Mystery

Many people look at Hybrid Theory and Meteora as the masterpiece in mixing genres for Linkin Park. They mixed rock/nu-metal/hip-hop/electronica perfectly. You can say that Minutes To Midnight takes the rock/nu-metal branch from their first two albums, and the album stands alone at that, with ballads as the only new feature to the album. You can say that A Thousand Suns takes the electronica branch from their first two albums, and stands alone as that, the new features being odd structures, interludes/concepts, and foreign accents/world music. Having this said, the only branch left is "hip-hop". Do you think their next album will follow the trend of taking a hint of their first two and include something new that they've never done before? Meaning do you think their next album will be hip-hop heavy? Or will they escape this trend and create something different?

Mine isn't really complete but my idea of the story goes like this; The album opens up with The Requiem. This is basically a prayer at a time of despair and hatred. The bomb goes off which sequences in to The Radiance, which is an actual historical account of what happened at the time. Burning In The Skies fades in, and even though the lyrics could be looked at as political or dealing with relationships, for this story alone this song looks back into all of the greed, hatred, and evil that is in the culture today. Empty Spaces / When They Come For Me are interlude from the story, which is basically Linkin Park's way of getting the whole "zomg lp sux n0w because dey arent heavy" and the more professioanl critic-like versions of those statements addressed. Robot Boy goes back to the story but in a different approach, which talks about moving on from the past and pushing through struggles. Jornada Del Muerto is a dark prayer being chanted in a different language. Waiting For The End ends the first part of the story with the basic message of moving on and starting fresh. Blackout is an interlude from the story, which talks about relationships and heartbreak. Wretches And Kings is another interlude from the main story, but has it's own message (the whole leader vs. rebel tale). Wisdom, Justice, and Love comes back to the story. It reflects on the dark and unfair society in which we live in. Iridescent reflects on the disaster and destruction that was left in the story, and talks about letting go all of the sadness and despair that is bottled up inside. Fallout reflects on the past, and the evil destruction that the bombs left behind. The singing is really demonic and robotic in the opening, but fades into a more beautiful voice. The Catalyst can be interpreted so many different ways. The lyrics from the opening of the story/album are replayed again, but are meant differently. "Lift me up, let me go" is more of a redeeming type of lyric. The Messenger ends the album with peace, hope, and love. This track is the new beginning. Moving from the past, all of the hatred, coldness, and destruction. Starting fresh, and even though times can be tough, and things can get hectic, you will always be loved and there will be an "angel" to guide you throughout all of your troubles. Post yours or you can tell me what you think about mine!

This is what i'm looking for. Come out with a bang. Something like "Given Up" and "No More Sorrow", but with more of a hip-hop edge. I mean they could pull off an album that makes ATS look like nothing, but I guarantee they will never do it. If they continue in the direction of drum machines and soft ballads, they will never be the same band they once were. This is less of an expectation, but more of a request. Throw in some more guitars, throw in some more screaming, and rap a little more too. I don't want to see this band try to forge a new identity on every track. Who knows, if they continue that route, we will have a dance song with Japanese flutes, or a ballad with robots. -----

Corrections on this statement: Most solo songs run 0.99 and 1.29 in the US. The track's length is listed.

Xero, you made some pretty good points, but I just think Hybrid Theory is more honest, and more enjoyable. Throwing in 3 half-assed interludes, and 2 good interludes isn't being creative. "The Radiance" is only used because of Oppenheimer. The speech within the song doesn't really connect with the story/theme, but more of the title and track titles. "Empty Spaces" is basically the most useless interlude i've ever listened to. It serves no purpose at all. "Fallout" is half assed. Basically an acapella of Mike Shinoda singing the chorus from "Burning In The Skies" through effects/vocoder. The other interludes (JDM and WJL) are actually well done. So the majority of this album is useless scrap tracks that look good ON PAPER, but have you fooled when listening to the record. You see, when I noticed there was a 57 second track on the album, and a 18 second track I thought "whoa, now i'm sure we are in for something fun. something exciting". Instead I was bored to death by two boring tracks. They didn't help transition into tracks or change any moods for me. It seriously looks like they tried harder to make this album look creative and different, rather then making the music do that on it's on. Don't get me wrong, a few of the songs have some crazy structures, especially for Linkin Park's standards, but the whole point of me bringing this up is to say that Hybrid Theory was a creative album, and it felt like the band's goal was to make music the way they want to. Not by forcing garbage tracks into the record or by singing/rapping in reggae accents, and having famous political people turn into robots. Hybrid Theory was creative, and honest.

I modified the first post.

The Messenger

Incorrect. I clearly wrote a paragraph or so on why I think Hybrid Theory is the best album. Many fans around here seem to think A Thousand Suns is, so I wrote my honest opinion on why I think it is not. I didn't write a paragraph for Hybrid Theory calling it the best album, without supporting details. On a side note, the bands last two albums were very good, but felt incomplete. Minutes To Midnight lacked alot of electronica and hip-hop, while A Thousand Suns lacked the rock/metal edge of the band. Their first two albums blended that perfectly. Now it seems like they are making albums based on parts of their styles. If we're lucky, i'd expect a heavy hip-hop album next, but it's doubtful.

