with Mike rapping "i'mma be that nail in your coffin, saying that I softened?". This song has a cheerful melody but the lyrics contrast that in the refrain with "I wanna see you choke on your lies, swallow up your greed, suffer all alone in your misery". This is another song that shows reflections of the old and new Linkin Park. "I'LL BE GONE" opens with electronic keyboard and handclaps and morphs into a full-out radio rock tune that sounds like a possible single. The energy of the album continues with the suprising upbeat folk tune "CASTLE OF GLASS". Most of Linkin Park's songs this time around started out with very stripped down, folk melodies that morphed into the monsters that they are now. This track is very eerie but at the same time upbeat and full of energy.

 

The second half of this album is where everything changes. "VICTIMIZED", which was labeled to be the band's heaviest song yet is actually very progressive and weird. It opens with soft singing by Mike Shinoda before a vicious and violent chorus by Chester that kids in the moshpit will surely go nuts to. The tribal drums kick in and Mike raps "for you snakes in the grass supplying the venom / I ain't scared of your teeth I admire what's in 'em" before the throat-slashing chorus returns. This song is fast-paced and falls a few seconds short of 2 minutes in length. "ROADS UNTRAVELED" is a beautiful ballad with windchimes and piano. This song lacks a real chorus but the song itself works in a way that alot of Linkin Park ballads have in the past. Some of the band's best lyrics to date are in this song with "the love that you lost wasn't worth what it cost and in time you'll be glad it's gone". "SKIN TO BONE" is a hypnotic song with very repetitive lyrics and crunching electronic synths. This song was originally a folk song, and you can tell so with the campfire-esque vocals "right to left / left to right / night to day and day to night". "UNTIL IT BREAKS" is the band's most progressive piece yet. The song starts off with a stripped down ambient beat with Mike Shinoda's raps echoing all over the place. The song shifts into a piano ballad with Chester asking for the "strength of the rising sun" before the rap melody returns. The end of the song has Brad Delson, the band's guitarist singing over very light synths and ambient noises. His voice is drowned in reverb and echo. "The body bends until it breaks" can be heard. "TINFOIL" is your typical Linkin Park instrumental. Heavily electronic with drums echoing all over the place. The album closes with "POWERLESS", an emotional ballad that slowly builds from the previous track. Chester sings "You hid your skeletons when I had showed you mine / You woke the devil I thought you'd left behind". Easily their best close to an album, it is as epic as "Krwling" and as emotional as "The Little Things Give You Away" but compacted in under four minutes of length.

 

This album has been announced to be the perfect blend of new and old with very high-energy songs. While the guitars are more noticeable, and then tempo of the songs are generally fast, the energy seems to fall flat towards the end of the album. This album had high expectations especially coming only a year and a half after the cacophonic cluster of "A Thousand Suns". Suns had the perfect blend of beauty and chaos. This album tries to mimic that, and falls short in some places.

