MANILA, Philippines?Rap-metal may be on its way out, but Linkin Park isn?t. At least, that?s what the group?s most recent album, ?Minutes to Midnight,? proves. The boys? latest collection ostensibly marks a turning point in Linkin Park?s approach to music-making.
You can read all about how different this new album is in the album?s exhaustively detailed liner notes. They share: ?The numbers already show it: Our other albums took three to six months to finish, this one took over 14! Our lyrics are usually written in about a month?this time, we spent over six. We usually write an average of 40 song ideas to finish an album, but this one generated over 100. We want to maintain the integrity of the band?s personality by pushing our boundaries.?
Judging by the amount of explaining the sextet does in the liner notes, trying to walk this fine line has obviously made them uneasy.
Fan base
After all, if they push too much, they also risk pushing their angsty, adolescent fan base away. If they didn?t change at all, however, that would spell almost certain doom, since most people these days have fallen out of love with?or have simply outgrown?the rap metal genre.
There is no straight answer to the question of whether the new album succeeds in walking this fine line. Sometimes, it does; sometimes, it doesn?t. But, despite all the time spent on making it, it doesn?t evince a definite feel.
For all the thought that went into the making of the lineup?s dozen songs, the overall feel is tentative?as though the almost-30-year-old boys of Linkin Park can?t quite make up their minds about the direction they want to take.
The album doesn?t represent a great leap into maturity nor a new direction?it sounds more like the hesitant baby steps of a band that doesn?t know if what it sees ahead is the start of a new road or just a dead-end.
Credibility
If there?s anything working for them, it?s the fact that Linkin Park has never been just a rap-metal band. Yes, Chester Bennington screams until he?s red in the face, and Mike Shinoda raps (something he does very well in his Fort Minor solo project), but the group itself has also been about pop, rock and hook-laden melodic lines. Whatever changes they?ve made can sound natural and plausible, and not too much like a last-ditch effort to regain credibility.
?Minutes to Midnight? is not the album that heralds the group?s new sound, however. Sure enough, there are significant changes here?there?s more crooning than screaming, for one, and hardly any rapping from Shinoda?but they sound too much like other emo-rockers.
Whether you like their past albums or not, the thing about Linkin Park?s music is that it?s always distinctive. Apart from three tracks in the lineup, however, the boys? new album is generally too homogeneous to be memorable!
