Is It Midnight Yet?

Music Review
Minutes to Midnight
Linkin Park

I became interested to Linkin Park ever since I heard 'Crawling' a long time ago. The combination of Mike Shinoda's rapping and Chester Bennington's singing (and most of the time, wailing), along with Han's mixes is something that is highly unique and sets this band apart from others in it's genre. Hybrid Theory was a good album, and Meteora's my personal favourite. There were lots of good songs there in Meteora. It was with these things in mind that I waited for their next album, hoping that their third one will be a great success with songs like those found in both Hybrid and Meteora.

It has been sometime, and one day when I was watching MTV I saw a music video clip. The song was quite okay. However even though I was pretty sure that it was Chester Bennington singing, I was quite confused because the song doesn't sound anything like that of Linkin Park. Not until I saw the caption was I assured that it was Linkin Park. Even though the song is different than your usual Linkin Park fare, I was excited to know that they've just released a new album. Soon enough, I started looking for it.

I got their full album a while ago, but I haven't listened to it properly. This is because the first time I got it and listened to the whole album in one pass, I must say I didn't like it. Yes, I know that singers and bands evolved over time, but this one evolution I don't like. It's just not Linkin Park. They've changed everything that has made them unique in the past. Gone were the wailing of Chester Bennington, gone were the rapping of Mike Shinoda (for the most part), and gone was the hard-edge touch to their songs in this new album. This album's just too soft for Linkin Park fans (yes, that would be me as well).

I was refusing to believe that their third album sort of sucks, even though I've heard it with my own ears. However, I told myself that there are many cases where you have to listened to songs twice, three times, fourth times, to begin to really appreciate it. So, after that initial hearing and after a couple of months(!) I tried listening to their album again, giving it a second chance and tried to explore its nooks and cranies.

Well, this time around I came up with a couple of favourites aside from 'What I've Done', the song who spearheaded the coming of the album. 'Leave Out All The Rest' is quite okay and I found myself listening to it over and over. 'Bleed it Out' is the song I listen to whenever I want something fast-paced and fun, with some rap lines from Mike and some wailing from Chester (a combination that is rare to find in the album). This is also another song that will remind you of LP of the old days aside from 'What I've Done'. And, the supposedly 'hidden' track, 'No Roads Left', was quite okay.

These few discoveries, however, does not redeem the whole album from my perspective. I think the crew did not try their best in coming up with ideas for this third album. The songs sounded half-hearted. And what's most, it's just not LP. C'mon guys, I know you can do better than this! Redeem yourself in your fourth album. Please.