Linkin Park - From Zero (November 15th, 2024) • Page 39

I don't like or use the word "cringe" but there were many moments where I felt this album was cheesy as fuck

 

This is aggressively fine. Some parts got my head groovin. But without Chester, I’m just not interested for more. And that’s not fair to the band, really, but they really should’ve considered a different name.

 

The controversy surrounding Emily (for good reason) makes me feel weird about feeling like her contributions to the album are very clearly the highlights/standouts. Like, at the album's heaviest moments, when she's just going for it full throat, I'm pretty much all in.

I do think Mike is kind of the weak link here, which is odd, because he's crucial to the band's sound and really their identity.

 

I like Mike on here more than it seems most people do, but his parts aren’t as consistently fun as they once were. At this point I wouldn’t mind him moving away from doing too many full rapped verses per album.

Though, I’d argue his work here isn’t that much of an outlier from his recent output. Moments of his here easily could’ve been on One More Light or Post Traumatic to me, perhaps even Living Things? He just doesn’t have as much kick in his older age to sell what frankly have never been, like, idk… high level lyricism, lol.

 

I like the heavier songs on the album. I feel like Mike kind of gives off "Hello fellow kids" vibes on some of his verses. Not sure how often I'll go back to this but I think it's a decent nostalgia trip and will be curious how they follow up.

 

Emily sounds like Katy Perry sometimes.

 

This whole thing feels really thrown together, which is weird. No flow whatsoever. Mike’s parts are almost universally bad. Emptiness Machine and Heavy Is the Crown are probably the two best songs on here, which is a bummer considering the latter is really just “fine”.

By far their worst album and it’s hard to see that changing.

 

Maybe I let this thread get to my head before I gave the record a proper listen, but this is...pretty enjoyable? No real missteps for me, and it's already maybe my favorite output of theirs since A Thousand Suns. I'm happy. (And let's not pretend LP hasn't always been cheesy, it's a feature for this band and not a bug.)

 

100% agree with this.

 

Also, while I’m digging this a lot, I do get people ranking it low for the band. This line-up is clearly still warming up to some extent. But, for my money, it’s at minimum above Living Things and One More Light.

 

Overall I think it's good, not great but it succeeds at reintroducing the band.

As soon as the album runtime was revealed and they dropped singles that were all over the place, I was expecting Living Things 2.0, in the sense that like that record it's a mix of everything they have done up until that point. This is what we got, so I can't complain.

The few gripes I have are the same I've had with some of their stuff in the past. A couple songs feel half baked, like they took the easy route on a melody or another detail, or that they could've been fleshed out more / not being restricted to the 3 min format. That said, it's comforting to know they still have that formula after this many years apart.

As far as post reunion albums go, I'd say it mostly sticks the landing, but I know they can do better and I'm interested in seeing where this re-energized version of Linkin Park go from here.

 

Echoing all your thoughts regarding Mike, personally I wish he was singing more and that The Emptiness Machine wasn't an outlier in that regard. Some of his raps do sound cheesier than they did in previous records.

 

I think this is really fun all the way through.

 

I think this is still better than One More Light and The Hunting Party. I just have to come to the realization that LP hasn’t been a full album band to me since MTM.

Also the new Poppy album out today totally blows this out of the water.

 

I applaud LP for coming back in their own way but....this just doesn't do it for me. Hopefully they keep the brand alive as a touring vehicle but I do think they are gonna start to struggle to pull big numbers.

 

joke record

 

Yeah, it’s called giving the album a fair shot - which I did.

I enjoy some tracks off later albums of theirs but I only really listen to the first two records at this point.

 

This is their Hurley

a “back to basics album” that is missing any real punch

 

nothing about this is interesting unfortunately. crazy how MTM still sounds fresh and exciting compared to this.

 

Personally, I think this is the first time they’ve actually crossed the “cringe” line at times rather than just being a bit cheesy. Just my opinion though

 

I listened to that immediately after this and it further showed me how cheesy Emily sounds at times, in my opinion. Poppy sounds damn good

 

Enjoyed this more than their One More Light or Hunting Party, which I think are actively bad records. But this is still pretty 6/10. I can’t see myself going back to this over those first two records.

 

Cut the Bridge is fine tbh

 

Casualty is real bad