blackout

I'm a little bit late... I'm voting for IGYEIH

A few days after the release, I think I can share my opinion on the album. Well, it'll definitely change in the future. I still remember when Halfway Right was my favourite song from One More Light initially... First of all, the 15th of November truly felt like a special day. Just a year ago, nobody even thought about a new Linkin Park record and here we are talking about it and the band's world tour. I had dreamt about this day for 7 years after Chester's passing and I am so happy that they're back. Chester's death felt like the end of the band's career at some points, and I'm glad that they found strength to kick off again. And to start with, I'll say - I like the album. I am such a big fan of the band that I like most of the things that they've released. I like From Zero more than a lot of albums from other artists and bands. However, I am sure that I like most (if not all) of their albums recored with the old line-up more. When the band came back in September, it was difficult for me to fully accept all the new members and it was difficult for me to get used to a new voice in older classics during live shows. I even described my emotions in a different topic on the forum... After a few days, I started getting over it and drew a line between the old and the new era. The past will never come back and we can either accept it or quit. Even though I think this way, I am not sure if my mind can adjust to it. I cannot help comparing From Zero to the previous albums and Emily to Chester. Emily definitely has a great vocal range and amazing capabilities. I especially enjoy her screaming in songs such as Casualty, Heavy is the Crown or Two Faced. However, when she sings more softly like in Good Things Go or Stained, I find her voice a bit bland and uninteresting. Her voice in Stained could be replaced by most pop-punk female vocalists and nobody would even notice. Chester's voice was much more distinctive. You knew it was him when he was singing. Many know me as a fan of One More Light - this hasn't changed, I'm still very keen on this album and enjoy listening to it often. And I think it's Chester's voice that makes some of these songs sound good, even though the instrumentals are a bit generic. And speaking of generic... I think a lot of the instrumentals on From Zero are indeed a bit too bland and too generic, even more than the ones on One More Light. I think most songs lack some characteristic melodies or guitar riffs, like on One Step Closer, Numb or In The End. Everybody knows the melodies from these songs, right? They are the elements that made these songs big hits. Unfortunately, I think From Zero have no such moments. And I'm not talking about vocal melodies here, but mostly about the instrumentation. Most of the sounds selected for the songs are some basic airy synth pads in the background, or power chords guitar. I expect something more from Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson! I don't know why I started with negative aspects because the album have a lot of advantages too. Generally, I like all the songs on the album. Well, maybe except the intro, which is a bit too short and weird. I think its potential has been wasted. I think something similar to the Inception intro from the live shows, something more powerful and mysterious, could have worked much better. Nevertheless, I think the first proper song on the album, The Emptiness Machine, is one of the best on the album. The vocal melody is catchy. I like how it's building up all the time and how it introduces Emily in the second verse. In general, I think most songs are arranged in a very clever way. Overflow with a heavier ending out of nowhere, the ending of IGYEIH, in which the chorus is not repeated again like in the traditional song structure, the bridge of Heavy is the Crown with a small nod to Chester's Given Up performance. I think these are all great moments and good moves in