Linkin Park - From Zero (November 15th, 2024) • Page 38

Sorry, y'all, but this is 100% a Good Linkin Party Album 2 me, lol. Not perfect, but even the weakest songs (“Cut the Bridge,” “Over Each Other”) are fine, and most of it feels like a great place to start a second act of the band from.

During our cyclical conversations about what the band “should” do, I tended to argue that a reunion album should feel like a stylistic greatest hits of sorts. Usually I imagined that iteration as a 5-piece, but this version of that approach with Emily is totally what I wanted. Genuinely can hear hints of every era on here, sometimes splitting the difference between a couple on a track, while still feeling cohesive. And, not too mad at it being short.

I think my favorites are “The Emptiness Machine,” “Casualty,” and “Overflow”? But the last few tracks could also land in that tier with more listens.

 

I think the album is very fun overall - achieved what it needed to as a comeback album, which is act as a reintroduction to the band

 

i personally think Mike's lyricism and flow are embarrassing on this one (the production also feels a lot more hollow than other songs on the album). it also feels prevalent to a lesser-extent on other tracks like Overflow (which i love in spite of those problems) and Stained. even on Casualty i just don't think his shouty vocal approach works all that well.

like i don't wanna sound cynical, but the majority of my problems with this album (aside from it being way too short) all point back to Mike, between production choices, execution, lyrics, etc. but that's just my opinion, no worries if y'all love it.

 

Whole thing is very meh

 

mike is honestly unlistenable a lot of the time on this thing

 

Wait, people are calling Casualty a highlight on here? Thought that was one of the cringiest songs on here.

 

I kinda like this album a lot ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

The chorus to “Cut the Bridge” is gonna go off live, I know most on here think the song is meh at best, but people LOVE millennial chants.

 

Drums sound overly compressed, or something along those lines. Definitely not the most crisp sounding album. Blunted, muted would also be descriptors I'd use so far.

 

Surprised Overflow isn't the theme song for Arcane season 2. I don't mean that as a compliment.

 

This whole album screams of cringe tbh

 

This is not for me. I'll always remember the hype of hearing Heavy is the Crown thinking this could actually be cool. Y'all have fun.

 

So much usage of the word “cringe” that I simply do not understand, particularly for the band that exploded on the scene with Hybrid Theory, lol.

 

Sure but this album is nowhere near that level (great) because it is, indeed, a cringe album lol

 

It’s kind of typical Linkin Park. The guitar riffs go, the vocals are fine, the lyrics are nondescript (lots of being pushed away, pulled back, “get out of my way” type stuff), drumming that just keeps time and nothing more.

Besides “The Emptiness Machine,” this feels pretty standard. Nothing really worth revisiting.

 

Aside from Two Faced and IGYEIH, nothing on this record is really vibing with me.

I’ll just stick to Hybrid Theory and Meteora.

 

it's def a grower of an album. of course i'm more attracted to the heavier songs like crown, casualty, and igyeih. next road trip i take imma give it a second proper listen.

curious: their merch site has a digital bundle of the album with three live tracks recorded in the past few months. any hopes of them bringing back the digital downloads of their live shows?

 

The record definitely felt better on the second listen but I don't think it warrants a third. Hope they sharpen their lyrics and up their production game in the future, as well as get some kind of concrete answer with all of the controversy, but I don't expect any of those to happen.

 

lol.

Shoutout to everyone out there who somehow hasn’t liked an album of theirs in two decades but thought maybe they’d like this one.

 

I think this nails the target in one key aspect: Every LP album after Meteora generated divisive "this is great!" or "this sucks, they lost their spark" mixed reactions from fans. And so far, this one's the same so far, so in that regard ... bullseye

 

I am guilty of doing this myself growing up (am 38 now) where I didn't vibe with Minutes to Midnight and didn't listen to LP much after that since it didn't compare to how I felt about Hybrid Theory and Meteora. I would do that with a lot of bands I listened to and just stop listening to them if I didn't like something.

While I didn't like the other albums as much, after not giving any listens to future albums, I gave proper listens to a lot of their discography after Chester passed and found myself enjoying quite a bit of what I heard. Perhaps my tastes changed over time.

I also have no idea if I would even like Hybrid Theory or Meteora if it came out now. So much nostalgia is held to albums from our youth.

That said - I am digging the album after a few listens.

 

initially I was SO bored by songs like Powerless and Iridescent, but then came around to them (and A Thousand Suns as a whole) around the mid 2010's, and then of course even more after Chester passed since they were especially emotive songs for him.

 

I'm pretty guilty of the opposite, I can't stop listening to artists even if they release a shitty album, it's always "what if the next one is good though???"

 

Woof Cut the Bridge sucks. We’re not off to a good start

 

Im really liking this. I dont think any of it is "cringe". This is probably their best since Meteora imo.