The fucking harmonies Mike brings right off that bat in KTTK are chilling. That's the best album intro they've ever had. Ever.
True dat! In my opinion, ALITS is potentially the best album closer they ever had too. And another thing, that songs segue MTG-Drawbar-FM-ALITS is just tasty. The last time I was impressed by that kind of thing was with Robot Boy-Jornada-WFTE-Blackout.
Keys To The Kingdom - 8.5/10 - Fucking amazing start to the album. Mike does exceptionally well with rapping and singing, and the same goes for Chester. Everyone did well on this track. All For Nothing - 6.75/10 - Very meh. Though I did really like Mike's rapping. Guilty All The Same - 8.5/10 - Stills holds up as an amazing song. The Summoning - ?/10 - Hard to rate. I guess it was a pretty cool transition track if I had to say anything about it. War - 5/10 - Just not my cup of tea. I'm sure there will be many others who will enjoy this song. Wastelands - 8/10 - Solid track. The last chorus bumps the rating up from a 7.5 to an 8. Until It's Gone - 7.5/10 - Very meh lyrics, but Chester's vocal performance makes up for the bad lyrics. For some reason, this song stands out among other mainstream rock songs to me. Rebellion - 8.5/10 - What can I say, this song has very well-written lyrics, great vocal performance by both Chester and Mike, hard drumming, and fucking awesome guitars. What's not to like about it? Mark The Graves - 8.5/10 - Really digging this song and its vibes. Drawbar - 8/10 - While kinda disappointing that this is the performance we get from the legendary Tom Morello, it does not change the fact that the song is fucking awesome. Final Masquerade - 8.5/10 - This beautiful ballad took use of all the band members' skills, even Joe Hahn (I hear those cool sound effects thrown in there). A Line The Sand - 9.5/10 - It's The Little Things Give You Away of The Hunting Party. Nuff said. The Hunting Party - 8.25/10 - A very solid album. It has a small amount of low points, and has some really weird transitions, but aside from that, the album is amazing. Minutes To Midnight > The Hunting Party > Living Things > A Thousand Suns > Reanimation > Meteora > Hybrid Theory > Recharged
I'm really trying to determine whether I felt this was my favorite album from the guys. Meteora has been my favorite for over a decade now. I grew up with it, and it has so much nostalgic power behind it I wasn't sure any album would usurp it as the best. The things I always loved about LP's songs were the energy, the melodies, the rap/rock vocals, and the electronic elements. As a 23-year old male, I wholeheartedly acknowledge that Meteora, musically and lyrically, is really far from outstanding. It doesn't change the fact that it's always been my favorite. The Hunting Party feels, to me, like a Meteora for adults. It feels mature, grown up, and an accurate reflection of the type of music this band should be making at this point in their lives. In this new album, the energy is not only there, it exceeds Meteora in every way. This album is fucking intense. I knew it would be heavy...but even with months to mentally prepare myself for that, this still took me by surprise. The melodies may not be as strong as other albums, but the tastefulness of the guitar and drums helps add a ton of extra flavor to the songs. The rap/rock is also there, as well as a third element...Shinoda singing. Songs that incorporate Mike singing and rapping, and Chester singing, are really cool. I think if I'm honest with myself, The Hunting Party takes the top spot for me. This album is everything I could've wanted. It's grungy, heavy, and still maintains the LP spirit. Long live The Hunting Party. EDIT: Album highlights include - Keys to the Kingdom, Guilty All the Same, Final Masquerade, A Line in the Sand
I want to listen to this album a few more times before I can outright review it, but for now, here are my current scores. Keys To The Kingdom - 9 All For Nothing - 8.5 Guilty All The Same - 9 The Summoning - 7 War - 8.5 Wastelands - 8.5 Until It's Gone - 8 Rebellion - 9 Mark The Graves - 8 Drawbar - 9 Final Masquerade - 9 A Line In The Sand - 10 I'm definitely digging the album, but only time will tell if it'll be my favorite. ATS is hard to beat for me personally.
Ive listened to this album 3 times, I have to say: This is an awesome album! But Drawbar is so pointless. It sounds beautiful but what the hell is that Tom Morello ?? Why didn't Brad just play the guitar part himself instead of this pointless collaboration? Anyway this album is solid, it brings back the energy of their early works. And it also is something they have never done before. It still can't surpass Hybrid Theory and A Thousand Suns in my opinion, but who knows? Maybe this is a grower. I can say that this one will not quickly fade like Living Things. It'll be like ATS I think. So after 3 listenings, I give this one 8/10 A Thousand Suns = Hybrid Theory > The Hunting Party > Minutes To Midnight > LIVING THINGS = Meteora
Couldn't have said it better myself. Exact same boat as you, except I'm 21. The feels for this album is crazy haha.
