[Shadow Wolf]

Right, I know we're all edgy and nonconformist and shit here, but it's Linkin park. Nuff said for me at least. What do you think of this new hotness?

It's REALLY different for LP. REALLY. I like it quite a bit. They've really gone off and explored entire new Genres. There's stuff on here that sounds almost like Coldplay. Craziness. I don't like it as much as Meteora, but in a lot of ways, I don't think you can compare them. They're too different.

Thoughts?

[Arek the Absolute]

I warn you now, ridicule is imminent.

[Shadow Wolf]

Oh shit, I knew I was herding cats from the very beginning, believe me. I just wanna see what happens if we try to critique something that wasn't composed to accompany a splatter of pixels, or if we even can.

[Bahamut]

From what I've heard, this album is like the very definition of a sellout. I'm probably going to download it when I get home for laughs.

[q-pa]

OMG, Linkin Park on top of General??
LAM0RS!! LINKN PRK IS TEH SHALW CR4P!!

But in all seriousness I hear they've taken a new direction here, but that one single I've heard on the radio doesn't sound too different from their older stuff. Probably just the record company playing it safe; I'll have to grab the 30-second samples from iTunes in order to really judge the album


Heh, maybe it'll broaden my brother's horizons; he's been a big fan of them...

[Arek the Absolute]

Does he whine and over exadurate negative emotions and make them sound as if they are glorified and should be sought after?

Sorry, I hate linkin park with a passion.

[Shadow Wolf]

There's some shades of politics in some of the songs, but I don't think the album is a sellout by any means. In fact, I've become fairly certain that sellout is just another word for "Help, they decided not to release the same old shit for the fourth time and I'm gonna WHINE about it as loud as I can!"

If you're not convinced this is a new direction for them, listen to Shadow of the Day and Hands Held High. Shadow of the Day especially is a totally new sound for them. But you're right, q-pa. What I've done is probably the closest sounding to their other stuff on the whole album. Kind of the wrong single to sell a new direction with.

But I can say I've listened to the whole thing and there wasn't a song I didn't like, which is fairly impressive considering I usually hate any music with vocals in it. But Linkin Park's vocals have quite a lot of intelligence to them.

EDIT: Surprisingly, only a couple songs on the album were really emo. I was quite amazed.

[Urban Xperience]

Linkin Park's distinct and original sound is what has made them as a band. By suddenly shifting their music styles really does make me scratch my head. I blame that Rick Rubin, who part-produced the album and to me, is simply too old to understand the cross-genre that Linkin Park has shown to us. They are Linkin Park, NOT the Red Hot Chilli Peppers! What happened to their rivetting basslines and powerful synths? The turntablism has completely gone! I'm not convinced of their bold but brave move btw, I'll just get back to listening to Meteora, while the rest can just rant at me...

[Shadow Wolf]

I listened to a prerelease preview of the album where they interviewed the band, and they made it VERY clear that they were the ones that wanted to change it up, and they specifically made the point that Rick Rubin let them have complete creative control over the album. They said they wanted to prove they weren't confined to a single genre, even if they invented the genre they were confined to. So, better or worse, it was their decision.

[Bahamut]

Since when has Linkin Park's lyrics have intelligence to them?

I can't say I know anything about the new album from my own observations, but one of my friends despises the album since it's basically shitting on the fans they made their music on (paraphrased).

Edit: A band might say so-and-so, but that doesn't make it the truth. It could be the record label making huge pressures to cause this change, which has been known to happen behind the scenes.