Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight

This album is to be officialy released in Australia on the 12th of May. For the best prices and super discounts, visit JB-Hifi!

I remember listening to Hybrid Theory for the first time. I was 14, and practically everyone was singing along to One Step Closer. Everywhere you go, those riffs are blasting away from the speakers; be it in a cafe, a music store or even a barber shop. Let's face it, those guys were everywhere. When I bought Hybrid Theory, I didn't like the album. I thought I was ripped off by the price. I had to do three orders of burned-audio CDs before I can buy the album (what? you never had a shitty job before?).

I only liked a couple of tracks on the album, but that was about it. That is, until a few months later, when I was looking for something heavy to listen to. And down there, beneath all the trash inside my drawer, I found the CD case. I started listening to it from the first track, and I fell in love with the sound. But then I got bored; Threw the CD away.

I didn't pick it up again until I was in year 12. Somehow I felt that my ears were ruined by the oversaturation of emo music. I was getting sick of Funeral For A Friend and Taking Back Sunday. Then I started listening to Hybrid Theory, but this time I downloaded all the tracks, since I lost the CD. I didn't expect to be able to headbang to LP after all this time, but that's exactly what I did.

The relationship between me and Linkin Park is like Ross and Rachel in Friends. Linkin Park is my Rachel.

So last night, with high anticipation, I downloaded their newst album: Minutes To Midnight.

It sounds different. It's not heavy anymore. I was clicking and clicking on all the tracks, and fast forwarding and repeating, but I couldn't find any kick-ass riffs, or something worth headbanging to. The second track: "Given Up" is an exception. But it's.. different.

LP tries to draw from a wide range of music genre and subgenre for this album. In some of the tracks, they tried too hard in combining these sounds, and sadly, they ended up sounding like douchebags. I advocate progression, but this is a huge gamble; They haven't released an album in quite a while, and they changed their sound to fit into the market.

So what actually sounds different here? Less guitar distortion, more melodic vocals (only two songs are rapped) and more synthetic drums. There's also couple of guitar solos. But frankly, they don't fit.

I guess I could just say that the guitar solo sucks.

LP also jumps from genre to genre in a single song. Some of the songs are too soft. Sometimes the vocals doesn't fit and sounds too forced. The lyrics are as you'd expect from LP; that's pretty much the only thing that hasn't changed.

It's not that I hate changes. I like it when bands tries something different. Like Blink 182 with their self titled album. Look at how it's markedly different from their previous efforts. Do I like this album? It's ok. I mean, it's not such a pain to listen to. Unlike this album from a band called Fairweather Fan. Which sucks big time.

So, should you buy this album?

If you liked the single "What I've Done", then you'll like the rest of the album. But if you want to bang your head, move along. As for me, I think I'll pass on this one.

This album is going to be officialy released in Australia on the 12th of May.

Download the album here.

Putra