So, like so many other devoted fans, I have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of Linkin Park’s fourth album: A Thousand Suns. After listening to it about a million times in the last three days, I felt like I needed to get my opinions out there, since this controversial record has spawned a lot of opinions for a lot of people.
First of all, I watched a lot of the “Meeting of A Thousand Suns” DVD, which was kind of a “Making Of” thing for the fans, so I had a few inclinations into the minds of the band members and how this album was going to turn out. I knew it was going to be very weird and original, and was probably going to piss a lot of old fans off, regardless of its quality. To fully rate and enjoy this album, you have to first be very objective about it: this is not Linkin Park of old, so don’t compare it to that. These songs are not going to be normal or of a regular structure.
After listening to it in full for the first time, I had to say that my expectations of the unexpected were very accurate. I was really hoping for a Reanimation type album, energy and production wise, but didn’t get that at all. The album is very strange, but its originality really hooked me in. In its entirety it is really unlike anything I’ve ever heard. You really have to listen to it to understand. There are some hip hop elements, many of the songs are very melodic, there’s some screaming, some very interesting drums loops, some electronic influence, and even a little reggae influence in one song. There is not one song that is even close to ANY song on Hybrid Theory or Meteora, and even few that resemble Minutes to Midnight. Mike does a lot of singing on the album, and the way they blend his voice with Chester’s is one of the highlights of the album. Chester’s vocals are amazing as always. But in the end, the originality of this album is what makes it or breaks it, and that was LP’s intention.
There are quite a bit of things I do not like about the album. I know I have already said not to compare to LP of old, but after M2M did not deliver in this department at all, I was really hoping for some “make me wanna jump around and punch someone in the head” songs, or at least moments, on A Thousand Suns. There really isn’t too much here. Wretches and Kings gets me a little jacked up, and The Catalyst is fun and energetic, but that’s about it. This cd is not getting much play on my weightlifting playlist, which is unfortunate, because Hybrid Theory is #1 on that. I’m just disappointed because LP has potential like no other band to create music with the caliber of Metal/Hip Hop energy to get people so pumped up. Another major negative is the quantity of songs. There are SIX preludes or interludes or whatever you want to call them, meaning only nine real songs. If they had added 3-4 more songs that were nearly the caliber of those nine, this would be an excellent album. Another negative is the speeches. One speech would have been plenty, but there are a good 5 historic speeches thrown into this album. The Martin Luther King one is my favorite. Other than that they could have gotten rid of the rest. The “fight the machine” and “We are all sinners and going to pay” theme of the album does get old as well. I feel like Hybrid Theory was all about personal and inner struggles filled with young angst and aggression, and that really isn’t there for the band members anymore, so they needed to find something else. As a non-political person, the personal battles were easier to identify with than the issues at hand on A Thousand Suns.
Thoughts on the songs: (From Best to Worst)
1. 1. Waiting For The End- This is BY FAR the best song in my opinion. The song structure is very original and it is super catchy. The dynamic between Mike and Chester’s voice is very cool and Mike’s foray into his reggae vocals surprisingly works.
2. 2. Iridescent- This song does remind me a little bit of M2M, but with a lot of sang vocals by Mike. It is a very melodic and beautiful song, and I think it could do well on the radio. The way it constantly builds is very cool.
3. 3. Burning In The Skies- I really like the drums in this one. The hook is also very catchy and I really like the lyrics (“I’m swimming in the smoke of bridges I have burned, so don’t apologize, I’m losing what I don’t deserve.”) Mike brings it in and then Chester takes over for the hook, and then they sing together.
4. 4. The Catalyst- Their first single off of this album is extremely original. I actually like the electronic influence they added to it: I think it gives it a lot of energy. The “hook” if you will, although very repetitive, sounds really cool and gives the song an “epic” sound. The way it all comes together at the very end is just amazing. This song would be pretty flawless if it wasn’t ruined by the terrible kick drums that seem to just be randomly thrown in the song. They hold no rhythm and really ruin part of it for me.
5. 5. Wretches and Kings – The one word I have to describe this song: not good, or beautiful, or great, but “badass.” When those first big guitars come in it hits pretty hard and the beat is also really cool. I really love Chester on the chorus. My only beef with the song is Mike’s lyrics. They are incredibly simplistic and don’t even flow that well. For a topic as important as the one he is addressing with a beat as cool as this one, he really needs to come harder.
6. 6. Robot Boy – Super weird song. The vocals are super layered on this one, and I think Mike and Chester share the vocal duties on pretty much the whole song. It is very melodic with a lot of “ooohhoooh’s.” The piano melody is very cool and I really like the drums.
7. 7. Blackout – Probably the weirdest song on the album. It starts out all happy sounding with this weird synth melody, and then Chester comes in with some weird sort of rapping style to a real fast beat. I think that part sounds awesome, but his screaming in the hook is really forced. I love Chester’s screaming when it’s over some super loud guitars and he sounds legitimately pissed (SHUT UP WHEN I’M TALKIN TO YOU!), but it doesn’t sound legit at all over that techno type beat with those happy synths. The song then goes into some crazy DJ chopping of Chester screaming the chorus, which I also don’t like, and then transitions into a super melodic singing part at the end, which saves the song. The way it ends is just awesome.
8. 8. When They Come For Me – Again, a cool song ruined by Mike’s lack of lyrical complexity. “I’m the opposite of wack, the opposite of weak.” The irony of that line is ridiculous. I do like the line “Even a Blueprint is a gift and curse, cuz once you got a theory about how the thing works, everybody wants the next thing to be just like the first” very nice references to Jay Z’s albums and even his own to combat the criticism of the direction they took with this album. With that said, the drums are awesome, and Mike’s delivery is actually pretty good. The hook is super weird and sounds very tribal. The end is really cool and kind of jacks you up though.
9. 9. The Messenger – Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate this song, or even dislike it, but it just doesn’t hit for me. I appreciate the idea, but as I said, I only enjoy Chester’s screaming when it’s over some huge guitars and he sounds super mean. Not a huge fan of it when it’s over an acoustic guitar and piano and singing about love. He could have stuck to his regular voice and this song would have been twice as good. I’m not a huge fan of the lyrics of the hook however: “When life leaves us blind, love keeps us kind.” That sounds like some teenage girl singer shit right there.
I’m not going to rate the rest of the tracks because they are all build ups or interludes. In the end, I’ll give it a 7/10, could be a 9/10 with three more songs of the same caliber as the others.
-Prototype