terms of the songs' arrangement. What's more, I really adore Mike's performance throughout the album. He got more confident, which is also definitely hearable during live shows, and I enjoy it how he experiments with different styles of rapping. This rap-singing in some of the songs is fantastic - the bridge of Cut the Bridge... wow! His verses in Good Things Go are excellent too. He inspires me to also experiment with the way I rap now - it almost feels like the entire upgrade to his flow from the past albums. I'm kinda proud of his delivery in Casualty too. I didn't expect his grittier vocals to sound so good! Personally I believe that Emily is the star on heavier tracks, as mentioned earlier. She shows off her vocal ability in many songs. I think she is a very good singer in general, and it's interesting to observe how well she fits in typical Linkin Park structure. She can do all the things that Chester was capable of - her voice, in my opinion, is just not as distinctive as Chester's. She's definitely a good choice for the future of the band, especially in comparison to most of the singers from Chester's memorial show. What is more, in the entire album, I think the production of drums shine. They sound great - they are punchy and modern-sounding. We have a lot of nice fills... It's a pleasure to my ears - especially in songs such as Over Each Other or The Emptiness Machine. I liked Rob very much, but I think Collin is a very proficient drummer too. I think the style of the songs on From Zero is very intriguing too. And I don't know if intriguing in a good way or in a bad way. Most of these songs are very safe - they sound like most people would expect Linkin Park's songs to sound like. And I think it's a good choice for the comeback album. Especially that we have this predictable style mixed with a completely new voice. And after everything the band went through I think it's alright that some of these songs sound like something taken straight out of Hybrid Theory or Meteora. I find it a bit funny, however, that the band was running away from their nu-metal style for so many years, even publically critisicing it, and now they released songs like Two Faced. To sum up, I just enjoy the songs. They are fun heavy bangers and most of them reminded me what Linkin Park is really about. I am glad that the band is back. Nevertheless, it has been difficult for me to build any deeper emotional connection with them, like I did with Nobody Can Save Me or Waiting for the End. The lyrics lack some dark emotions that are present in Linkin Park's past albums. On the face of it, most of the songs are monothematic, talking about being betrayed or lied to. Nothing groundbreaking, I guess. And I like the ambiguity in the lyrics, but the band has written much better ambigious lyrics. I think I'll listen to From Zero a lot because I love Linkin Park's style, Mike's songwriting and style of production, Brad's simple but effective guitar riffs. It's all there and it feels good to have more of it on the album. It is just missing something at times... and that's why at the moment it's my least favourite Linkin Park album. As I said earlier, I still like it more than some of the albums from other artists, but taking it into the perspective of the band's entire career, it's nothing too special. I'd give it around 7/10. My favourite songs are Good Things Go (the best lyrics on the entire album - I think it's emotionally the closest to what I expect from the band; fantastic melancholic instrumental), The Emptiness Machine (catchy vocal melodies, great vocal delivery by Emily, the comeback single) and Casualty (I absolutely love it! it's heavy, it's just fun; it makes me want to jump around). Least favourite: IGYEIH (I like Joe's scratches there, I like Emily's screams, but Mike's performance is definitely the weakest and a bit cheesy here, it's the least memorable in general and although the ending is surprising, I find it a bit repetitive).