I feel the exact same way as you, only with HT instead of Meteora. HT has been my favorite record from them since forever, and none of their other releases has never really made me question that. Nostalgia probably plays a big role, but still. For the first time, I feel like another record could take that number 1 spot. I'll see how it turns out with time but right now it feels weird ahah
Wasn't too sure I liked KTTK at first, but I do enjoy it. Especially the last third of the song. The progression is awesome. All For Nothing is probably my favourite at the moment; along with ALITS. Really, really good album closer. EDIT: Mark the Graves sounds exactly like Major/Minor era Thrice.
I love the record. Some tracks like A Line In the Sand need to grow on me though. I'd give it a good 8/10
Other then some really weird song transitions, I would say I'm enjoying it. To be honest, I would say that those weird transitions are a detriment. They take what little flow the album has between tracks and just throws it out the window...via catapult.
Well I guess I'll post my thoughts after listening to each song multiple times. Keys To The Kingdom: This track took some time to grow on me. It's basically a roller coaster of a song. I love Mike's vocals in this track, and Chester's screaming makes this a catchy and memorable track. A fun opener, but I still think the classic Papercut is still the best opener on a Linkin Park album. TOSSED THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM DOWN THAT HOLE IN MY EYE! 7.5/10 All For Nothing: On the first listen I fell in love with this track. It's like a 90s punk rock track with a modernized feel to it with rap thrown in. Mike's flow is probably the best he's ever had in my opinion, and Paige sounds great. My personal favorite on the album, and an awesome head rocker! 9.5/10 Guilty All The Same: Ugh, where do I start. This track didn't blow me away even on the first listen unlike it did to most. I find Chester's voice to sound like a dying frog, and the chorus is just awful, it's extremely cheesy. Rakim is on it though, so it has that going for it. 4/10 for the chorus, 8/10 if I only count Rakim's verse and ignore everything else. The Summoning: Not as pointless as Empty Spaces, but it is damn pointless. Nothing happens in it at all. I don't even think I can rate it because there's nothing to rate. It's just a bunch of random distortions. If I had to, 1/10 War: Not as bad as GATS, but it's the 3rd worst for me behind GATS and The Summoning. I do like the chorus though, and I do think it's fun, but it's something I probably won't listen to too often unless I'm looking for a headache. 6.5/10 Wastelands: Mike's rap verses are good, but the chorus is uh... well usual Linkin Park I guess. It's a little predictable, I've been tending to skip it because I just don't feel the need to listen to it. It's not bad, it's just that I'd rather listen to some of the better tracks on the album. 7/10 Until It's Gone: I liked this on the very first listen, at this point in time I'd list it as probably my 4th favorite on the album. The mixing is pretty bad, but Chester's vocals are really damn good. 8/10 Rebellion 2 words, dat guitar. System Of A Down meets Linkin Park 8/10 Mark The Graves: I love the opening, but then it starts constantly changing to the point I couldn't tell if I was loving it or hating it. However, after a few listens I now really like it. Chester's voice in this track makes this one stand out, I love the chorus! But I don't know if it's the quality of this file, but the audio could be clearer. I'll have to try the iTunes stream to see if that sounds different. 8/10 Drawbar: I really like this track. I could see the disappointment from people expecting Morello to have a more prominent role in the song, but I didn't have any expectations for this song and I ended up loving it. If I had heard this without knowing it was Linkin Park song I never would have guessed. It's so calming. I'd love to hear a mix up with this and Mike's singing in the beginning and end of ALITS, I think they would go together very well. 8/10 Final Masquerade: My 2nd favorite. What can I say, the lyrics are great, Chester sounds amazing, and the bridge is one of my favorites in a LP song ever. Extremely catchy and memorable. 8.5/10 A Line In The Sand: Wow, Mike really surprised me on this track upon the first listen. The beginning almost reminds of Radiohead for some reason, I actually would have preferred the whole track to be the like the beginning, but no it had to go and pull a GATS. Couldn't they have been a bit more original instead of completely ripping the riff from GATS? Anyways, Mike is damn good on this track, probably one of my favorite performances from him yet. Chester also sounds genuinely angry on this track which made out for a great performance. This song is a perfect example of how well the band is at adapting to different styles and genres of music, one second has slow, peaceful vocals the next it's an angry, hard rock song. 8.5/10 Overall, it's an extremely solid album. 8-8.5/10 for me. If I had to rank the LP albums, it'd go Minutes To Midnight > A Thousand Suns = The Hunting Party > Hybrid Theory = Meteora (If nostalgia counts I'd probably list these 2 as my personal favorites, but a techinical level I feel they're better off here)>>>>>>> Living Things
