NY Daily News A Thousand Suns Impressions

Discussion in 'News' started by Joe, Sep 7, 2010.

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  1. #1
    Joe

    Joe I'm tried LPA Administrator

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    A brief review of Linkin Park's new album has been posted at NY Daily News, and isn't as positive as some others we have seen. Read what Jim Farber has to say about A Thousand Suns below.


    For the first two songs on the new Linkin Park CD, you won't have any idea whom you're listening to. The opening cut features a voice that sounds like either a woman or someone doing a Justin Bieber impersonation. The second song sounds like something from a Grade C science-fiction flick.

    The third doesn't make things much clearer. The synth-driven dance cut suggests a song New Order might have considered, then rejected as too flaccid, in the '80s.

    Could all this be coming from one of the most popular and cynical rap-rock/nu-metal bands of the last decade?

    Apparently, Linkin Park means to sink their teeth deep into the hand that feeds them with "A Thousand Suns." In case you missed the point with their fake-out opening, consider lyrics like "I'm sitting in the smoke of bridges I have burned," in track number three. Or this from cut four: "Everybody wants the next thing to be just like the first/I am not a robot/I am not a monkey."

    In fact, they are incredibly rich rock stars who in the past eight years have sold more than 18 million albums in this country alone, largely by dumbing down what's left of mainstream rock.

    Presumably that lucre buys all the freedom you could want for album four. But to earn that freedom, you need a skill set and character worth stretching. And nothing in Linkin Park's past, or present, suggests that's in play.

    Imagine Limp Bizkit suddenly deciding to go all Pink Floyd on us. Or Nickelback making their idea of an early Brian Eno album. That's the woeful ambition-to-talent scale in evidence here. The band has described the new album as "surreal," which presumably means a lot of the songs blur together. No fewer than 15 cuts crowd the tight 47-minute length of the CD, many of them fragments or, more accurately, sonic non sequiturs.

    It's no secret whom the band had in its sights as role models on these tracks. With its faux-panic synths, "Blackout" sounds like a neutered Nine Inch Nails. "Wretches and Kings" aims, woefully, for the stabbing guitars and politically charged lyrics of Rage Against the Machine. If Linkin Park has abandoned its old formulas, apparently it was only to nick those of others.

    The CD's greatest risks come in quieting down the vocals and slowing the rhythms. "Waiting for the End" features Chester Bennington's softest vocal to date, while songs like "Iridescent" focus on a tortured piano riff. Unfortunately, Bennington still has the adenoidal whine of the most ineffective emo singers, while rapper Mike Shinoda continues to sound like Vanilla Ice - without the street cred.

    In theory, it's nice that Linkin Park didn't want to repeat themselves this time. But when your talent lies in spewing cliche, it's best to go with what you know.

    Source: nydailynews
     
  2. #2
    El Muerto

    El Muerto LPA Super Member LPA Super Member

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    Justin Bieber!
     
  3. #3
    Moviten

    Moviten [Teh Unknown]

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    Ouch. They really don't like LP. But they have no idea how talented of a rapper Shinoda actually is...they just choose not to like him because he isn't some mainstream rap star.

    Aside from that, I don't know. I don't think it seems they'd like anything LP put out, but *shrugs* We'll see.
     
  4. #4
    big_bad_lukas

    big_bad_lukas Well-Known Member

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    vanilla ice. LMAO
     
  5. #5
    Henry

    Henry Mochiagete, Tokihanashite.

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    Negative?
    Screw it then
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2010
  6. #6
    cook

    cook Banned

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    Limp Bizkit are not capable to do such a thing like Linkin Park, they're not so mature, they're stuck in past. Who's the bitch that wrote this?
     
  7. #7
    Mr_Choco

    Mr_Choco Site Voayer

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    Its like reading a review by a hater and not a journalist. He apparently didn't like anything about this album...
     
  8. #8
    Agent

    Agent Formerly known as Agent Sideburns LPA Über VIP

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    Haha wow. So much hate... and most of it is put so bluntly. It's like he went in to hate the record. Fuck this guy.
     
  9. #9
    Edbert

    Edbert Well-Known Member

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    Screw that bastard... Make love not hate..
     
  10. #10
    hawk

    hawk because the internet LPA Super VIP

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    I can kill the writer now?

    I think that was the most harshest review ever.
     
  11. #11
    Jesse

    Jesse Out of the abyss. LPA Über VIP

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    1. If LB went the Pink Floyd route I'd probably still listen to them instead of going "lolwut?" at everything they do.
    2. The criticisms in this review aren't even relevant and honestly do not explain why one would think any one song is bad.
    3. I'm all for negative reviews but when there is no way I can take this journalist seriously,.
    4. :lol: @ Comparing Mike to Vanilla Ice
    5. Guy sounds like any other of those people are just sour that LP changed, especially when he calls them a rockrap/nu-metal band.
     
  12. #12
    cook

    cook Banned

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    [​IMG]
     
  13. #13
    Rohit LP

    Rohit LP The Silent Red

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    wat is wrong with this Jim faber....

    vanilla ice..??..!!..lolzz...

    and LP hav stated that they hav done wat they liked...nor wat fans want..its thier album..not fan made...

    btw..soft vocals from chester= epic....
     
  14. #14
    Henry

    Henry Mochiagete, Tokihanashite.

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    He wrote what he felt. His honest opinion (remind you someone? :awesome:).
    Gonna make a storm here.
     
  15. #15
    Harlz

    Harlz More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me LPA Super Member

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    I'm sorry, but like the band or not, you can't try and claim Chester isn't talented.
     
  16. #16
    Edbert

    Edbert Well-Known Member

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    Amen to that...
     
  17. #17
    bHARGAV

    bHARGAV Active Member

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    he didnt talk about the catalyst. that goru(cow) will b kicked out off his job after 7 days. That shit broke all my excitement... really fuck him,..
     
  18. #18
    lprullzBG

    lprullzBG Active Member

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    :D Just look at his picture on their site... it tells you everything :D
     
  19. #19
    Moviten

    Moviten [Teh Unknown]

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    It's not like this isn't well-written criticism, because it is. And it's not like the guy isn't entitled to his opinion, because he is.

    The problem is: He doesn't give what he's reviewing a chance. Maybe when listening he actually did. But for the review, he's like "Oh this is a girl or someone doing a Justin Beiber impression" or "This doesn't...sound like Linkin Park???" Instead of actually critiquing the material at hand. That setup alone lets you see where this review is headed. And it creates the appearance that the writer never approached this objectively at all. Which in theory is the worst possible way to start/make a review (coming into it subjectively).

    He spends only 1 1/2 paragraphs OUT OF 10 actually talking about the music at hand. The rest of it are critiques or rather bashes at the band itself/as a whole and the album as an idea rather than the music you hear. He completely dismisses all of that and opts to go after LP for almost the entirety of the piece. That is the ultimate issue at hand.

    /my more gathered thoughts
     
  20. #20
    minuteforce

    minuteforce Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance. LPA Team

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    ^ This.

    People, professional critics or otherwise, haven't been very good at criticising this album, from what we've seen. :*
     
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