I like this version very much! I wish it were longer.

That'd be awesome!

I don't know if it's the best topic to talk about everything that has happend in the recent days, but I have a need to summarise it all somewhere from my perspective. I didn't want to post something right after the comeback live show because I knew that my feelings and opinions would be changing very quickly and that was the case. Now the emotions subsided a little bit so I'm ready to talk about the matter. When the news popped out a few months ago, I was pretty sure that they would turn out true. There were too many rumours flying around, including some from reliable sources. When people started speculating what the countdown on the website would bring, I was sure that it would be the band's comeback with a female singer. To be honest, when I saw the news that it would be a female singer, I wasn't too happy. Most of the music that I listen to has men as vocalists. Although I listen to some female pop aritsts, they have been neither my idols nor my favourite artists. A few months ago, a part of me was still hoping that the female singer rumours were not true, because I simply prefer the sound of male voices, usually. I won't hide - in my head the ideal solution was for the band to come back as a 5-piece - as it was in 2017 but, obviously, without Chester. The reality is different though and not hearing One Step Closer or having too many "tributes to Chester moments" during a concert would be certainly weird and a little bit depressing after a few concerts. Can you imagine the comeback show with The Emptiness Machine followed by Roads Untraveled and All for Nothing? Well, for hardcore fans that would be exciting anyway, but some casual fans would definitely ask for Numb or One Step Closer. After all, most Linkin Park songs are built for two voices. The changes have been inevitable anyway as Rob didn't want to participate and Brad is unable to tour at the moment. The comeback show started at midnight in my timezone. I had been so nervous before it! I'd been waiting for this moment since 2017, coming up with different scenarios myself. Although I have some other favourite bands, none of them come close to Linkin Park in terms of my emotional investment. The intro was amazing. I can't describe how I was feeling while I was listening to the entrance intro. Unbelievable moment. Honestly, I was a bit disgruntled when I saw that Rob and Brad werent't on the stage. It was easy to expect that with Rob but I was sure that Brad would participate in the live show. Then Mike's "good to see you again" was the best thing he could say at that moment. It was something simple but effective. One sentence actually made me emotional and hyped at the same time. I don't want to describe every moment of the concert though so I'll just skip to my overall reaction. I had so many mixed feelings during and after the concert. Honestly, the day after the concert I felt that I was betraying the old Linkin Park when I was listening to The Emptiness Machine and the fragments of the live show. I know it's irrational... Something was wrong with the line-up changes, a female vocalist. Not everything clicked with me immediately. I couldn't even have fun during some parts of the concert, because I was constantly analysing everything, maybe overthinking a bit. After some days, however, I realised that I need to simply separate the past from the present and the future. The old Linkin Park is gone. Well, not completely beacuse I can listen to the old albums or watch old live shows... but we'll never get anything from them once again. What helped me cope with the situation was treating the new Linkin Park line-up as a new band. I know it sounds crazy, but I started to focus on the music and not on the comparison between the old and new. Both are great, just in a different way. Obviously, the old Linkin Park will always be closer to my heart. However, when I focus on The Emptiness Machine as a song without thinking about other music from Linkin Park, I can simply say that it's an awesome song. It has the old Linkin Park DNA with something new mixed in. It's catchy, energetic and it has a great production. It has everything that I like in music. I'm sure that Chester would enjoy it too. When Emily sings old Linkin Park songs, obviously it feels different. As I said at the beginning, I'm not the biggest fan of female voices, especially in rock music. However, I can say that she's doing a great job. She has power and a great rasp in her voice. She has stage presence. She is versatile too, being able to sing softer songs and heavier parts. Everything that LP could ask for. I think that Collin will be a great addition too. From what I saw, he has produced a lot of good-sounding modern rock albums in the past and I think he'll help the band achieve a better production on their future works. It will never be the same without Chester, but he's unfortunately gone. What I can do is accept it and get ready for the future of the band. I don't like some aspects of the comeback - it would be much better to see all 5 original members together on stage. The live shows seem a bit less attractive to me with a touring guitarist and a new drummer. I also have an impression that the band is forcing "classic" LP sound again. I hope that it's not the case and we'll see some experimentation on the new album. At the first show, they played mostly heavier and energetic songs, but I hope they haven't forgotten that they have a lot of interesting pop and electronic songs in their catalogue. I absolutely love One More Light to this day and I'd like to see them playing Nobody Can Save Me or other songs again. I have a feeling that they want to convince people who hated One More Light that they can still play rock music. If it's a natural progression for them, then fine - I really enjoy the style of The Emptiness Machine. I just hope it's not an artificial move to make the music appealing to the fans of Hybrid Theory and Meteora. All in all, after some days of processing everything, I can say that I welcome the new version of the band with open arms. It's different but it's exciting at the same time. There is nothing I can do to bring back the old Linkin Park and accepting this is a relief. It brings back a lot of fun and excitmenent to the album rollout and the band's comeback in general. I cannot wait to hear "From Zero"!

It's not much, of course, but there is some footage with Rakim and Page. I think that there were also some LPUTV videos about these songs with a few additional scenes, but I cannot find them at the moment.

We actually got making-of footage with both Rakim and Page Hamilton. It's on YouTube. At least it was a few years ago. BTW, I'm not saying it's enough but we actually did get some videos with GATS and AFN. Same with Tom Morello. The only artist who contributed to THP but we didn't see was Daron Malakian from SOAD. There was no video about Rebellion, unfortunately.