!!!!!!AWESOME!!!!!!!! War A Line In The Sand Final Masquerade Rebellion !!!AWESOME!!! Keys To The Kingdom Guilty All The Same All For Nothing Not Bad Until It's Gone Mark The Graves What the fuck!!! The Summoning Drawbar
My impressions after two listens: Keys to the Kingdom: I feel like an intro track (something like Wake) would have been nice right before this song. Have that last note ringing out as Chester starts screaming the intro. That would be so damn cool! But alas, I'll take what we get. lol The riff that kicks in after Chester finishes the first go-around of the chorus really sets the tone for the album. It kicks your balls in the face and doesn't let up from there. Loving the structure as it reminds me of one of my all-time favorite LP tracks: Victimized - in fact the whole song reminds me of a grittier version of Victimized until the bridge. Brad delivers a nice solo and then we get the chorus one more time with some changes to the musical portion. Overall, this is one hell of an album opener! All For Nothing: This song is another nice aggressive track. It loses steam a bit in the second verse when Mike tries (unsuccessfully in my opinion) to switch up his flow a bit. Love Page's contribution to the track. Powerful chorus with the back and forth between him and Chester. This would have to be one of the weaker songs on the album in my opinion. Guilty All The Same: We've had this song for months and I still can't get enough of it. One of my favorite songs from the band and one of the standout tracks on The Hunting Party. Brad flexes his guitar muscles on this one with some awesome riffing and a nice solo in the outro reminiscent of the live Faint outro. Hip-hop legend Rakim comes in with a verse for the bridge that works out so much better than I thought it would when I first learned of the pairing. Once again, I just can't get enough of this track! The Summoning: A nice interlude. Compared to the A Thousand Suns interludes, it's nothing special but there definitely needed to be some breathing room after the first three tracks as the following song, War, doesn't let up one bit. War: Another of my favorites from the album. Hearing people compare this to Green Day, Black Flag, and Nine Inch Nails really set the bar high for me and the song delivered. Love the old-school punk rock vibe this has going for it and Brad's solo is one of the highlights for the whole album. This one will be in heavy rotation for years to come for me. Wastelands: Mike delivers (in my opinion) his best raps of the album. I especially love the "John with no Yoko" line and the delivery on the last couple bars of the second verse is just flawless. The chorus is a bit generic but I love the guitar riff behind it. The song serves as a nice throwback for old-school fans like Lies, Greed, Misery and Wretches and Kings were on the previous two albums but is overall nothing special. Until It's Gone: This song gets a lot of shit around these parts but I've liked it since day one. They took the verse-chorus-verse structure that they've used so many times and made it interesting with a little tweaks (double-length second verse, no pre-chorus in second verse, etc.) but the lyrics aren't strong enough to elevate this to the next level. One of - if not the - weakest songs on the album comes to a close with a nice little interlude into Rebellion. Rebellion: Before I go into this one I may be a little biased towards this track. lol Daron Malakian is my favorite musician of all time (I named my youngest son after him!) and when I heard he was collaborating with Linkin Park it was so exciting! Since the release of the Scars on Broadway album in 2008, we've only got three songs from Daron (including this one) so I may be a little excited about this new music from the man. lol Anyways...this song was everything I dreamed it would be and then some! Mike delivers with some strong verses and my new favorite Linkin Park line - "I want a flood, I want an ocean" comes from the first one. Daron's guitarwork meshes extremely well with Rob's drumming which surprised me a bit. I expected it to sound very jarring hearing Daron over somebody other than John Dolmayan's drumming but Mr. Bourdon stepped in with a superb drum track that really helps pull the song together. I love the way the song climaxes with Chester's screaming bridge - the old man's still got it in him! Mark the Graves: It's like No Roads Left but heavy (well...combined with the end of Blackout)! Chester delivers some of his finest vocal-work on any Linkin Park track in this one. It's nice and heavy in a way that I never expected to hear from this band. I love the build as we go from soft Chester to "pissed-the-fuck-off" Chester by the end of the song. Definitely a stand-out track that is fairly different from the rest of the album - in a good way! Drawbar: Tom Morello jams over some piano. Nice soothing track that reminds me of Black Light Burns third album a lot (that's a good thing in my opinion). One of my favorite instrumentals from Linkin Park and I like that Tom wasn't brought in to do something predictable. The song transitions into Final Masquerade with a nice little preprisal (totally a word lol) of the chorus piano bit. Final Masquerade: Chester delivers another beautiful vocal performance. This song sounds like Too Late (by Dead By Sunrise) crossed with Leave Out All The Rest. Some powerful lyrics in the chorus that really hit home for me. This was my least anticipated song on the album because every preview