Simple question. After three weeks of listening to the album, is THP the best LP album? Why is it? Why isn't?
It's an incredible album. ATS still kinda beats it, for not having any really meh songs (on THP it's FM, UIG, maybe Wastelands), but I really love THP.
I would love to press that YES button... but it's still too early to claim it as the all time best. I need to give it a few more months. Funny since I would say THP has no really meh songs, while ATS has The Messenger, 1st half of Robot Boy and 2nd half of Wretches And Kings which are rather mediocre.
HT will always have top spot for me. For any album to beat it, it would have to be something incredible. I think I've set unrealistic standards though, as nostalgia plays a huge part in HT being on top. I'll slide THP in at an admirable second though.
While The Hunting Party has a lot of flare and has very exciting moments, I unfortunately do not think that this album has a lot of staying power. The truth is that the album comes short in a number of areas, including that some songs are very weak lyrically and that (at least, for me) the album is front-loaded. It reminds me of fireworks that go off and last for about 10-15 second and fizzle out quickly. Unfortunately, while the band still has A Thousand Suns and Reanimation in their discography, it will be hard for newer records to compete. A Thousand Suns is far and away the best album that the band has put out. It is an album that flows seamlessly, weaves in crucial thematic elements with excellent timing and execution, and does not have low points. It's an album that can be listened to from front to back without skipping tracks. With The Hunting Party, I have to skip "Wastelands," and I have to skip "Until It's Gone." To be quite honest, I listen up to "War" and usually stop there on most days. Even "Rebellion" has lost its excitement for me. I am much more a fan of the first half of the album. The band needs to start taking more time between albums. I know that fans are a big fan of these frequent releases, but the shorter interim periods seemingly compromise the quality of their albums. It was pretty clear on LIVING THINGS that some songs felt incomplete, especially when it came to mixing. I feel very similarly about The Hunting Party, where some songs literally do not feel as though they've been perfected and were ever really finished (e.g. "Until It's Gone," "A Line in the Sand," etc.). I mean it honestly when I say I would rather wait 4 or 5 years for an album on par with the quality of A Thousand Suns or better than wait two years for another LIVING THINGS or The Hunting Party.
For me, there are a lot of ways to look at this. As an album, in terms of the way it flows, I like "The Hunting Party" more than "A Thousand Suns"; it packs a lot of meaty, energetic songs without being a "Hybrid Theory"-length short album. The instrumentation comes down to taste more than anything else; I rate both albums equally on that front because they're so wildly different from one another. When it comes to lyrics, I feel that it's mostly about as good as "A Thousand Suns". Shinoda's raps are, for the most part, superior to anything he's delivered on an LP studio album in the past, but, as with any LP album, there are some iffy moments as well that pull it down a little bit in comparison. At this stage, I like both albums equally, but I don't expect to be putting "A Thousand Suns" on again for a good while
Yup. I don't own all the LP albums (only have MTM and THP at the moment, though I have listened to most of the Hybrid Theory tracks at one point or another and have heard the entirety of ATS once), but based of what I have heard, THP is best.
second favourite album cos it's a pure stunner and not boring. still replaying this shit 3 weeks later. that wasn't the case for living things
I don't think it can be the best because it lacks elements of Linkin Park that I think have helped them be the big band they are. While I love Chester's vocal performance on this album, it lacks a lot Chester's best vocal performances but that is likely due the album having the heavy sound. What the Hunting Party did improve on was that the fact that it used live drum recordings as opposed to the electronic beats. There are definitely things that should be praised about the Hunting Party but there are things it lacks. Overall, it came out as I expected and I am still satisfied 3 weeks later. However, the Mall soundtrack is a clear reminder of what the band can do when they are willing to use all weapons in their arsenal.
Earnest, but not their best. A Thousand Suns and Reanimation stands as a testament to what the band is all about.
Right now for me it is their best album I'm listening to THP everyday and I like it the most but my opinion changes all the time, every LP album was once ny favorite
I get the feeling that THP will lose its appeal very quickly, as Living Things did for me. I think their best song is ATS because even after four years, I still feel the urge sometimes to set aside ~45 minutes and devote it to listen to the album the whole way through without skipping any songs. It's a pretty awesome journey in that sense, I think the album has the least amount of IPod worthy songs (that you can listen to on random), but as an album it is their strongest work.
My third favorite album after HT and Meteora. The riffs alone are better than anything they've ever done and they've certainly done their job somewhat right when they claimed it's supposed to be a "prequel to Hybrid Theory". It needs more hip hop elements like scratching since it's non-existent here.
It's on par with A Thousand Suns for the band's best album. Easily. I also feel fair when judging both albums, this far past THP's release.