"Session" - Song by Song, Let's Talk Linkin Park

Discussion in 'Linkin Park Chat' started by hawk, Jul 2, 2014.

  1. Sasuke

    Sasuke Modern Prog enjoyer LPA Super Member

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    I think the majority of SOAD song are around 3 minutes, so don't act like they were a Progressive metal band or something.
     
  2. Captain-EO

    Captain-EO Also Prog Nerd Now, Thanks Gibs LPA Super Member

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    :rolleyes:

    The only problem with your statement is that he wasn't. He was simply saying that it didn't sound right with the way Linkin Park produces and structures the sound of their songs. So chill out.
     
  3. Atticus

    Atticus Bullets lance the bravest lungs

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    MARK THE GRAVES
    [​IMG]
    “No trace of what remains, no stones to mark the graves, only memories we thought we could deny”
    Coming in as track #9 on The Hunting Party, and following the uprising anthem Rebellion, is Mark The Graves. Combining the cosmic, sonic landscape from A Thousand Suns, and the aggressive instrumentation found in The Hunting Party, Mark The Graves truly attempts to leave its mark on the record with an unorthodox 5-minute journey that explores lyrical themes and nearly every sound Linkin Park can provide.




    A light and airy electronic synth begins the track, followed by a mid-90’s alternative guitar riff that immediately fills the void left by Rebellion. Bourdon drums along with a riveting militaristic roll until the riff leads into a chunky, grinding heavy-metal guitar riff that tears at the dreamy soundscape beneath. After a charging riff, silence bestows the track until Shinoda whispers “1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4”. Bourdon’s drums count in, delivering a snappy, punctuated beat and the guitars come back in full force, creating a malevolent riff.



    The heavy guitars fall silent once more, giving way for the electro-rock landscape molded from A Thousand Suns. A smooth, light electric guitar riff interacts with the sonic sound, amplifying the dream world with the slightest tension. Bennington guides the verse with beautiful poetic imagery, in a resting vocal tone some fans have found similar to Dave Grohl’s lighter Foo Fighters performances.

    Mark The Graves strikes back hard with the chorus. Bennington belts it out in arguably the highest pitched vocals on the album, with Shinoda harmonizing on a lower scale to create a stunning dynamic. This vocal chemistry takes shape over a wall of textured, bloated guitars that drown out the atmosphere, rather than simply amplifying it with a wall of distorted noise. Bourdon contributes with a crashing drum line that pierces through the drowning guitars. The chorus ends with Bennington’s intense vocals gradually growing more aggressive, with the final word manifesting into a scream.

    Delson’s fingers flex again for an electrifying, soaring guitar solo on the bridge. The solo’s tone is iridescent in comparison to the grungy, growling guitars in the background that seem to fall from the sky. The instrumental breakdown feels entirely classic rock, and arguably the most “jam-driven” on The Hunting Party. The intro dynamics between light and heavy guitars, and pulsating drums returns one last time before Bennington beckons one last chorus onto the track. The vocalist begins with a soft, resting serenade as seen earlier in the verses before wailing the remaining words. His triumphant performance finally shatters under the pressure of the heavy riffs, leaving him maniacally screaming over the climatic final 30 seconds. It’s here where Mark The Graves truly explodes, featuring another rising Delson guitar solo, Bourdon blasting the drums, and the dark, heavy guitars colliding against the blissfully light soundscape.

    While light on lyrics, Mark The Graves’ themes cut much deeper than the surface. There’s a definite feeling of regret in Bennington’s vocals in the verses, as he laments “there was so much more to lose, than the pain I put you through, in my carelessness I left you in the dark”. The lyrics seem to suggest the end of a relationship, whether due to a breakup or an unfortunate death remains to be seen, although the imagery of “the ghosts of yesterday” and the notion “if we can’t let go we’ll never say goodbye” certainly suggest someone has passed on to the afterlife. However, there are “no stones to mark the graves” suggesting this death of something is potentially metaphoric in nature.

