Exactly what I meant, thanks. Yeah, I've also gotten used to the lyrics so I don't mind them anymore, but I was a bit taken aback on release of how hit and miss the lyrics were. You have Mike writing some of his best lyrics for ALITS and Rebellion, while at the same time he's writing some of his worst on KTTK and AFN. Same with Chester, although he's more consistent. We know these guys can write good lyrics, even over heavy music, hell, just look at Chester's lyrics with STP, they're not poetic masterpieces that will be remembered for generations to come, but they get the job done. THP however, is such a weird album lyrically, it has some amazing lyrics, some terrible lyrics and everything in between.
For me, even within certain songs, there are parts that are really good and parts that are the complete opposite
A Thousand Suns and The Hunting Party are pretty much the only LP albums I listen to anymore. I may put on the others from time to time, so with that, I still love LP6 and I actually think it's getting better with age.
I decided to listen to the album start to finish for the first time in about ten months or more, and I'm pleasantly surprised to say it was not a terrible listen. After Living Things aged so terribly I assumed The Hunting Party would too, but actually I can find good within most THP songs. Until It's Gone is the only song that stands out (still) as utter garbage. A band known for lyrical cliches took one of the most cliche phrases of all time, vomited some words around it, gave it some incredibly melodramatic music, and included it on what was supposed to be a "visceral" album. It's cringeworthy and hilarious. You'd think it was a parody if it wasn't so self-serious. In fact, I remember someone (Astat I believe) posting on here once that there was a "story" behind Until It's Gone being included on the album. If anyone in-the-know would like to spill those beans, I'd love to hear it. Other than that, many songs hold up well. I think this is because many of the songs don't rely on musical repetition as much as other Linkin Park songs do, and instead go for musical progression. An example of this is Keys to the Kingdom: the music for the first verse and the second verse are different. This falls under the umbrella of unique song structures, even if there's still a verse-chorus pattern. The songs switch it up, which is a good thing and something Linkin Park could always do more of (they rely on repetition *way* too much). All For Nothing grew on me. GATS is still decent but not my cup of tea. Final Masquerade is still one of their most finely written pop songs ever. All the strange song transitions are a nice change of pace. Mark The Graves is a fantastic jam that allows the instruments to shine. Drawbar too. Wastelands is still eh. War used to be one of my favorites, and while I still like it, it feels like it includes too many obvious punk cliches. You can either parody a musical genre or indulge in it, but you don't really get to do both. I will also say that A Line In The Sand still feels kind of silly to me. An earlier track, Rebellion (an album highlight), confesses what we all know to be true: that Linkin Park are now privileged, accomplished adult musicians hardly in need of any rebelling. However, they then end the album with those same musicians yelling "GIVE ME BACK WHAT'S MINE!!!!!!!!!" What the fuck else could you possibly need? I realize A Line In The Sand started off as a vaguely conceptual song for ATS, but still. After such a welcome moment of clarity, maybe save the angsty theatrics for a different album, even if the song isn't necessarily supposed to be from the band's POV. Overall, I feel like this album is definitely one of the band's best, but my view of it will always be tainted. It was the album that finally made me stop identifying as a "hardcore" fan of the band. There were many reasons for this, some of them had to do with the music itself. The Hunting Party seems like it can't decide whether it wants to use punk/other 90s rock as a nostalgic gimmick (All For Nothing, GATS), a statement for moving forward (Wastelands, KTTK), or a flat-out parody (War, Rebellion). The album definitely has a very defined sound (as promised), but it lacks an overall artistic identity as far as its context. Another thing that taints my view of this album is the subsequent live shows. Simply put: you don't get to invoke punk music the way the band tried to (visceral! rock is dead! etc!) and then neglect to bring the live show up to par. Punk music lives and breathes through its live performances. Playing a surprise Warped Tour set is a nice gesture, but I also can't remember seeing any Guilty All The Same performance where there wasn't an issue with tempo and/or Brad's playing (I stopped looking after a few months to be fair). When A Line In The Sand was debuted, it was at a slower tempo. Until It's Gone and Final Masquerade were the poppiest songs on the album. Wastelands? Okay. Any song that required the increased technical skill of THP was either ignored, slowed down, or sloppily trudged through. Studio perfection is the opposite of visceral rock music, especially if you can't translate it live. And to make matters even worse, we all used to believe that Linkin Park was one of the best live acts in the world. It's apparent this was because they set the bar rather low for themselves. Good album, bad time for the band.
