Skip to main content

Gallantly Streaming: Linkin Park Stops Pretending

A week ahead of its official release, Linkin Park is streaming their fifth album Living Things via iTunes. 

Upon first listen, the one thing that becomes immediately clear is the album's streamlined approach; its 12 tracks clock in at a paltry 37 minutes.  Lead single Burn It Down, at a shade under four minutes, is the closest you're going to get to a magnum opus on this platter.

As the album plays on, it also becomes apparent that the blatant pop leanings of that single doesn't exactly make it the harbinger of Linkin Park gone full-blown pop that some thought it could be (myself included).  However, it isn't quite the "return to the roots" that's it's being marketed as either.

Yes, Chester's screaming more (most effectively on the raucous Lies Greed Misery).  Yes, Mike's rapping more.  But, any chest-thumping dumb jock looking for the downtuned chug-a-chug riffage of the first two albums is going to be sorely disappointed, since guitars are much more used for ambience than to propel songs here. 

Living Things isn't as soft or preachy as Minutes To Midnight or A Thousand Suns were (album closer and future single shoe-in Powerless is about as gentle as LP are willing to get this time), nor is it the raging inferno of Hybrid Theory or Meteora (yet it teases old schoolers masterfully with Victimized, a punk-infused shredder that's over in a slight 1:46).  It's a safe compromise for both band and fans; brimming with both brawn and beauty, never forcing itself uncomfortably into either camp.

At the end of the day, Living Things is not a safe return nor a bold departure.  It's a distillation of Linkin Park's strengths, a collection of ragged anthems polished and refined.  Moreover, it's the sound of a group that's stopped pretending to be something they're not.  Abandoning both wall-of-guitar bro-rock and gushy top 40 radio aspirations yields an album that's tight, consistently entertaining and never overbearing.

So, yes, all you fanboys and haters alike; Living Things is Linkin Park's best album yet.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Year in Rock 2025

  Alright, I've got some explaining to do.   By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but:   a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider .  W...
Post a Comment
Read more

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...
Post a Comment
Read more