 

~~~

 

LIVING THINGS Tracklist and song scores:

 

1) LOST IN THE ECHO - 8.5/10

2) IN MY REMAINS - 8.5/10

3) BURN IT DOWN - 7.5/10

4) LIES GREED MISERY - 8/10

5) I'LL BE GONE - 8/10

6) CASTLE OF GLASS - 8/10

7) VICTIMIZED - 3.5/10

8) ROADS UNTRAVELED - 9/10

9) SKIN TO BONE - 9.5/10

10) UNTIL IT BREAKS - 7/10

11) TINFOIL - N/A

12) POWERLESS - 8.5/10

 

OVERALL: 8/10 A good album that is a nice mix of the old and the new Linkin Park, but won't last and will leave fans wanting something more.

Edited June 20, 2012 by ghost

[jakolp]

LOST IN THE ECHO

First song of the album. It starts with a heavy beat and a heavy guitar. Shinoda then starts rapping over the beat, Chester singing some harmonies in the background until we get to the chorus which is catchy and melodic. The song has a really energetic vibe and when the bridge hits, Chester screams his lungs out, the beat suddenly changes, we have some scratches from Mr. Hahn and distorted guitars, the music builds up, mike starts rapping again and the chorus on more time. For sure the most energetic opener LP have ever recorded and one of the best of the album. Everything happens fast and without realizing it you find yourself headbanging.

 

Great song.

IN MY REMAINS

Probably meant for a single. We have some scratches for Hahn and then Delson leads us to Chester singing with a beat and piano in the background. Chorus. Guitars starts playing again and Chester seems to be in a very good shape, producing one the best choruses of the album along with I'LL BE GONE. The bridge has some military drums and Mike singing "Like an army falling, one by one by one". The music builds up and Chester joins Mike until he takes the lead. Chorus again with Mike in the background singing "one by one by one".

 

Pretty good song, hit single with no doubt.

BURN IT DOWN

All you pretty much know about this song. Maybe the weakest of the album but again, catchy. We have guitars, scratches, heavy drums, synth piano, mike rapping and again a song that you can never know how much is going on until you listen to it multiple times. It could be more unique I think.

 

Meant for a single.

LIES GREED MISERY

The song starts with an electro sample and then Mike starts rapping on a heavy distorted beat. Chorus hits, Chester singing "I wanna see you choke on your lies" with a distorted guitar on the background. All that until the bridge. Song slows down and Chester repeats "You did to yourself" again again as the song build up to the point everything goes insane. Screams, guitars, beats all at the same time.

 

A party song despite the weird, full of hate lyrics. Pretty quick.

 

I'LL BE GONE

It starts slow with a melancholic vibe but that doesn't last longer than 10 seconds. Once again Brad leads us to Chester singing in a slower rhythm than the intro. The chorus is great, fast, energetic and Chester does a great job delivering it. The second verse sounds a bit louder, more instruments make their appearance until the chorus comes again. The bridge seems epic, slower than the chorus and fits well with the song. Chorus is repeated until the end of the song.

 

Another possible single around the lines of Alternative Rock with lots of influences from the MTM era.

 

CASTLE OF GLASS

Here's where the heavy experimentation shows up. A groovy intro nothing like everything we have ever heard, Mike singing slowly only to a beat and some background melodies and the beat gets heavier until the chorus which is sang by Mike and Chester. Acoustic guitar is also noticeable. The chorus ends and drums and synths steps up the pace of the song. Mike continues to sing slowly. The second verse seems smaller. Chorus one more time and then a guitar plays the rhythm of the song giving it a very groovy vibe and suddenly Chester sings almost acapella but only for a second until all the 6 guys together close the song.

 

Heavy experimentation, really well delivered and a groovy song. Mike surprisingly is doing a really good job lead singing.

VICTIMIZED

The most anticipated song of the album. Everyone expected heavy guitars and Chester screaming for almost two minutes. Forget it. The song is nothing like that but then again it's easily the craziest song LP have ever composed. Heavy drums, guitars playing a weird riff, a sample from a speech, mike singing, Chester screaming, Mike rapping, distorted beats and Chester screaming some more. All that in under two minutes.

 

The song is a great idea but it is a little bit rushed. It could be way better.

ROADS UNTRAVELED

The first ballad of the album. Bells ringing, piano playing a slow rhythm and Mike again lead singing. Heavy lyrics, emotionally charged. Chester doing some backing vocals and drums every now and then. The chorus is melodic with Chester singing "Ooooh ooooh" and even when you listen to it for the first time you can't help but sing along. Guitar builds up the song without ruining the melody and the emotion. And then suddenly everything stops. Chester singing the second verse with Mike until the music stops for a second. The song powers up again and the Oh's start one more time and you can't help but sing one more time.

 

Amazing ballad, one of LP's best.

SKIN TO BONE

Mike continues the lead singing in this album over a weird electro beat and distorted guitars flying all over the song. Again the singing seems a little bit slower than the beat. Chester sings along with Mike at what might be considered the chorus. This song might be the worst on the album at the lyric section. But it seems like it was written to have fun with the groovy vibe and start some kind of weird dancing around it.

 

Small song, well paced. Lyrically the weakest point of the album.

UNTIL IT BREAKS

The most controversial song of the album. You either hate it or love it. Mike rapping FM-style to a heavy beat and then out of the sudden we have Chester singing the chorus with in a folk way, folk lyrics, and only a piano playing in the background. Beats starts again and Mike starts spreading his flow all over the song. Second chorus comes in. Or not. LP decided to do something different. Brad starts singing in a melodic way with the company of some rhythmic drums and some kind of violins and that's how the song ends.

 

