ARTIST: Linkin Park
ALBUM: Living Things
LABEL: Warner Bros./Machine Shop
RELEASE DATE: June 20, 2012
5th Times a Charm?
Photo by James Minchin
Written by Dan Sinclair
Linkin Park is back with their fifth studio album, Living Things. The album was produced by Rick Rubin and the band’s co-lead vocalist, Mike Shinoda. On the album Mike is joined by the whole gang: Chester Bennington taking care of the rest of the vocals, Brad Delson on guitar and keyboards, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell manning bass, Rob Bourdon banging the drums and, of course, DJ Joe Hahn sampling and scratching away.
“Lost in the Echo” kicks off with Shinoda trying to bust some rhymes over well-layered and produced dance beats with his buddy Chester joining him to half-sing and half-scream the chorus. It’s the same familiar combination that made the band famous and/or infamous over a decade ago.
Bennington takes center stage, manning both the verses and the chorus on the next track, “In My Remains.” Like many of the band’s songs that heavily feature the skinny singer with the big lungs, it sounds like a heavier version of a Backstreet Boys song. It’s a formula that has worked well for the band for years and continues to do so.
Keyboards take over for a more almost-industrial intro on “Burn It Down.” Chester sings the catchy chorus: “We’re building it up to burn it down/We can’t wait to burn it to the ground.” Every Linkin Park album has at least one anthem the kids will sing on the back of the bus on the way to school and “Burn It Down” is that song from Living Things.
While “Burn It Down” features a little rapping from Shinoda, the next song, “Lies Greed Misery,” features a lot. It also, unfortunately, features a pretty annoying screaming chorus from Bennington and I wouldn’t be surprised if even the most loyal Linkin Parkers skip this one. But Chester does tone it down on the (relatively speaking) slower next song, “I’ll Be Gone.”
Then comes track five, and I have to stop and check my iPod to make sure I am still in fact listening to a Linkin Park album. The band somehow pulls off something amazing on “Castle of Glass,” which may be their best bit of song writing they’ve ever pulled off. It’s Mike Shinoda, not Chester Bennington, singing (yes, I said singing) the melodic verses and chorus over this mounting, rhythmic, poppy combination of actual guitar, bass and drums, with only minimal electronics. It’s a nice, refreshing change of pace on the album.
Next, we have a pretty hardcore punk-esque song, “Victimized,” that feels out of place sandwiched between two slower, more melodic tracks. It’s as if the band just shoved it in there in fear that some of their fans would call them pussies. “Roads Untraveled” is one of those slow songs, featuring plenty of “oh’s” and “whoa’s,” but not much else. It’s followed by a less-impressive vocal sampling from Shinoda on “Skin to Bone.” He then attempts to incorporate some sort of Jamaican reggae/rock sound to his flow on “Until It Breaks.”
“Tinfoil” is a completely instrumental track, composed of piano over some pretty cool, layered beats. It’s a wonderful showcase of what Linkin Park can do when it focuses on the music part of making music, as opposed to just coming up with loud, catchy choruses and silly raps. This leads into the final song, “Powerless”: a sound electronic, boy band-esque, power ballad featuring the best Linkin Park has to offer.
While one can sincerely applaud Linkin Park for taking some chances with a few isolated tracks on Living Things, overall, the album is nothing more than another set of songs randomly stuck together by a popular band with an all-too familiar sound. The people who dislike Linkin Park will continue to hate. Music fans looking for a new sound will look elsewhere. Sure, the fans of Linkin Park will buy it and love it, but even they will forget it completely once their next favorite band puts out a new record. It just is what it is and, in the end, none of it will really matter. Linkin Park will put out another album, just like this one, in two years or so, and we’ll do it all again.