You can post your thoughts on this little article that I wrote up. Agree, disagree, anything works. It's the whole point of this thread, let alone the forums. Linkin Park in my opinion does have their best album. It is Hybrid Theory. Yes this album is better than the more polished copy Meteora, yes it is better than the clean and simplistic Minutes To Midnight, and even better than the cacophonic electronic overdose of A Thousand Suns. Why am I making this statement, especially after having a different opinion 2 months ago? Hybrid Theory had it all. Every song could've been a single on that album. There was a hint of some electronica with the light synths, scratching, and glitched vocals. There was a hint of some rock with the clean guitars, pianos, and soft vocals. There was hint of some nu metal with the dark distorted guitars and screams. There was a hint of hip-hop with the rapping verses. There was a hint of everything, and it all blended cohesively. The lyrics were written very simply. There wasn't a metaphor that you had to wrap your head around, there wasn't a distorted political speech that had several different meanings because of the way it was used. There was simple lyrics that talked about life whether it be regrets, heartbreak, and something the average human would experience. Yes, more challenging and creative lyrics are a great thing in music, but the simplicity and easy-listening of Hybrid Theory proves how great the album is. A 12 year old could listen to this album, same with a 17, 22, 27, and 32, 42, 62 year old and understand what the lyrics mean. Meteora was a good follow-up, but at the same time was more of the same. Alot of the songs felt like previous songs from the band. You can figure out the comparisons, but for a good example or two, you have In The End - Somewhere I Belong, and Pushing Me Away - Numb. They are basically the same. The album also sounds more radio friendly. The lyrics are a notch down, and the music is a bit more polished. Minutes To Midnight was a step in the right direction, but they dived to much into ballads. They easily could've had two or three, but the album ended up having around four or five. There could've been at least two more songs with rapping in them, or something similar to their older music just to give fans an easier transistion. "Blackbirds" and "QWERTY" are two songs that could've made this album an instant hit. QWERTY is the Linkin Park we all love and know, while Blackbirds teases the new soft style, while keeping that hip-hop edge. The album was good, but could've been better. Alot of the music can be compared to other bands. Once again, i'm saving my comparisons, but the most famous, Shadow Of The Day - U2. We aren't talking: "you broke my heart and it hurts so much, in the end my life really sucks". There are some clever lyrics in this record. Many people could say "A THOUSAND SUNS IS SO CREATIVE HOW DARE YOU SAY THIS ALBUM ISN'T THEIR BEST". It isn't. It tries to be cohesive when it really isn't. One moment you're haunted by a choir and a female electronic voice, the next minute you're listening to a club-like song with dreadful monotone singing. Then of course you hear a beautiful orchestra of crickets. A Thousand Suns looks more of an attempt to try and be different, rather than becoming different on it's own. It seems like this record was made the way it was, for the sole purpose of shock value. You have reggae rapping blended with soft singing, dance-like screams over dark pianos and cacophonic beats, and robotic voices. That doesn't sound like it was written that way. It looks more like they were planning out how each song could be as different as possible. "Oh, in Wretches and Kings it sounds too much like us, let's add a reggae tinge to the chorus and add a 'hey hey hey' ", "Eh this structure is way too similar to a radio structure, let's rearrange the whole song, just so it's different". Even though they got it to work, it seems like they had a blueprint and followed it. The music came out pretty decent, but at the same time it doesn't look cohesive or even natural. There are 2-3 meaningless interludes on the album, and it seems like they thought instead of merging tracks, they could have a 18 second track, and a 57 second track to make the tracklist longer and the track lengths would look more "conceptalbumish", like The Wall. Hybrid Theory on the other hand, has natural creativity, everything blends cohesively, and still ended up being different and unique, but it worked. It just worked. And if you want me to do a grading system of all of their albums, I would do it this way; Hybrid Theory - A A Thousand Suns - B+ Minutes to Midnight - B+ Meteora - B

No Roads Left

My December

ATL GONE! MY DREAM COME TRUE! No Roads Left

I chose Phoenix. He has a great singing voice, and I think he could sing in a solo track.

Yeah because this clearly makes sense. A Thousand Suns is lacking one thing that The Dark Knight has. A story. A Thousand Suns isn't like Dark Side Of The Moon, or even American Idiot for that matter. There isn't a story. The concepts are themes. Tossing in crickets doesn't tell a story. Martin Luther King turning evil isn't telling a story. It's the theme and concept behind the track itself. I was just annoyed that there was so many of this, and it took away from the album. Since there wasn't that "story", leaving the interludes out wouldn't change anything. You may think The Requiem or Fallout is important to the album, but if it never existed, and they were just normal tracks, people wouldn't be saying "ehh we are missing an important piece to the story". "The Catalyst" is supposed to be the main track of the album. Just because other songs have lyrics from the track, it doesn't mean they are something that you need to have. If they were never there in the first place, people wouldn't feel as if they should've been there. What i'm trying to say is, if you stop and think about the reprise lyrics and everything, you can release they taking them off of the album wouldn't hurt it in anyway. Taking the hospital scene out of The Dark Knight (Harvey and The Joker talking) is essential and meant alot to the story.

01. Wake 02. Given Up 03. Leave Out All The Rest 04. Bleed It Out 05. Shadow Of The Day 06. What I've Done 07. Hands Held High 08. No More Sorrow 09. Valentine's Day 10. In Between 11. In Pieces 12. The Messenger 13. The Little Things Give You Away