Really weird song. For some the worst, for others the best. Requires multiple hearings.

 

TINFOIL/POWERLESS

A piano repeating a rhythm as TINFOIL plays. Weird drums and melodies in the background it seems like you are traveling in space. And that's the beautiful intro of POWERLESS of what is one of the most beautiful ballads of LP. Slow piano and Chester takes the lead in the singing section. "And I was by your side... powerless". And then song starts to build up. The TINFOIL-based melody starts playing along with the piano and the chorus one more time. The song is getting more powerful after every second and you'll find yourself smiling with no reason. The song ends with Mike singing "oooh oooh" and Chester almost screaming "Powerless".

 

Amazing outro, the best outro of any LP's album.

 

OVERALL OPINION

The album is really really good. It has everything LP has ever done but is based more on the MTM era. I won't go as far as to say it's the best LP album, but for sure they have some of their best melodies in that album. Full of energy, does not get you bored, it keeps your attention for the whole 37 minutes.

This album is a "journey" and it's meant to be listened as a whole.

 

Best song: LOST IN THE ECHO

Worst song: BURN IT DOWN

[gorast]

LOST IN THE ECHO is a good, solid LP-formula track, with more electronica than what we're used to considering the formula. One thing I noticed is that the chorus is what gives the song its personal context; without them, Mike's verses could very well be a diss-track, throwing shit at all the LP haters. More or less.

 

IN MY REMAINS is a lot stronger than I thought last night. I love Mike's vocals at the end. Super quality. This could very easily be a single, and it also has a home on MTM.

 

BURN IT DOWN and LIES GREED MISERY aren't awful in the context of the album (the transition from IMR to BID in particular is pretty tasty) but I'm so sick of them right now that I just skip over them when I'm not interested in doing a full-album run.

 

I'LL BE GONE isn't quite as lame as I thought, but I'm still fairly underwhelmed by it. Needs something more.

 

CASTLE OF GLASS...hrm. I just...I'm not sure what I feel about this. I like the unconventional nature of the song, but it just...it isn't pulling me in, y'know? Oh well.

 

VICTIMIZED. Holy shit. Every time this song comes up I have to keep myself from laughing because there's so much shit going on that just doesn't make sense in the context of LP. It's a brutal song, though. I think the band was hyping it up too much; perhaps not the heaviest song they've ever written, but it's certainly a giant punch to the face. Mike's second verse is still one of my favorites on the album.

 

ROADS UNTRAVELED is probably my second-favorite song on the album. It's really a beautiful ballad, much better done than the ones on MTM. I love the mix of Chester and Mike's voices in the song, done much better than CASTLE OF GLASS.

 

SKIN TO BONE is spooky and has that unconventional song structure similar to Robot Boy, which I like. It's definitely one of the stronger tracks on the album, even though it's pretty short and seems to fly by.

 

UNTIL IT BREAKS is still my favorite track. I can't even articulate why. I was just...blown away by it. Yeah, fine, it's like four mini-songs stitched together, I'll give you bastards that. But Mike's verses and the way he drops them...This is easily the most hip-hop track they've ever made. Up until Brad comes in, that is. Speaking of his part, wow, dude doesn't suck at singing. I really hope they do the whole song live just so I can see Brad step up to the mic for a lead vocal.

 

TINFOIL/POWERLESS are one track to me, I don't care what anyone else says. POWERLESS can stand fine on its own, but I prefer it to be preceded by TINFOIL in all my playlists. Initially, it came off as pretty whiny to me, typical HT/Meteora drivel. However, the more I listen to it, the more...mature it sounds, sort of. It could probably fit on Meteora, but the song also reflects the nine years between Meteora and LIVING THINGS.

 

All in all, this album's sitting at #2 for me, with all five in this order:

 

A Thousand Suns

LIVING THINGS

Minutes to Midnight

Hybrid Theory

Meteora

 

LP did some good shit with LT. This should bring back at least a few fans, based on LITE and VICTIMIZED alone.

Edited June 16, 2012 by SomedudeRemix

[Sukotto]

I won't copy/paste it all -

 

Linkin Park: 'Living Things' - Initial Verdict

 

Let me know what you think!

[SHOCKWAVE6464]

All right...

 

1. LOST IN THE ECHO-The ideal and perfected Linkin Park song. It will appeal to all kinds of LP fans (HT/Meteora lovers, ATS fans, and even the Reanimation people!) 10/10

2. IN MY REMAINS-Another song that is ideal, but not perfect. 9/10

3. BURN IT DOWN-With a lot of energy and hype built up in this song, we might be hearing this in clubs and parties. 8.5/10

4. LIES GREED MISERY-A great jam with a trace of dubstep and great rapping skills from MC Shinoda. 9/10

5. I'LL BE GONE-With writing and the equivalence of a Dead By Sunrise song, we got another welcome surprise on this one. 9/10

6. CASTLE OF GLASS-More folk elements than the previous ones, it still has the energy and hype of the previous ones but has traces of a Bob Dylan song. 9/10

7. VICTIMIZED-Awfully short in length, but it goes big in screaming and the guitars. 8.5/10

8. ROADS UNTRAVELED-A lighter and less energetic song than the others, it's still nice and charming. 8.5/10

9. SKIN TO BONE-Energetic but doesn't meet up to the previous tracks. 8/10

10. UNTIL IT BREAKS-One of the biggest surprises on the CD. I was blown away. 10/10

11. TINFOIL-Mysterious little interlude. 8/10

12. POWERLESS-A longer version of TINFOIL that is uplifting. 9/10

 

+ Combines both audiences of LP fans

+ Excellent songwriting and singing

+ Mr. Hahn truly shows his skill on this CD

+ UNTIL IT BREAKS

Overall: 10/10

[FORTsunrise]

I won't copy/paste it all -

 

Linkin Park: 'Living Things' - Initial Verdict

 

Let me know what you think!

What you said about Roads Untravelled is exactly how I felt about it.