I bought ''The Hunting Party'' the minute it was available in stores. I've been listening to it for more than a year now...it's hard to believe. Anyways, I think the album is very good, but it's not the best album by Linkin Park. I actually prefer albums like ''A Thousand Suns'', ''Minutes To Midnight'' and ''LIVING THINGS'' over the more heavy rock sound. Not to say that I don't like heavy rock music, I do, but my taste has evolved since I was younger. If I went back in time 10 years to when I was a 14 year old, ''The Hunting Party'' would probably be my favorite album by the band because I liked angry hard rock music a lot at that age. I would say that my favorite tracks on the album are ''Keys To The Kingdom'' and ''A Line In The Sand''. I like ''Keys To The Kingdom'' a lot because of the awesome screaming and I like how unique it is in the sense that they cut off certain parts and switch up genres in different parts of the song, etc., I think that was really cool. I also think that song in particular pretty much captured what Mike wanted to create with the album when they started working on it. ''A Line In The Sand'' is just an epic song. I love how they used an old demo from ''A Thousand Suns'' for the intro because it just goes so well with the rest of the song in a weird way. It creates an eerie atmosphere and I think it's cool. Chester's vocals in the song are really great if you actually take the time to listen to what he is doing. A lot of people criticize Chester's vocals on this album, but the band was trying to go for a gritty sound that wasn't perfect and probably off key and stuff on purpose. The lyrics really shine on that track for me and the band is in full form. My least favorite tracks are probably ''All For Nothing'', ''Wastelands'' and ''Mark The Graves''. I think both ''All For Nothing'' and ''Wastelands'' are kind of cheesy and they don't really have a strong chorus, IMO, which is a big reason why I don't like them that much. Mike's rapping also could have been better in each track. ''Wastelands'' sounds like something that could easily fit in with all the nu-metal music back in the early 2000's and I think that's also a big part of why I don't like the track all that much. ''Mark The Graves'' used to be one of my favorite tracks on the album but I just got bored of listening to it when I listen to the album and usually skip the track. Technically, it's a solid track, the guitar work is great. The vocals aren't all that great and I feel like the song is just kind of...boring. I know they were going for a prog rock sound on that track but prog rock is something that I don't think Linkin Park captures all that well, at least IMO. Overall, it's a great album, but it's not one of the band's best albums, IMO. I'm looking forward to what the band will do next.
Definitely one of their best. I really feel that instead of trying to prove themselves to the fans, they got their heads together and tried their hardest to perfect this album and succeeded in placing it in the same ranks as Hybrid Theory and Meteora.
Yeah, I was beginning to lose all hope that there'd ever be another album which deserved to be ranked up there with "Hybrid Theory" and "Meteora" but Linkin Park did indeed achieve utter perfection once again.
Good post. The bolded is truth, and it's also the gripe I have with, say, "VICTIMIZED" (though obviously it isn't on THP). Metal isn't supposed to be perfect.
I'm inclined to agree a bit, but it's way less of a serious problem throughout "The Hunting Party" compared to "Victimized", I think. That song sounds a lot more ... sanitised.
Have to say, I completely agree with the bold statement above. This was a solid album as it felt cohesive and engaging as far as the sound is concerned. However I feel like LP kind of regurgitated much of their influences here in there own way without some real evolution in their song writing. To be honest THP has fallen from my radar a bit over the past year and has been 'forgotten' at times for me due to the fact that, as much as LP like to champion their efforts in 'pushing their boundaries creatively', they still follow the same formula used in their early days. There have only been a handful of LP songs which are really 'disruptive' to what's considered conventional for them. Throughout their career LP has been making rock & electronic music, incorporating influences and elements from various genres along the way, with pop sensibilities across the board. The songs still greatly benefit from simple, catchy melodies with simple lyrics and frequently repeated arrangements. ATS was the most adventurous effort for them IMO, but while it professed an enhancement in the sonic landscapes and themes they can create/convey, it lacked some cohesiveness and a defined purpose. I believe the band would seriously benefit from appreciating the work of other artists, particularly from the underground scene, and focusing those influences into their art more effectively. Look at bands like mewithoutYou/La Dispute for lyrical prowess, or Flying Lotus for successful experimentation with various sounds and musical techniques/methods, heck maybe listening to some drone/noise music or Steve Roden's Lowercase work might give them a different perspective! In all seriousness though, the band seems pretty comfortable at this point in their career. When Chester talked about THP, how the album was comprised of "good songs, and some of them are great songs.", I sensed that the band is usually content with 'good' and there's not so much incentive/ambition to really push the envelope for the next record and achieve 'excellent/amazing' throughout the whole project. Remember when everyone was hyped for THP and Wastelands came out, then some disappointment followed the single's release? Of course after that people realised that we're probably only going to get what we can truly expect from LP and nothing particularly crazy or 'ground-breaking' for the group.
A lot of my thoughts have already been said in the thread, so I won't reiterate. I did a one-year-later track by track review of the album though, if you're up for a read that's here. If you don't want to, THP has basically solidified a solid second place in my favorite LP albums (ATS being #1). It fulfills its purpose and goes through a surprisingly vast amount of genres (thrash rock - GATS; electronic rock - UIG; punk rock - War; jam - Drawbar; alternative rock - FM; progressive rock - MTG; etc.). I adore it, still.
I can still easily jam to THP these days. Unfortunately, some songs have lost some of the "punch" they use to have when I first heard them. This is probably a result of listening to them too many times or becoming ever familiar with their layers and structures. That said, I still find most of the songs to be very enjoyable to listen to if I'm in the mood for hard rock/borderline metal (which I am fairly often). After a full year and then some, THP has more or less kept its appeal and succeeded in what it set out to do: bring back elements of rock that are either no longer present or aren't as common on pop/modern radio, especially the rawness of the vocals and guitars. It is actually quite hard for me to believe that songs found on THP were once upon a time abundant for pop rock radio, given the direction that pop rock's sound has taken in recent years. On a final note, I do wonder if LP either has what it takes or is willing to go deeper into metal territory. THP definitely took cues from metal with songs like GATS, MTG, and ALITS, notably with the riffing. It's almost as if THP was teasing/hinting at further possibilities for a genuine metal direction for a future album. Only time will tell.