    The chorus while brief explores themes of darkness versus light. Although short and sweet, the lyrics perfectly match the dynamics between the “dark” heavy, textured guitars and the “light” airy atmosphere, and the piercing guitar solos that pervade the second half of the song. Unfortunately, they suggest that, dark or light it does not matter, there is nothing left worth salvaging. This analysis makes Mark The Graves even more unorthodox, as the uplifting vocal delivery is actually punctuating a depressing theme.

    Mark The Graves has yet to be played live. This may be due to a number of concerns, such as the fact that a 5-minute track would take more time away from the 3-minute anthems, the guitar dynamics could be difficult to capture live considering the layers involved, and above all the vocals may be too large of a strain to commit to every single night. That said, Mark The Graves could be absolutely stunning live, especially following a string of ballads or opening an encore.
     
  4. IronDust71

    IronDust71 Well-Known Member

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    One of the most interesting songs from the band, that's it ! :lol:
     
  5. Sasuke

    Sasuke Modern Prog enjoyer LPA Super Member

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    It's a shame that they've never played this song live, and probably never do it. This song kicks to most of their Nu-metal stuff in the ASS!
     
  6. Alexrednex

    Alexrednex Well-Known Member

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    As much as I love this song in theory, the lyrics of the "delayed" chorus (and how they are performed) totally ruins the song for me.
    Some of the worst, most generic and unoriginal placeholder lyrics the band has ever released on a studio album.
    To this day I am truly upset by the fact that Linkin Park anno 2014 would think that "In the dark, in the light / Nothing left, nothing right" was acceptable.
    Especially considering how beautifully the verses are written and performed.
    The culmination/outro of the track is pretty fucking awesome, and I like the first half, it's just that horrible chorus which ruins it for me.
    Probably the track on the album with the biggest potential (along side ALITS) that didn't live up to its promise, unfortunately.
    With that said, I will always prefer unpredictable LP over save LP.
    I just hope they hit that balance out of the park(pun intended) on the next record.
     
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2016
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  7. Deliveranze

    Deliveranze Well-Known Member

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    Eh, I hate when I'm not a fan of the song but I'm not a fan. :p
    Matter of fact, least fav song on the album. I appreciate LP trying to experiment but this song did nothing for me. Maybe cause I'm more of a lyrics guy and there isn't a whole lot of lyrics and the instrumental doesn't do much for me either.
     
  8. TheZlajaZlo

    TheZlajaZlo Closing LPA Super Member

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    I agree with you, that chorus kinda ruins it. Other than that, this song is a banger.
     
  9. Michele

    Michele Praise Brad Delson, our Lord and Savior. LPA Addict

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    I have to admit that i hated that song at first. I didnt liked it, i really hated it. It was the worst song LP ever brought out. DOnkt ask me why, i couldnt listen to it. It took me weeks to get into the song. ow i have to say its a really good one, also if its not my favorite from THP. I think the intro is pretty amazing. And the whole instrumental in the song is fucking great. As already mentioned, the Lyrics dont do anything to me. Its nothing i really care about in this track, so i think a full instrumental song in this length would be a little bit better. But its nothing bad about it now. All guys did an amazing job on this track, wished they brought some of the guest into this song.
     
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  10. BTorio

    BTorio Well-Known Member

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    What I dig about the song is definitely the tone of the instrumental. The drums sound really nice, and the guitar in the verses has an awesome sound too. I also really like the heavy part of the intro. I do appreciate unpredictable structure, but I don't feel like everything in this song goes together very well. It works, but the different riffs could all have more complimenting surroundings I think.

    I agree about the chorus lyrics. I know there's not many syllables to fit in there, but it could be better. I guess "nothing left, nothing right" is kind of clever, since it could be read 2 different ways, but it's also a little too simple for me. I also think the chorus is too high for Chester. I know most of the album is just him kind of yelling on key anyways, but it really sounds like he's reaching here. Maybe it's not necessarily hard for him, but his voice gets a little thin that high. Mike's harmonies definitely do a lot to make it better. That being said, his "nothing right" screams in this are some of his coolest screams ever. That's definitely the highlight of the track for me.