described it as an "80's rock style ballad" which I guess I can kind of see but it's a lot closer to the typical Linkin Park ballad than it is to the glory days of hair metal. This is another of my favorite songs from the album and a very pleasant surprise. A Line In The Sand: Love Mike's singing in this one. Wish the song would have built a little more naturally. The way the heavy part just kind of "kicks in" was a little abrupt which I didn't feel necessarily worked for this song. The main riff is a little distracting because of the immediate similarity to the guitar riff in Victimized. I do like the apparent lyrical callbacks as well as part of Guilty All The Same's riff (or what sounds like it anyway) to kind of tie the whole album together. Album cohesiveness: The album flowed very well from start to finish. The only thing I would have changed would be to add an intro track ala Wake. The way Keys to the Kingdom starts makes it feel more like you're starting in the middle of an album than at the beginning if that makes sense. The interludes really helped with seemingly out of place songs like Until It's Gone and War to really find a home in the album. Track Scores: Keys to the Kingdom - 8 All For Nothing - 7 Guilty All The Same - 10 The Summoning - 6 War - 10 Wastelands - 7 Until It's Gone - 7 Rebellion - 10 Mark the Graves - 9 Drawbar - 10 Final Masquerade - 10 A Line in the Sand - 8 Album cohesiveness: 9/10 Overall Score: 8.5/10
pretty good with some saying they expect it to be louder or it isn't as heavy as HT lol. Many old fans are happy about this album too xD
Just listened to my second play through. Gotta say I already like it more than the first time. That's probably because I listened on my HD headphones instead of someone's phone speakers. ANYWAYS. Here's my rankings of the songs. ULTIMATE LEVEL: Final Maquerade- I love love love Chester's deliverance on this song. It's just... Lovely. Rebellion-Great guitars, great vocals Wastelands- Many people rag on it because it's "generic". I honestly don't care. Good songs are good songs, and I thoroughly enjoy this one. ALITS- I love Mike's lyrics/vocals in this song. Those alone put this in ultimate tier, as it is a beautiful closing to the album IMO. Normal Tier: GATS- Don't get me wrong, I love me some GATS. It's great, yet compared to the other songs listed above I don't like it as much. Mark The Graves- It is all over the place. I'm sure as time goes on I will grow to love it. UIG- It is what it is, and I'm actually starting to like it because of where it fits into the album. Meh Tier: KTTK- Yes, I don't enjoy this song as much. I don't like the amount of screaming. That's just personal taste. War- Same thing as above. Both are good songs instrumentally, but the screaming is distracting from both songs. Once again, personal preference/opinion. I believe I will grow to like these songs as well. All in all, I believe this will be my favorite LP album because there's not one song I immediately disliked. Sure, there was some different stuff, but it keeps you engaged. It helped even more that I didn't to any pre-released songs except for GATS and UIG!!! 8/10 with improvement in the future.
Initial thoughts: Keys to the Kingdom: 9/10. This blew me away. I love it how Mike sings the first verse and raps the second. And he sounds great. As for Chester, fuck yes. I love the chorus. And that bridge. What. A. Jam. All For Nothing: 7/10. Mike is great, but the chorus is so damn generic. It's not Paige's fault, but it's just nothing to get super excited about. But it's not bad, and like I said the verses are great, so it's still listenable for me. Maybe the chorus will grow on me. Guilty All The Same: 9/10. I can't even begin to count how many times I've played this song since it came out. I love every second of it. I like the lyrics, and Rakim absolutely kills it. And I think this track features the catchiest guitar riffs on the album. The Summoning: Whatever. War: 7/10. Honestly, I think it's only the lyrics that hold this song back for me. Unlike UIG, it's not the choice of words, but it's the theme. If you're going to write a war song, there's gotta be some kind of original take on it to get my interest. We get it Chester, War sucks. I think if the lyrics were different, I would have a much higher appreciation for this song. Wastelands: 7/10. Classic Linkin Park. Nothing innovative, but I do like the lyrics, which saves the song for me. I think Mike's raps are great here. Until it's Gone: 7/10. Same thing as War. The only thing holding it back is lyrics. Everything else about it is actually fantastic. But those lyrics. Good God, Chester. Rebellion: 9.5/10. As of now, my favorite track on the album, and one of the best songs with Linkin Park's name on it. Of course, Daron deserves a shit ton of credit. Mike's singing over that riff gives me chills...as well as the chorus. If the bridge was a little less generic, it'd be 10/10. Overall, maybe one of the band's best lyrical songs ever. Mark the Graves ?/10. I do not know why, but I'm still trying to figure this track out. I literally have no idea how I feel about it, haha. Drawbar 5/10. Whatever. I guess there is some nice piano work here, but it's nothing even remotely special. Final Masquerade 9/10. The band's best ballad ever. A Line in the Sand 7/10. This will probably grow on me, but for now, Chester kinda ruins the song for me. I love Mike's parts though.