Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns
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CD Details
Artist: Linkin ParkEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2010-09-14
Music Label: Warner Bros.
Product features:
- LINKIN PARK A THOUSAND SUNS
- The Requiem
- The Radiance
- Burning In The Skies
- Empty Spaces
- When They Come For Me
- Robot Boy
- Jornada Del Muerto
- Waiting For The End
- Blackout
- Wretches And Kings
- Wisdom, Justice, And Love
- Iridescent
- Fallout
- The Catalyst
- The Messenger
Music reviews of A Thousand Suns
Music Review: Waiting for the Album's End
Rating: 2 Stars
First and foremost, let me declare myself a fairly big fan of Linkin Park. After seeing them live in 2007, and picking up all of their other albums, I was eagerly anticipating the launch of A Thousand Suns. I waited awhile to pick it up, and after hearing all of the negative reviews, I decided to pick it up to see for myself. What you get here from LP, is a good, heartfelt effort, but one that ultimately leaves long time fans of their music, feeling angry and disappointed. If you want the gist of what my conclusion is, Don't buy this album unless you want to experience how bad it is for yourself. Now, allow me to go a little more in depth.
ATS opens up with, "The Requiem", which is an alright instrumental intro into the album. The track however, is two minutes long, and loses your attention quickly. Hybrid Theory opened up with the fast paced "Papercut". Meteora opened up with the 13 second long, "Forward" that gave way to the hit, "Don't Stay." Minutes to Midnight began with "Wake", and following in those footsteps, ATS begins with an instrumental that is too long, and leaves you wishing the next track would hurry up. That next track is, "The Radiance", which is a vocal track that serves as filler in an attempt to give you that "epic" feeling going into the actual music that we have now waited almost 3 minutes for through the first two tracks. This vocal track isn't necessary, ready for the music to actually begin? Sigh. Here we go.
"Burning in the Skies" is our first taste of actual LP music in the album. What we get here, feels like something off of Minutes to Midnight. As people have said, this album is ultimately an extension of MTM, but the third track was passable the first time for me. After a few listens, I began to grow sick of hearing Chester whine, and feel bad for himself. As much as I love his voice usually, his whiny tone, coupled with the uninspired BG music, made me want to scream. I began to skip this song after my first listen through. Next?
Who would have thought we would have another vocal track? If you can even call "Empty Spaces" a vocal track. What you get with "track" 4, is a clone of Metallica's beginning of "One." Some military inspired track that features soldiers yelling and guns firing. If you don't mind listening to 18 seconds of filler, listen to this, and get ready to laugh. On to track five.
"When They Come for Me" literally envoked laughter on my end the first time I listened to it. This song ultimately serves as an attempt from LP to try to get back to their hard rock roots. The end result however, ends up being a laughable fusion of Mike rapping, and strange background music. The song opens up with some strange sounds, and an annoying ticking noise. The lyrics here are so terribly elementary, that it is a little funny. It almost feels like a Weird Al cover of a LP song. "I am not a robot, I am not a monkey, I will not dance even if the beat's funky, opposite of lazy, far from a punk, ya'll better start talking, start tryna catch up, motha ******." Is an example of an attempt to sound hardcore here in this song. What ends up happening, is Mike sounding like a disgruntled gang member that got kicked out of his clan because he was caught watching Dora the Explorer alone one day. Chester had his chance to play fool earlier, now it's Mike's turn. This song falls flat on it's face, and features nothing audibly pleasing. Ready for some "Robot Boy?" Me neither.
"Robot Boy" is probably the sadest song on ATS. No no, not sad in the sense that it envokes emotion or tears. Sad in the sense that you'll be thinking, "Why did I pay for this?" "What happened to LP?" Robot boy is the most uninspired song on the album, and features Chester whining again. With a piano track that sounds like something from Elton John's greatest hits, Chester begins to croon on about how there's no one to give love to, I cringed when I first heard this song. A radio friendly ballad that almost crosses into the range of R&B, not for me. Fans of Ne-Yo may eat this song up, but it's far too long for it's own good at 4:28, and deserves to be skipped over. Hey, doesn't it feel like time for another sweet vocal track? I think so.
"Jornada Del Muetro" is another minute plus of useless filler. I think I heard somewhere that it's the words from the first track in Spanish. Either way, I el skippo this one every time since my first listen.
"Waiting for the End" was the first song that I truly enjoyed on this album. Pretty sad, that on track eight of fifteen, you finally find a listenable song. "Waiting for the End" is radio friendly, but finds a way to sound good since it correctly blends Chester and Mike together for the first time on the album. The music is decent, and the lyrics finally don't sound like they were written in grade school. This got lots of radio time before the album's release, so many are familiar with this one. Give it a listen, if you're an I-tunes user, buy this one. It could pass for an unreleased song off MTM.
Now on to what is my personal favorite song on the album. "Blackout" shows that LP is still capable of making good tunes- That they haven't completely lost themselves. This song features interesting musical work, followed by Chester coming in with "Im stuck in this bed you've made.." to be followed by him screaming, for the first time on the album. LP tries something new for the first time on the album here as well. At about 2 minutes in, prepare yourself for a cool little breakdown. The guitar is altered, to be followed by Chester's voice being manipulated in what sounds very cool. This part of the song had me moving my head for the first time of the album, as I tapped along to the the cool sounds. Chester sings again, and the song comes to a close. This tune is good too, pick it up if you buy online.
