smarterthan3's Full Review: Minutes to Midnight [PA] [Digipak] by Linkin Park
I hate to start this review by saying the following: "Linkin Park. Hate 'em or love 'em, you've heard of them and you've got an opinion of them...unless you've been living under a rock (Or in a couple people's houses I know) since 1999...And their back" but there's really no other way to go around it. It's been four years since we last heard from these rap-rock juggernauts who took radio and angsty 15 year old headspace captive (No criticism intended, since I'm quite easily included in that group) with each of their previous two releases. They return now in 2007 with "Minutes to Midnight" and, yes, LP faithful with a frown on their face and haters with a quiet "I'm not gonna say I told you so (Even though I just did)" smirk, all the lukewarm press you've gotten your retina on is correct: Linkin Park's junior release is unimaginative, uninspired and, for all intents and purposes, sounds like Chester Bennington's solo effort/side-project.
Now, hold your horses if this somehow happens to be the first review of the album you've read; The rap side of the two-faced vocal attack of Linkin Park, namely Mike Shinoda, still remains, but his mic time is severly dumbed down from past efforts, which hurts the band in more ways then one: First, while Chester is a good enough singer, he usually has only two moods in his thin wallet of tricks: Remorseful and pissed, which translates to serene and throat-shredding on the delivery front...Not exactly something that sells hit records. Second, there was an oxymoronic, subconcious feeling one got/gets, hearing depressing lines spilling out of Mike's hip-hop-esque delivery; Take Mike away from the equation and you lose that part of it (Although, I don't think, presently, that it would have mattered in that way, but more on that later). So, it seems the problem is fairly easy to diagnose, if potentially varied, but it's a little too late in the process for a prescribed remedy.
Reportedly, the band had song ideas totalling into the triple-digit realm. So why they would throw on an intro in exchange for another full-length track is more then a bit puzzling. Still, after said intro glows through, we arrive at "Given Up." It's solely Chester singing here, and the mood is quite livid. I quite like the chugging guitar and desperate approach to the verses, but the chorus, with childish profanity, brings the overall value down. The bridge is quite bearing though, making it seem, at this point in the album, that the phrase "back down" is not in the sextet's vocabulary. Any momentum garnered from the fire of "Given Up" is ground down in front of a wall that is "Leave Out All the Rest," a lyrically downtrodden AC ballad that Chester croons his way through. The song is fine, nothing grand but nothing noticeably detracting, aside from the fact it's right after a firey introduction.
When Mike finally does get a firm hold of the mic, especially for the first time on "Bleed It Out," he feels more like a hyped guest star instead of a founding member of the band. That doesn't take away from the pure blast that is "Bleed" though. Ahead of some studio chatter and the prodding on of sideline band members, Mike raps pointless, but pleasing, lines with Chester spurting a raspy chorus. Just like the good old days, one might think. But, again, whatever excitement you've got for the rest of the album is left plodding through the ankle-deep pool of crystal clear, but unexciting, water that is "Shadow of the Day."
Lead single "What I've Done" (Which, I'll admit, for a couple months previous, I had thought to be that "Refugee" song by Tribal Ink that had been 'included' with most...illegal pre-release copies of "Minutes to Midnight") is another slower paced number, but it's more haunting then heart breaking and I find it enjoyable. It's sped up with some stray soundboard sounds and, despite a no-show by Mike once again, this sounds alot like vintage (tongue-in-cheek) Linkin Park.
"Hands Held High," Mike's solo rap track backed by a looping, barebones military drum poundings, is another star-light. And it also makes me realize something, possibly, about a lack of involvement on Mike's part. On his Fort Minor debut, he fleshed out his more rap-oriented side, and the experience of that is evident here: He is more fluent in his rhymes then he was back on "In the End," and now I think it may have been a step backwards to have him sing of angst and lonelieness in the simple terms he used to. That's still no excuse for his minimized role, but it makes, at least me, understand a little better.
Speaking of Mike (Like I've done much else this review), he has another solo track, "In Between," but he full-out sings instead of raps. It's closer to reciting, actually...Mike doesn't sound senile, but he doesn't bring near enough emotion to the ballad to make it stick. In contrast, Chester brings out all the full-bodied rage necessary to invoke a response in the heavy-handed "No More Sorrow." To call anything LP produces 'punishing' is pushing it, but I have an easier time tagging that adjective on to this track filled with guitar riffs and a mildly unsettling bridge. Album finale"The Little Things Give You Away" gets most minor things right but the musical background is too thin to try to be spread through 6:24 minutes. The lyrics are quite good though (Hearing Chester sing 'The levy 's a breakin'' is classic) especially when a throway line (Like "All you've wanted is someone to truly look up to you") turns into something infinitely better ("And six feet under water, I do").
I got nothing against Chester, and I don't mean it as a blow against him when I say I think this is what his debut solo album would sound like, but I can't think of a better way to describe "Minutes." Old loves they die hard, they say. And, while I'm hardly ready to bury Linkin Park, this was a hard album to not feel anything but massively disappointed by. It's not terrible, just uneventful, unimaginative for the most part, and, simply, just real lukewarm. So, no recommendation for Linkin Park's latest and a suggestion, besides the obvious one, to find a better mixer, because, take away one or two of the sappier ballads and put them in more suitable places, this album would have gelled better. Still, no use crying over spilt milk. An average rating to apply to an album of the same.
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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