Well, the OML making-of footage was a bit short and superficial. One thing is that it didn't have the name LPTV in the title, but it also was much shorther than, for example, LPTV episodes about making of Burn It Down. I remember Burn It Down got two seperate episodes and I absolutely love both of them. OML making-of videos were rather short and focused mostly on "Heavy". I'd love to get the full-fledged making-of documentary like we got for A Thousand Suns or Minutes to Midnight. Some episodes would be cool too, of course. We've been getting less and less since ATS, basically. We got the making-of documentary about Living Things but it was a bit shorter and less in-depth than the one for ATS. But even something like for LT would be great. Honestly, these documentaries have been one of the most interesting aspects of each new LP release for me, so I hope we'll get something for "From Zero".

I hope to see some new making-of footage! I loved those in the past.

Historical moment we've all been waiting for! Can't wait to see what it brings. I'll be watching the stream from Poland. It starts at midnight here. I wish everybody a great time either watching the stream or participating in person.

This is, honestly, one of the most interesting aspects. I hope someone will ask Mike about it.

Well, so we're entering a new era... I've been waiting for this day for 7 years. Let's see what the future brings. I'm excited! I guess a new single + tour, but both might not come at the same time, I think. Probably there'll be something more - maybe a pre-recorded live performance with 2-3 songs, probably Bleed It Out included.

The article suggests that only 3 members are involved. BTW, I said "IF everything mentioned in the article is true...". I was only speculating basing on what Billboard provided.

I feel like it's some sort of a historic moment happening here so I need to write a post as well to mark my presence. I think that the information is rather credible, considering that the news about the new booking agency and the involvement of only three members is brand new. Billboard is an esteemed brand so they probably wouldn't like to risk their reputation. Of course, we should wait for the official announcement so that the all the details are confirmed, but there must be something on the horizon. If everything mentioned in the article is true then the information that Joe is not involved in this reunion is totally unexpected for me. He has always been present with the anniversary releases, most recently with Papercuts as well. We'll see what's going to happen with this one. However, I can totally imagine Rob not being involved at all. Not having all the original members of the band will be quite weird - I would prefer all 5 members to be involved, but what I can do... I can only accept their decision. First, I think that the decision to continue is correct. Chester will never be replaced, but I think it's time for a fresh start and although it will be much different than anything that the band's done in the past, I am curious what the future will bring. When it comes to a female vocalist... I've never idolised bands with women as a front. I like some female pop artists, but they have never been my favourite artists for some reason. I simply prefer male voices in music. However, I can imagine me enjoying the music that the band will create, even with a female vocalist, because I enjoy the style of production and songwriting of Mike and Brad. What I hope for most is that the reunion won't only give us a tour but also new music. I'd be hyped for the tour as well, but I'm mostly waiting for some new music from the band. I think it's likely that we'll get the first tour without new music in 2025 and then they'll release some new songs a year later. I hope it doesn't go this way and we'll get a new album first. What's more, a lot of people claim that a new singer should be able to scream, sing softly, and have all the skills that Chester had. However, I'm totally open to some new versions of LP's biggest hits and I wouldn't mind a pop vocalist joining the band. We've heard One Step Closer in its album version so many times that I think it'd be interesting to hear a new more electronic/experimental version. I think that playing live new versions of their old songs would be a great mark of the beginning of a new era. Let's see what the future holds. I am really hyped to be part of it!

I can see this scenario happening, but I think he was part of HT20, wasn't he? There were a few comments from him in the HT20 book and he was present in the livestream as far as I remember.

Isn't Forgotten the last one in the unmastered HT tracklist? https://linkinpedia.com/wiki/Hybrid_Theory_(Unmastered_Studio_Finals_5/7/00) That's what Linkinpedia says at least

I've just listened to Friendly Fire for the first time. What a song! I love it. The minimalistic beginning is awesome. The verses and chorus are powerful and catchy. The bridge is probably the weakest part of the song. The production of One More Light album is incredible and it's visible with this release as well. Polished, clear sound - beautiful! The acoustic guitar and drums here sound great as well. I hope we'll be able to listen to some more songs from OML sessions - we know that they worked on the vocals and lyrics first so I think there's a huge possibility that they have a lot of songs with vocals.

