A Thousand Suns

+ The Ever Changing Linkin Park

Let me start off by saying Linkin Park is my favorite band, period. It was the band that introduced me to Rock. It was in 1999 when I first came across Linkin Park on Much Music when their video for ?One Step Closer? came on. I became obsessed with it, so much that my friends and I would rock out to it in the cafeteria along with Papa Roaches? Last Resort. Ahh, bringing back those memories of middle school.

Hybrid Theory became my favorite album of all time. When I first bought the CD I was astonished by how good ALL the songs were. Hybrid Theory was so good that it is still played endlessly even these days. What I like about Linkin Park at that time was that it was not that mainstream yet, no one really knew Linkin Park until ?In The End? came out. The other thing I liked about Linkin Park was that they were a hybrid band; Mike Shinoda rapped, Chester Bedingfield sang, and Mr. Han DJ'd. That was the old school Linkin Park, now they sound totally different. After the album Meteora, Linkin Park was never the same and re-genred themselves as Nu-Metal.





Here we are, the year 2010 and Linkin Park is about to re-invent themselves again with their new album "A Thousand Suns". The album was officially released on September 14, 2010 and shocked many people because of its departure from the Hybrid Theory and Meteora days. Heck, they even sound way different than their 2007 album, Minutes to Midnight. With their new album "A Thousand Suns", Linkin Park tried to be different and invent a new genre leaving their old rock and hip hop style past behind. One critic claimed the new album was a mix of Pink Floyd and Brian Eno and when discussing the first two tracks (?The Requiem? and ?The Radiance?) on the album, he said: ?you won?t have an idea to whom you listening to.? Fans on iTunes are battling each other saying how disappointed the album turned out to be and others praise the new sound and give them credit for trying to be different.





So where do I stand in all of this? Being the person I am, I am open to change (which many people are afraid of). Linkin Park sounded different in Minutes To Midnight but I was able to embrace the songs on the album as the days went by. Now here comes a Thousand Suns and I am like ?well this is totally different, it is going to take me time to adjust?. This new album, A Thousand Suns, to me, gave me an Angels to Airwaves / Muse feel to it. I must admit I was not happy at first when their first single ?The Catalyst? came out. I felt abandoned as a fan and felt betrayed by the new sound Linkin Park has presented. As days went by, I finally got used to the new electronic melodic feel ?The Catalyst? gave. Then the album came out and I decided to give all of the songs a shot.





Did it have a wow feel to it? No, but I give credit to Linkin Park for having produced an album that was decently good. It did stray far away from Hybrid Theory and Meteora but if I didn?t have these biases, the album itself would be a little above average. Linkin Park has worked two years to come out with this sound and I?ll give them props for their effort. It will take me time to adjust but I am growing into some of the songs as we speak and I have already declared the best song on the album to be ?Waiting For The End.? In fact, ?Waiting For The End? and ?Wretches and Kings? are the only hip-hop feeling songs in the album. The song ?Iridescent? and ?Burning in the Skies? are my other two favorites but they have a slow theme to them. Mike Shinoda, who now looks like the Foo Fighter lead singer, David Grohl, had said that the album ?blends human ideas with technology.? Whatever that means (haha) I will always be a Linkin Park fan and will support them on their decisions. A Thousand Suns represents a wonderful effort from an ever changing band in a world that always changes.

Final Thoughts, "Do you feel cold and lost in desperation, you build up all the failures all you've known ,remember all the sadness and frustration and let it go." - Linkin Park "Iridescent"




David Grohl v Mike Shinoda


SHINODA



Grohl



Great Album Review On A Thousand Suns