After having listened to the whole thing 3 times, I can now say: this album kicks major-ass! Not a rock or metal, but a music masterpiece. The band was right when they were saying ATS is a journey, because it really is. Atmospheric stuff. Burning in the skies, Waiting For The End, Iridescent all have killer melodies. When They Come For Me, Blackout, and Wretches And Kings are the heaviest tracks on the record, but in a weird way. Chester vocal performance on The Messenger is one of the strongest he has ever made
I'd love to say ATS is the best LP record to date, but it's hard to compare it to their precedent work. Hybrid Theory also was an epic album, but in its own genre. The level of energy and power it contained is as great as the level of creativity and musicianship put into ATS.
Now, despite the fact ATS has an enorm potential, LP will have to accept they will loose a lot of fans with it. Majority of the 10-11-12-13 year fanbase will hate it for being "Commercial soft shitty music". Majority of the metalheads who still liked LP will move on to something else. And even some of the so-called "hardcore fans" won't like this new record, because, yes, it doesn't sound like LP.