Is it your assumption or a leak? If the latter, do you know how many unreleased songs we're going to get?

Exactly! I immediately thought "that could have been an intro to Faint in 2023 LP tour" if... 🥲 It has this typical feeling of different extended intros from the band throughout the years.

Can't wait for it to be released 😉👀

It's a great song. The production is incredible.

I remember that as well. I was convinced it was in this Q&A but I went through it quickly and I couldn't find it. If you have time, you can watch it in full and maybe it's there. I kind of remember his outfit when he said that and in this Q&A it was the closest to the image I see in my head. I'm not sure though!

So the mystery of some of the lyrics from Meteora wall still hasn't been resolved? From the Lost Demos CD from Meteora 20 we only have "Somebody angry broken" in "More the Victim" but other lines are still from unknown songs? To be fair, I thought that all of the lyrics would be finally there. Some of the lines seem like they would fit in "Numb" demo: "I've carried this weight for too long... Disassociated, unappreciated. And everything I've hated, keeping me so jaded" goes well with the rhythm and melody of the verse of "Numb". But there are still some that don't fit anywhere, right?

Some thoughts from me after a few listens: Lost - I have listened to this song so many times that it lost a bit of magic for me and it became an "ordinary thing", but this doesn't change my opinion about it; it's an amazing track; the chorus and bridge are so powerful and they work wonderfully in contrast to beautiful and tender verses; Chester's vocal delivery is incredible; I'm glad that they mixed it again for this release - thanks to that, it basically sounds like a new song created in 2023; I'm grateful that the band has released this song - it's simply awesome; I don't know if it should have replaced any song on the album - after the premiere of Lost I was convinced that it should have taken the place of Hit the Floor or Nobody's Listening but I agree with Mike and Brad that it has the same energy as Numb; they wouldn't work well together; even though Lost is a song better than some tracks that are on Meteora, stuff like HTF or NL have different vibe that was certainly needed in this album as well Fighting Myself - I had abstained from listening to this song after its official premiere and rightly so! my only experience with this song before yesterday's listens was the radio rip that I had listened to maybe twice and I believe it was a right decision because in the end I had more "new songs" to admire yesterday; it's a great song as well; I especially like Mike's verses - his flow in this track sounds even a bit modern in my opinion; it could have easily found its place on Meteora... the bridge is great as well, especially vocal transition to the last chorus - beautiful! Chester's voice was so powerful at that time; the reversed vocal sample sounds very cool as well and adds an interesting texture to the track More the Victim - I'd listened to the radio rip a lot so yesterday it was just an upgrade of quality for me; it's such a great song as well; I like Mike's raps, Chester's vocals, the instrumental sounds huge - I like the combination of strings and synths here; the drums sound great as well - they have a lot of punch as if they were recorded and mixed recently; my favourite part is the pre-chorus, Chester's vocals are beautiful there ("I used to be as innocent as you...", wow!); it's such a gem! it lost a bit of magic for me as well becuase I've listened to it a lot but what can I do?! Massive - with this one I'm a bit disappointed but only because I read a lot of positive comments about it and got hyped; it's a cool song, guitar riffs are dope (especially in the bridge) but this song feels really "demoish"; the praise of Mike's vocals here is simply an overrecation, I think; I kinda like his delivery in the verses, especially how he transitions from singing to rapping just before the chorus, but his singing in the chorus is weak and simply worked as a sketch to show how Chester was supposed to sing it (similarly to Breaking the Habit); I'm not a big fan of the chorus melody anyway; it's a nice song to have and I'll listen to it often but it's not something that I'll rave about Healing Foot - YES! this one is the hidden gem; it sounds finished to my ears; Mike's flow is awesome, the chorus is great and I absolutely love the instrumental; the piano