Linkin Park - Meteora

[Elidroth]

I know.. I know.. so many people hate these guys.. but as with most of my musical choices.. I could give a shit if others like them.. I do.. and that's all that matters. And someone else must like them.. Hybrid Theory sold 14 million copies (yeah.. that happens all the time.. NOT!), so I'm not alone. I mean for fuck sake.. the REMIX of their 1st CD sold 6 million copies.. and it sucked (I thought).

Meteora is the sophmore release from Linkin Park, and while SO many bands die from the dreaded sophmore jinx, Linkin Park will not be one of them.. The new CD rocks. It's got variety, great hooks, and is IMO better than Hybrid Theory (the original name of the band for you trivia types).

I think the thing that stands out the most to me about this CD is everyone in the band has their own space in the songs. Very uncluttered and nobody steps on each other. You'll just have to hear it to understand what I mean. I hear each and every part nice and clear. Considering how over-layered the new Korn CD is (some songs had over 128 separate music tracks).. this is a welcome change. Make no mistake.. Linkin Park is not a technically brilliant band by any stretch.. but they're very good at what they do IMO.

It's hard to pick standout tracks on this CD.. cause I really like all of them except the last 2 (which are mostly electronica filler). but the ones that grabbed me quickest were:

Don't Stay - They open their live show with this.. it ROCKS, and gets you going right away. Clear radio single (not sure why they went with Somewhere I Belong for the 1st).

Somewhere I Belong - The 1st single from the CD. Big chorus, cool mix of styles. If you could give someone one song to describe Linkin Park, this would be it. It shows off all their components well without being indulgent or masturbatory in any respect.

Easier to Run - Kind of a big, sweeping almost ballad type song. HUGE guitars (gotta love Mesa Rectifier heads), very full sounding, and a cool drum track.

Breaking the Habit - Talk about shifting gears.. This is so completely different than anything they've done. Very hard to describe.. kinda techno almost. This is clearly a Joe Hahn showpiece song. I'd bet it's almost all synth/sequenced with the exception of the guitar track. I don't know why I like it so much. Just do. Maybe because it's such a departure from the rest of the CD. It's kind of a Prodigy-lite feel to it to me.

It's a very well done CD overall. Perhaps my biggest complaint is it's short at only 36 minutes. I'm sure they had a lot of pressure to put out something new from the label, but come on guys.. a little more content wouldn't hurt.

[Zeldapika]

I completely agree w/ ya Eli :) lub LP!

[Andriana Duskrose]

Linkin Park sucks, some 14 year old rock star said so on the internet. If it's on the internet it must be true!

[Eomer]

People like to hate LP because they are popular. People accuse them of being a "boy band." Last time I checked, most of those boy bands didn't all go to highschool together (cept for the lead singer I think), write all of their own music and lyrics, design their album covers, and direct their videos. Nor can any boy band member that I know of play chello, violin, and other interesting instruments :).

I actually thought Reanimation kicked the snot out of Hybrid Theory. Maybe it's cause I have been leaning more towards electronic/synth'd music lately, I dunno. But I really liked it, and the guest vocalists were really good. I have always been a big fan of remix's though, I own virtually every NIN CD (that's like 15ish). The songs weren't just remixed even, a lot of them had completely different lyrics and structures that they did originally.

I am looking forward to their new CD as well, should be pretty decent. Although if it's only 36 minutes, I will feel a little jacked to be honest. When other bands are releasing CD's at well over an hour, 36 minutes seems awfully short.

[Dharrk]

Been listening to LP since before Hybrid Theory was released, but yeah Meteora is good, although missing content.

[Eomer]

Bought it yesterday. It was 16.99 CDN, 2 bucks more than most new CD's. If I only got the 36 minute CD, I would feel super jacked. But it also came with really nice packaging, a 40 page booklet with notes etc about each song and some cool pics, an enhanced CD with the video and a few other things on there, and a 30 minute DVD on the making of the CD. Overall a pretty good deal. I wish more bands did things like this to encourage people to buy their CD's, instead of just slapping copy protection on (I guess the label is the one who decides that, but whatever). Other examples of stuff like that are The Tragically Hip's last album, where it comes with a card with a number on it that you register into The Hip club, where you get to download extra songs, and better yet (since every show they have sells out instantly) you get to buy tickets before anyone else does. Matthew Good is doing something very similar with his new solo CD, with remixes/alternate cuts of songs etc on his site.

So yeah, Meteora is worth the price cause of all the extra shit. The CD is pretty good, nothing incredible. I wish it was about 15 minutes longer, it just isn't nearly long enough. Not even close. And to be honest, I kind of wish their songs were a bit longer. I have always felt that even four minutes is too short for a good song (most anyway), and there isn't even one longer than 3:30 on the CD, with most around 3 minutes. Straight to MTV/radio I guess :).

[Andriana Duskrose]

Bought it yesterday. It was 16.99 CDN, 2 bucks more than most new CD's. If I only got the 36 minute CD, I would feel super jacked. But it also came with really nice packaging, a 40 page booklet with notes etc about each song and some cool pics, an enhanced CD with the video and a few other things on there, and a 30 minute DVD on the making of the CD.

That's the "special" edition of the CD, the one I bought was 14.87 or something, and just had the music CD (which is an enhanced CD) and the insert book. Now personally I have no interest in all the extra's that came with the special edition, but it's cool that they offer something like that to those who want it. I think the last Sum41 CD had extra's like that too.

As for the music side of the album, it's good stuffs, and I agree with what's mentioned above.

[Vinilaa]

Originally posted by Eomer
chello

Hi. :p It's cello. :p Short for violoncello.

cel·lo1 ( P )
n. pl. cel·los
A four-stringed musical instrument of the violin family, pitched lower than the viola but higher than the double bass.

But I agree. I've never heard of a self-formed boy band with musical talent either. ;)

[nwinn]

Vinilaa, protector of nwinn's and mispelled words!

[Eomer]

I know it's cello, was just a typo! Didn't know what it was short for though :/

[Darkstar]

Fact:

Linkin Park = POP

[Eomer]

Fact:

Darkstar = DUMB FUCK

[Zarxen]

I picked this one up yesterday aswell. I enjoy it, I still like Hybrid Theory a bit more, but this one is growing on me. I got the ultra-deluxe addition aswell with the DVD etc.

[Citidal]

The synth/piano sequence in the opening of "Somewhere I Belong" just makes the whole song for me. It has the same "haunting" quality that, for some reason, reminds me of the guitar/piano build-up to the chorus in Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt". They're so different but have the same effect for me.

Oh and I agree, I bought "Meteora" (after I downloaded the whole CD first) and love it. Also, in another post, someone was talking about copy protection noises in their mp3's they download. Did anyone who used Kazaa to download Linkin Park notice that every track automatically transferred from the Traffic window to the My Kazaa window *except* "Somewhere I Belong"? I had to re-download that track everytime I wanted to listen to it after I turned off my computer. Just wondering if that is a new form of copy protection that may be in use on newly released singles?

- Citidal