You’re talking to a kid who is an absolute flaming Linkin Park fan. I live and breathe Linkin Park. I get a lot of crap for it, but I don’t care. So call this review biased or whatever, I don’t care.
Yes, I downloaded the album when it leaked. Yes, I already had my copy preordered, which came in the mail today. Yes, I’ve already heard the album many times and I already have my opinions on it. I support Linkin Park completely and, frankly, I think A Thousand Suns is their best album. I don’t understand why people give this band so much hate for playing with their sound. You don’t hear people complaining when Radiohead tinkers with their sound on every album they’ve ever put out. Anyway, what follows is my opinion only. Take it for what it is.
Lost In The Echo - A solid album opener that feels stylistically like a cross between “The Catalyst” and “Faint.”
In My Remains - Noisecreep put it best. ”A military drum march as the backbone behind a truly thunderous melody.” My personal favorite from the album.
Burn It Down - A punchy dance-rock anthem. One of their strongest singles in a long time.
Lies Greed Misery - A glitched out, in your face rock song. Think “Hit The Floor” meets any dubstep producer.
I’ll Be Gone - Ultimately a kind of forgettable track amongst an album of other stand-out tracks. Notable for featuring a string arrangement from Arcade Fire collaborator, Owen Pallett.
Castle of Glass - Linkin Park’s spin on folk-rock. I know it sounds weird, but it actually works.
Victimized - Has been called “their heaviest track.” While this is true, it feels very out of place on the album, especially right after Castle of Glass.
Roads Untraveled - A simple, heartbreaking piano and guitar driven ballad. Their best ballad to date and one of the album’s best tracks.
Skin to Bone - This one is one of the lower points of the album. Never takes a definite shape or has any real sense of purpose.
Until It Breaks - Think “Blackout” 2.0. Starts with the good old Shinoda swagger, then goes somewhere totally different, then turns back around, then turns back around yet again with a special surprise at the 2:22 mark. I don’t really know how I feel about this one. The band said in interviews that this one was built from pieces of other demos that didn’t cut it. I would love to hear the demo where the hip hop element of this song came from, but the other stuff isn’t doing it for me.
Tinfoil - An instrumental that acts as the opening of the next track, Powerless. It’s fine by itself, but it works best as the opening of Powerless.
Powerless - The album’s other ballad. While it’s a ballad, it’s much more aggressive than Roads Untraveled. Think “In The End” meets “Shadow of the Day.”
So, do I like this album? Short answer is yes. While not as good as ATS, I still thoroughly enjoyed this album. Give this one a shot, I say. But, if you’re an LP diehard like I am, you don’t need this review to tell you to get this album… Hell, you probably have the album already…
