Fair enough. It doesn't sound like ATS sonically, but the 2nd half carries over the experimentation found there, which is why I considered it the proper follow up, not all the Burn It Down variations from the first half.
I see where you're coming from, i'd say Castle Of Glass could and Until It Breaks could fit on A Thousand Suns with a little tweaking, those are my two favorites from the can.
Until it Breaks sounds like a shittier attempt at "ATS experimentation", and Skin to Bone I could see fitting on there pretty well.
I've been around the internet as much as the next guy, and it is very much evident that Meteora, LIVING THINGS, and Hybrid Theory are very popular outside of LPA (excluding Hybrid Theory from those 3). With that said, I've seen a ton of hate for A Thousand Suns more so than Minutes To Midnight. I have friends who don't like ATS and haven't even bothered listening to the album or listened to The Catalyst and assumed the whole album would come out the same, while MTM is pretty much a neutral album with a few standout songs people enjoy like What I've Done, Given Up, and Bleed It Out. ATS for me.
I don't agree on Hybrid Theory being under-rated because, if anything, as I run for cover, it's over-rated.
Yeah. Just visit the comment section of a Linkin Park video on YouTube or album reviews on iTunes, hell even look at the comments on Mike and Linkin Park's Instagram photos, majority of the people absolutely HATE A Thousand Suns, while they act like Hybrid Theory (especially) and Meteora were absolute masterpieces. My vote is A Thousand Suns.
Lol its funny cause I forget that we're a pretty poor representation of the rest of the fan base. I'd like to think we're (or most of us) are more musically literate than the folk who think that meteora is the bands magnum opus. Im gonna have to agree with everything Broman said and say ATS.
Essentially, we're the hipsters of the Linkin Park fan base, lol. Like you said, I forget most people hold Meteora in such high regard. Funny things is, if Linkin Park would have continued on with their Nu-Metal sound for the third LP, people would still accuse them of selling out, and ask for something different for a change. If they would have continued with Nu-Metal, I really believe they wouldn't be around anymore. People are just so weird. If you continue with your current sound, you get bashed. If you do something different, you get bashed.
Yep, in the sense that folks love to hate on the album merely because it's a part 2 and they want to look and sound 'kewl' raving about the original (Hybrid Theory) and despising any reincarnations of it. Meteora was and is a solid album. On topic, either one of Reanimation or A Thousand Suns for mine.
I do not know why A Thousand Suns was hated. I personally enjoyed A Thousand Suns. It was like a musical journey if you listened to the whole album from beginning to end. The tracks had great feeling to them and all of them gave me goosebumps when I listened to them. That was a powerful album and bought out emotions in me.
I chose Minutes To Midnight because in pretty much all camps of Linkin Park fandom, whether thats LPA users, LPL users, LPUers, casual fans, ATS/progressive fans, nu-metal/pop fans, rap fans, etc., no one really seems to hold that album in really high regard. There's no big section of fans claiming that Minutes To Midnight is the best album they've done; at best, it's usually "pretty good" or a "necessary step." Not enough rap for some, not enough intensity for some, too poppy for some. You have to find people individually who have it as their favorite. I go through phases where I think Minutes To Midnight is the best pop album the band has written. It has variety (No More Sorrow vs In Between), but also a consistency ("organic" band instrumentation). Though it does have lyrical low points (Given Up, What I've Done), the lyrical high points are some of the band's best. Leave Out All The Rest, as light and poppy as it sounds, is really dark lyrically. It's like a giant existential crisis and wondering about the bigger picture of life, your role in it, and how you've affected others and the rest of the world. A lot more meaningful than the usual *woe is me, you hurt me and I'm sad* type stuff. In Between is hopelessly romantic and regretful. The verses of Valentine's Day deal with mourning the death of a loved one. So that's my pick.