"Wretches and Kings" comes next. The song opens up with a clip of Mario Savio's famous rant in the 1960's about passively taking part in the operation of the machine. This song is "meh." Inserting Mario's quotes actually utilizes sound clips in a way that makes sense for the first time on ATS. It's an alright song, you may wish to buy it seperately. It has a nice, fun feel at times, I declare this song passable for the third straight good track.
"Wisdom, Justice, and Love" is a vocal track, of a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. His voice is warped as the track fades out. As great of a man as MLK was, the track seems to have no place, or purpose. Listen to it once, and skip it every listen after- it's historically important filler.
Now that they've guilt tripped me with a quote from the great MLK, trying to make me feel bad about hating the rest of the album, I will continue. "Iridescent" is nothing new. More radio friendly garbage from Chester, with softly played guitar, Chester playing his new role of, "Poor pitiful me, stop the violence and down with the hate, do you like my self loathing and whiny auto tuned vocal tracks?" Listen to "Iridescent" once, and never come back.
With a few tracks remaining in the album, we get another vocal track to ease us into the final couple of songs. Hooray. We get another altered version of some of the lyrics we've already heard. Out of all the vocal tracks on the album so far, this one may be the most useless yet. More filler, that simply features another part of the album, slowed down by about 75 percent. This garbage goes on for nearly 1:30, which is way too long for something that could have been put into the front end of another song. Don't even bother listening to this once, unless you're trying to kill time. Skip it, and prepare for "The Catalyst", which you've probably already heard.
"The Catalyst" was one of the bigger songs leading up to the album's release. After gaining fame on Youtube, the song is placed at the very back end of the album at track 14. Not what I would have done if I were producing it. Personally, I don't see the thrill in this song. While it is better than the musical compost found on the beginning of the album, it's nothing you haven't heard before. This tune sounds more like something that would be on in a night club in the center of your nearest big city. Alcohol influenced youths would probably get up and dance to this one in a nightclub, which is not what LP is supposed to be known for. The agony goes on for over five minutes. Some like this track, but I am not one. While it's passable, and not nearly as bad as say, "Robot Boy", I have come to hate it after my first full listen through.
Alright, the final song. Will it be epic? The song we've been waiting for? Nope. Just, "The Messenger". Chester steals the show again, and bombs it to close out the album. Chester continues to whine, and soak your ears in self loathing. By this point, if you weren't wearing make-up and tight jeans, with an attitude that everyone is out to get you, you are now. Chester's attempt to convert you into an emotional wreck that thinks your life is a big conspiracy, ends with this.. erm.. accoustic?.. track.. "Love leaves us blind." "Love keeps us kind" No, those are not quotes from Kelly Clarkson, they are lines from this song. Close the book on the album with a bitter taste in your mouth, and anger in your ears.
While I can't justify giving this album 1 star, I will reluctanly give it 2. The album saves itself from ultimate failure with a few good songs. "Blackout", "Waiting for the End", and perhaps "Wretches and Kings" will give true LP fans a little something to listen to. While the new wave of "fans" who eat this album up, singing Chester's ballads in the shower, will tell you otherwise, turn the other way. This album is nothing more than LP giving the finger to their true fans. If you don't believe me, give Meteora a listen. Heck, give Hyrbrid Theory a listen. LP's debut, Hybrid Theory, was good. Their sophomore, Meteora was fantastic, one of my favorite albums of all time. Minutes to Midnight was passable, but this, this is just unacceptable.
While this review will get thumbed down by fanboys, and mainstream listeners who heard "The Catalyst" on youtube, or "Waiting for the End" on the radio, and declared LP their new favorite band, those of us who know the true nature of LP will see the truth. This is musical garbage, don't even touch it unless you feel like you need to own the beginning of the end of LP. Unless the band turns it around in their next release, LP is dead. Fed to the dogs that are MTV and Billboard Top 100 Charts. You had a good run LP, rest in peace. For true fans, the first two albums are still there to be enjoyed. Perhaps we see the band clean up their act over the next couple of years, but this album offers little hope towards that.
Description of A Thousand Suns
'A Thousand Suns'We were not making an album.
For months, we'd been destroying and rebuilding our band. The experiments that resulted filled the studio hard drive with diverse, abstract sounds. Amorphous echoes, cacophonous samples, and handmade staccato merged into wandering, elusive melody. Each track felt like a hallucination.
We didn't know if any of those unorthodox ideas could be incorporated into a traditional album, but we knew we didn't want our next album to be predictable. Sitting together in the same studio where we made our first album, all six of us voiced a commitment to going out on a limb, to making something truly daring. We asked ourselves: were we all earnestly willing, more than ever before, to abandon the precepts of commercial ambition in pursuit of what we believe to be honest art?
The inclination to begin writing conventional songs for a conventional album came and went. The temptation to adjust our creative vision to fulfill expectations beyond our studio walls yielded to the audacious ambition of what we hoped to achieve as a band. The two years of making 'A Thousand Suns' marked our exhilarating, surrealistic, and often challenging journey into the creative unknown.
On the eve of its completion, this body of work, assembled through unconscious inspiration and unmitigated exertion, has revealed to us notions both stirring and surprising. The album's personified imagery is neither dogma nor political premeditation. The emergent themes and metaphors illuminate a uniquely human story.
'A Thousand Suns' grapples with the personal cycle of pride, destruction, and regret. In life, like in dreams, this sequence is not always linear. And, sometimes, true remorse penetrates the devastating cycle. The hope, of course, springs from the notion that the possibility of change is born in our most harrowing moments.
Enjoy the music.
Linkin Park
Co-produced by Rick Rubin and Mike Shinoda.
Also available as a Special Edition CD+DVD which includes a 'making of the album' documentary & 'The Catalyst' music video.
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