Okay, Linkin Park aren't exactly Tool when it comes to album packaging (see 10'000 Days which had stereoscopic glasses and interactive artwork inside a gorgeous hardback case - AND THAT WAS THE STANDARD CD VERSION!), but I really thought the packaging was poor on this one. Firstly, it doesn't come with an album introduction written by Mike or the band like its predecessors (bar HT) did, which I thought was a bit lame. Also, I thought the booklet artwork was pretty weak - I couldn't make out what anything was... Moreover, in Meteora and MTM, they included footnotes along with each song which would have been cool to have. What did salvage the packaging though was the sleek and modern CD design - a huge improvement on the ghastly ATS CD. The only reason I am disappointed is that ATS (and more so the special DVD edition had awesome artwork inside - it felt like they had really made a huge effort - a step in the right direction. So, the overall package gets a 3/10 from me. But, it is the music inside that counts - and boy is it good.
I think the focus this time round was just on the music, so I don't really mind the packaging (or lack thereof). The lack of introduction can be put down to the fact that this album didn't need explaining.
I agree it is nice to hear insights but don't worry too much. I'm sure they'll do something more next time round. LT was more about the songs
I Have a theory for it Many likened it to HT ...12 songs ...around 37 playing time...the eleventh track is an instrumental etc. did this album have a fancy digipak version NO did it have an introduction to the album in the booklet or footnotes to the songs NO was there a special edition with an making of DVD NO so ...the package of LT maybe was a reference to that in some way No offense meant, just my theory
Mike put really much weight in the ''Mind blasting artwork'' There are barely artwork.. But what i've seen so far is amazing. But where is the rest of it? We might never know..