    Overall an interesting track, that's definitely not my favorite of their unpredictable tracks, but adds some variety and color to THP for sure.
     
  11. Qwerty19

    Qwerty19 Well-Known Member

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    The final climax is amazing.

    The post-whispering riff is quite good, and the drums are great overall.

    But the song in general, and especially the chorus, lack... I dunno. Catchiness, maybe.
     
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  12. Captain-EO

    Captain-EO Also Prog Nerd Now, Thanks Gibs LPA Super Member

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    This an awesome song. I love how they decided to really toy around with it. The solo works really well and it just really jives with me. I like the chorus too.

    Lacking much to say lol.
     
  13. Filip

    Filip god break down the door LPA Contributor

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    Must be one of my favorite LP tracks. The ending portion is too good.
     
  14. Vinifeijo

    Vinifeijo i'm dancing with matt damons

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    I just don't get why some people say it's a Blackout's ripoff. I can't see ANY resemblance.
     
  15. Modern Guitar God

    Modern Guitar God Nets 2021 LPA Super VIP

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    One of my favorite songs. I like the more progressive nature of it (in the context of LP's discography). The guitar solos sound nice. I have no opinion on whether or not Brad is technically proficient.

    I actually like the chorus and the plain lyrics. The emotion from the loud singing is more emphasized that way. There's something about the song that keeps it from being excellent, but I don't know what it is.
     
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  16. Tocaraca

    Tocaraca A part of me screams away silently

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    Not a bad song. The guitar riffs are amazing. As I've stated before, I don't care about lyrics, so there's nothing bad about this song for me. Not my favourite song ever though. I used to think it was boring.
    I can hear the resemblance of Blackout but it's not a ripoff of it.
     
  17. Gibs

    Gibs The Prog Nerd Über Member

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    A pretty good song. It has some interesting (or at least audible) bass playing from Dave, so it's pretty cool
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2016
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  18. Iopia

    Iopia Well-Known Member

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    Definitely one of my favourite songs on the album. The intro is intense, the verses are beautiful, and the climax is amazing. I do agree with what others have said, that the chorus' lyrics could have been better, but I feel that the well-written verses make up for that, and as a whole the song still has some of the strongest lyrics on the album (not particularily hard :lol:). Anyway, the lyrics are usually the least important part of a song for me, so I don't particularily mind anyway.

    The thing I really appreciate about this song is that it (and ALITS) are the only songs on the album that don't follow a verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structure. The song gives me big ATS vibes, with a longer run time and a more unpredictable structure, while still maintaining the raw heaviness of THP. I've talked (ranted I guess :lol:) about it before, but for me, one of my biggest gripes with LP is their apparent reluctance to write songs that don't have well defined structures, so I really enjoy songs like this that feel a bit looser in that regard. Anyway, it's not often that we get intros that are longer than 20 seconds, let alone a minute and a half, so I'll cherish it when we do. :lol:

    Oh, and the other thing that's cool about the song is its dynamic range. As a whole, I feel that THP could have been heavier, but songs like MTG are perfect examples of why any good heavy album needs soft bits to complement the heavy bits. I really love the build in this song, starting out heavy, breaking it down during the verses, before building back up again towards the solo/climax. This sort of ties in with what I mentioned earlier; the looser structure allows it to gradually change gear over its 5 minute run time, instead of having to frantically change intensity every 30 seconds as it moves from verse to chorus to verse to chorus etc. This is why to me, song structure is so important: it allows a track more room to build an atmosphere and tell a story musically (imagine if they had tried to force a chorus in between the two verses, it would have ruined the atmosphere). More "progressive" songs like this are definitely something I'd love to see the band do more of in the future.
     
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  19. Captain-EO

    Captain-EO Also Prog Nerd Now, Thanks Gibs LPA Super Member

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    I can see a lot of resemblance:

    http://imgur.com/ZTNvovO

    Just look at all that blue. Heck, they look almost exactly the same!

    :halfkappa:
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2016
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  20. Modern Guitar God

    Modern Guitar God Nets 2021 LPA Super VIP

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    Wish it were red.

    Damn liberals :kappa:
     

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