melody (so popular even before we got to know the song) is magical; I like the production as well; even though it's a demo from 2002, it sounds very good; the mix of the piano and strings/synths is awesome and sounds modern; I don't know what else to say - this song along with Lost, More the Victim and Fighting Myself is a treasure! I don't know why but for me it feels like "as if LP created a new album in the style of Meteora" - it has a bit of new twist to the classic LP style, I cannot really explain it properly; for so many years I'd wanted to finally listen to the Rob's Drum Track from the Making Of and I didn't expect it to be such a wonderful song! Resolution - I like the piano very much; the instrumental really has some kind of mysterious and mystical atmosphere (The Wizard Song, huh?), something I've never heard from LP before; Mike's verses are cool but a bit worse, in my opinion, than those on Healing Foot, Fighting Myself or More the Victim; I like the part right before the chorus, it has a nice synth; the chorus itself is a bit too trivial with this heavy guitar playing only power chords turned up so much that you cannot hear anything else; it's just a demo though so I'm not complaining... I wish the song had vocals from Chester! Some thoughts about other tracks: - Mike's verses in A6 are great! I like the abstract imagery in the lyrics; I cannot believe that it's not a version with Chester's vocals... we've got 3 or 4 different versions of this song and it's still not a version with some singing! I truly believe that there is a version with Chester's vocals somewhere - I don't know why they didn't give it to us; they'll release it for the 40th anniversary? I understand keeping some extra stuff with Chester for some other occasions but I think it's not appropriate if it's the same track again but with some slight changes; I have enough of A6 - give us the version with full vocals! 😂 Yeah, but seriously, I cannot complain - we've got so much great stuff that I'm okay with them withholding something - Husky has a nice hip-hop drumbeat in the verses that is not present in the final version and got replaced with real drums; I wish they kept it just like in the demo version; I like the outro here more as well - I don't like Cuidado at all; it's nice to have a demo of Lying from You, it's one of my favourite songs from LP but there is nothing that it's worth noticing, really - Wesside is great! I especially like the piano melody; I wish it was a demo with vocals! - Shifter is cool! I like the ideas that Mike had for vocals; the vocal ideas that they stuck with for From the Inside are better but it's a very interesting demo right here! the synth in the chorus is a bit annoying though - Plaster 2 is interesting; I like the mysterious intro and Mike's alternative verses are cool; the riff in the bridge is monstrous! One thing that I'd also like to add is that LPU Rarities CD is very tiring to listen to. These demos are a bit repetitive. Meteora's style is legendary but it only works properly with vocals. Most of these demos are similar to each other. The distorted guitar are a bit annoying when you listen to the CD full of loud power-chords riffs. When they are put among other tracks, like on LPU CDs, they are quite enjoyable. However, yesterday it was a bit difficult for me to sit down and listen to the whole thing in one sitting. Obviously, I'm not complaining at all. They are all just demos which were created to have vocals in their potential final form, I'm just describing my experience. Live Rarities CD is great. It's good to have ETR, My December, Step Up, Wish and Hip-Hop Medley live on one CD. I don't know what else to add... The entire boxset feels like a beautiful and nostalgic journey. It's good to hear more tracks with Chester's vocals. I absoultely love these 4 finished/almost finished songs that we got. I haven't watched all the DVDs yet (I watched just one concert from 2003 yesterday as the boxset arrived quite late in the afternoon and also I want to prolong exploring the release) but I'm so happy that we can watch 4 previously unreleased live shows and I'm sure that all of them are awesome. Chester's vocals were on point at the time. Work In Progress DVD must be cool as well! I'm going to watch it next week. I'm really grateful that the band decided to release this collection.

Some people on shoutbox have said that they have received it. Mine got shipped but I'll probably get it tomorrow at the earliest.