punkrawka's Full Review: Minutes to Midnight [PA] [Digipak] by Linkin Park
Linkin Park is releasing just their third studio album in seven years, but the band has cemented themselves as one of the last rap-metal groups that's still of mainstream relevance. Hybrid Theory and Meteora were subsequent smash hits, though the primary critique of the second disc was that it did little to branch out from the sound and mood of the first. The band clearly feels that critique on their follow-up, Minutes to Midnight -- in fact, they clearly overreacted to it, as they strayed quite far from the energy and authenticity that once characterized them, even if the musical growth evident on the disc is intriguing.
The album opens on a fairly steady note (after the brief instrumental "Wake") with "Given Up." With the exception of some unexpected hand-clapping and a total dearth of Mike Shinoda's rapping, this is vintage Linkin Park -- a quick, heavy and angry tune. Chester Bennington even drops a couple unmistakeable f-bombs, shedding the "metal band to listen to with your parents" label for the band. The track isn't a brilliant one, but it's familiar and energetic, good for the band to ease their fans into a whole new sound.
However, anyone looking for the old Linkin Park dynamic of rapping, screaming and electronic noise fusesd together is going to have to keep waiting -- far more prevalent on this record are alt-rock tracks where the six-piece band essentially drops its DJ and rapped vocals, leaving Bennington to croon over standard rock instrumentation. Some of these tracks, like the closer and Katrina tribute "The Little Things Give You Away," succeed very well, but others ("Leave Out All The Rest" or "Shadow of the Day") leave the listener feeling that bands like Our Lady Peace have already executed this sound much better.
Fortunately, the band's attempts to branch out do strike gold at least a few times. In the liner notes for "Bleed It Out," the band notes that "One of the band's goals on this record was to enjoy it. This track is one of the places that it is most evident." And indeed, the listener hears the fun effusing out of every pore of the track, with hand-clapping dominating the percussion, and occasional yells and shouts of merrymaking in the background. Shinoda appears for the first time in this track (despite it being the disc's fourth), and lays down easy rhymes that leave the listener baffled that his role is not predominant. Equally successful is the Shinoda-driven track "Hand Held High," a brilliant track, almost all rapped with a war-drum backdrop, with lyrics about Bush's warmaking and the world's view of it.
The band also does go back to somewhat familiar turf with the heavier sections of "No More Sorrow," and another interesting experiment is when Shinoda unexpectedly mans the melodic vocals on "In Between" (have we yet detected a pattern that Shinoda makes some tracks golden and is strangely neglected on this disc?) But even for these later tracks, they are mixed with the blander "Valentine's Day." And "In Pieces" is another mid-tempo Bennington-only rocker, though the island-ish guitars and above-average lyrics given the track a certain charm that some of its counterparts lack.
All in all, this album isn't one of those records where a band so completely flees their old sound that fans are 100% alienated. But it's halfway there, without a single track of familiar rap-metal to bring existing fans completely into the fold. The band's experimentations do accomplish some hits, but the number of bland alt-rock efforts on this disc keep it from being as memorable as its predecessors.
After a multi-platinum debut, Grammy nominations, a successful sophomore album, sold-out tours, and a collaboration with Jay-Z, the pressure was on fo...More at Buy.com
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