Do I need to explain why this is trash? No? Good. The next track, “Leave out All the Rest”, begins with “ I dreamed I was missing, you were so scared / But no-one would listen, ’cause no-one else cared”. I know I’m harping on Bennington’s lyrics, but for fuck’s sake, the chorus on “Given Up” goes “ I’ve Given Up / I’m sick of feeling / Is there nothing you can say? / Take this all away / I’m suffocating / Tell me what the fuck is wrong with me”.
Here, Bennington gets multiple tracks in a row to recite lyrics as insightful and interesting as a fourth-grader scribblings (okay, that’s a bit unfair-fourth-graders have the capacity to accidently write something good). Meteora, as bad as it was, exhibited understanding that consistently switching lead vocalists could trick dummies into thinking the album was more interesting than it was. Step two: “have several shitty ballads in a row”. I’m sure that seemed interesting on paper, but Bennington’s consistently poor word choice combined with an ill-fitting potty mouth makes the already-weak material sound like Korn leftovers. Step one: “swear constantly after putting out entire albums devoid of cursing”. The rest of it reads like a step-by-step guide on how not to make a mature, thoughtful, and interesting album. That failure of a single is about as fun as Minutes to Midnight gets. Video can’t be loaded: Bleed It Out (Official Video) – Linkin Park () It seemed a perfect time to let things end, so when Minutes to Midnight was announced, my initial response was “wait, why?” The first album from Mike Shinoda’s Fort Minor debuted to surprisingly generous reviews Chester Bennington was dealing with personal issues while getting another band off the ground Joseph Hahn was making a name for himself with his work in television, film, and music videos Brad Delson was, um, I don’t know, probably trying to master making a kickass soufflé. Their first two albums, as technically sound as they were, offered no hint that LP were willing to expand their sonic boundaries, and the four years between albums gave the impression that the band had their finger hovering over the button announcing an indefinite hiatus.
I had enjoyed Meteora at the time, but the vibe I got from it was that there was no place left to take the music, at least not by this band. I remember being confused by the news that Linkin Park were going to put out a third album. Linkin Park's third full-length album turned ten years old this year.