Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It’s bizarre. Linkin Park’s bizarre, that is. Not just their genres, or their albums, or their music videos, or their songs, but the phenomenon that IS Linkin Park. Since the late nineties, there hasn’t been a band as disagreed upon as Linkin Park has been. People criticized them for screaming too much in Hybrid Theory and Meteora; they didn’t scream or rap enough in Minutes to Midnight; A Thousand Suns, which blended reggae and rock and hip-hop, was too weird or political (but the naysayers said it was Techno, which is apparently a criticism); Living Things was too dub-steppy (even though the folk elements were prominent too); and The Hunting Party will probably be too loud and aggressive. Linkin Park can’t win, but they will make great music to the unbiased ear. That’s all that matters. The Hunting Party is heavier than Hybrid Theory and it’s better than Living Things. This is what you’ve been waiting for Hybrid Theory fans (you know, you guys that claim it “isn’t” about Nu Metal, but rather about heavy, aggressive music). With that being said, this is probably Linkin Park’s most important album in the last ten years. This is where we discover whether the naysayers have any merit in their overly hateful—or forcefully indifferent—criticisms . . . This is Linkin Park’s loudest, rawest, most visceral album to date. If Living Things was a mixture of all their previous albums, The Hunting Party purges out their previous sounds. Like Minutes to Midnight, it’s another clean slate. A new sound. As Mike raps about in the first track on the album, “Careful what you shoot for, ‘cause you might hit what you aim for.” You wanted heavy, you got heavy; you’ll be thirsty for the two mellower songs toward the end of The Hunting Party, because the mayhem which comes before will scorch the sonic landscape of this album . . . 1 / Keys to the Kingdom – 3/5 You’d be wrong if you assumed Linkin Park put their heaviest song in the very beginning, although it would be an easy mistake. It starts off relentlessly heavy; loud guitars; louder vocals. What’s also interesting is the structure of the song. One verse is sung, the next verse is rapped. Kudos for Linkin Park mixing it up. One Word Summary: Electric 2 / All For Nothing (featuring Page Hamilton) – 4/5 This song reminds me of why I used to like Hip Hop (Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and The Roots) in the late 90s, early 2000s. While Page Hamilton is a guest singer on the song, he doesn’t steal the show; it’s all about Mike Shinoda’s rapping force. He doesn’t play around, doesn’t sugarcoat the lyrics, doesn’t make it have a pretty rhythm—he just fires it out. The chorus, sung by Page and Chester, is also very catchy and anthemic. One Word Summary: Anthem 3 / Guilty All The Same (featuring Rakim) – 4/5 I’m sure most of you already have an opinion on the song. They were smart to have it be their first single, because if you don’t like this song, you very likely won’t like 70 percent of the album. One Word Summary: Sampler 4 / Summoning (instrumental) – N/A It would be pretentious to score a 1 minute instrumental, but let’s just say it feels like something from A Thousand Suns. 5 / War – 4/5 I have a feeling that a lot of people will like this song because of how loud and aggressive it is. It’s a better song than Living Things’ Victimized, fusing rock and punk. This is the heaviest song on the album. One Word Summary: Heavy 6 / Wastelands – 5/5 This is the first song on the album that feels like a Linkin Park song. And that’s a good thing for a Linkin Park fan. It’s familiar territory; it’s a sonic haven; and it might just be Mike Shinoda’s finest rapping to date. One Word Summary – Exhilarating 7 / Until It’s Gone – 5/5 It’s interesting they placed Wastelands and Until It’s Gone back to back. While Wastelands feels like something from A Thousand Suns or Living Things, Until It’s Gone really resonates to a sort of—dare I say it?—Nu Metal quality from their first two albums, from lyrics to the music. It’s also the first ballad on the album. If you’re listening to this album from beginning to end (like you should), you’ll really appreciate this song, like finding an oasis in a desert. One Word Summary: Throwback 8 / Rebellion (featuring Daron Malakian) – 5/5 If it wasn’t for having the catchiest chorus on the entire album, well, it would probably still be a 5/5. This song also features one of Daron Malakian’s best guitar performances ever. If we were still in the nineties, this would be a massive single, since it feels so much like a Nu Metal song, but we’re not, so it won’t be. Shame. One Word Summary: Catchy 9 / Mark the Graves – 5/5 This song here will be polarizing. Most Linkin Park albums, you could make a single out of every single song on the album. However, with Mark the Graves, it isn’t single material. It’s kind of offbalanced with too much guitar solos and not enough singing (kind of like Roads Untraveled’s loudmouth cousin), but it’s quite an organic song. It’s a risky song. One Word Summary: Experimental 10 / Drawbar (Tom Morello) – 5/5 Okay, yes this is an instrumental. And no, I’m not that familiar with Rage Against the Machine. But it deserves a score (unlike Summoning), because it really captured something inside of me. It felt like a musical piece you would hear in PS3’s The Last of Us. It’s experimental and moody and defines what Linkin Park is all about. One Word Summary: Moody 11 / Final Masquerade – 5/5 You could put this song on any of their albums and it would work. This is the softest song on the album and will be the only song that your mother would probably like (unless she likes really, really loud music). It’s cut from the same thread as In Pieces, and it was clearly made to balance the album’s heaviness, and as a transition into the final, craziest song of the album . . . One Word Summary: Beautiful 12 / A Line in the Sand – 5/5 This might be considered the spiritual successor to The Little Things Give You Away, and for good reason. It not only captures the essence of the entire album, but it also makes a solid point; it’s the thesis of the album; the apotheosis of the statement they were making with The Hunting Party. A Line in the Sand is the longest song on the album, and the most satisfying. Unless you were familiar with Linkin Park, you probably wouldn’t know it was them until Mike starts “sort of” rapping. One Word Summary: Masterpiece CONCLUSION: The Hunting Party is a mean, jerky rollercoaster that isn’t comfortable; it’s not hiking, it’s mountain climbing for your ears—you’ll appreciate when you get to Final Masquerade, which is the only mellow song on the album. YOU WILL probably like this album if you like bands like System of a Down, Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold, and early Deftones. WARNING: This album is NOT your friend. Hybrid Theory and Meteora may have provided you’re the tissues to wipe your tears, but The Hunting Party will kick your a** and tell you to suck it up and toughen up. PROS: Album Concept Album Length Epic Guitar Solos Energy Better Than LIVING THINGS Best Song(s): Final Masquerade, A Line in the Sand CONS: Could Have Had One More Song Tom Morello’s Underdone Presence Rakim’s Overdone Presence (Mike and Rakim should’ve alternated) Not Quite as Interesting as A THOUSAND SUNS Doesn’t Contain Any Massive Singles Worst Song(s): Keys to the Kingdom