Before this piece gets started proper, there needs to be a foundation for what this is going to be: this is not going to be a proper critical review in the more traditional sense. Instead, this is going to be more of an open-ended thought-piece meant to be intentionally separated from the sea of online reviews that, quite frankly, flood the internet neck-deep. This is also going to be the first in a series of more open-ended pieces subtitled Let’s Talk About, as it frees up the possibilities for discussion away from being a more critical analysis of a product – which, again, flooded neck-deep. So for this new piece here on the site, and as an excuse for me to start writing a whole lot more, the first subject is… quite a divisive doozy.
Seven years ago, in 2017, the music world was shocked and saddened from the sudden death of Linkin Park singer and frontman Chester Bennington, putting the band in a prolonged hiatus as they were still touring in support of their 2017 album One More Light. For obvious reasons, the tour was cancelled and the band just went away for a while, and there was a lot of uncertainty of whether Linkin Park could continue without Bennington, or even if they could continue, and while there were some rereleases of the albums Hybrid Theory and Meteora released in the years that followed (along with a compilation album, Papercuts) it just felt like Linkin Park was going to exist as just a band from years gone by and nothing more, a band you could look back on and go “yeah those were some good times” and that’s all. But in a rock music scene in the 2020s that feels more reliant on nostalgic reunions more than ever, one would start to ponder and ask:
“What if…?”
“Let you cut me open, just to watch me bleed…”
September 5, 2024. After a 100-hour countdown and then another countdown, a mysterious livestream went up on the band’s YouTube channel, and what was it? A live performance on a soundstage somewhere in Los Angeles, featuring not only a new song in “The Emptiness Machine” but also… a new vocalist. (And a new drummer, as Rob Bourdon left all future Linkin Park projects years ago.) Enter, from the band Dead Sara, Emily Armstrong as the new vocalist of Linkin Park, and doing a very fine job with the older songs through some key changes to accommodate for her vocal range. And along with that, a new album was announced – the first album in seven years – with a very solid single to go along with it, so things were building up pretty fast and pretty sudden with everyone in high spirits for a new chapter in the band’s legacy.
Then some… details about Emily came out. Namely, details about her affiliation with a certain group that will not be mentioned here as well as another affiliation with a certain individual that will also not be mentioned here. To her credit, she disavowed herself of that certain individual, however the group in question is far more troublesome and difficult to fully disavow, especially if you were raised and groomed into the group by your family – just as Leah Remini and fellow former members about it. However, if we can read “between the lines” a bit, some Dead Sara songs have lyrics that can be interpreted as a rejection of their teachings, as well as the fact that this group is firmly against all things queer – and she is reportedly a queer woman, so take that however you will.
But for some folks, these details made up their minds over what was going to come for Linkin Park and this new album, regardless of what the rest of the album was going to sound like. And as the singles continued to trickle out and release, a combination of beleaguered anticipation and slight trepidation seemed to dominate the discussion – between the heavier throwback in “Heavy is the Crown” and the more subdued alternative style in “Over Each Other,” there seemed to be a bit of uncertainty over what the album was going to be upon release. And now that it’s out, it’s become clear that this is neither a full return to past form for Linkin Park nor is it an evolution of their sound from prior releases.
So what is it?
Simple – it’s a pop album. But there’s a bit more to it than being “just” a pop album.
“All we are is talking… over each other…”
That’s not to say this is a clear abandonment of past Linkin Park sounds, though, but with all of the details laid out – the different production styles, the inclusion of outside songwriters to (and this is just a guess) round out and buff out some of the songs, and even more pop-styled melodies in the vocals – it really does feel like this was crafted to be the most accessible return as possible, for better or for worse. Mike Shinoda may be the one in charge of the direction and sound, given his “by-default” status as the one leading the band going forward and the one putting together many of the compilation projects – not to mention his own solo projects veering more towards the pop scene in some elements. And while there are elements of their past nü-metal and alternative sounds present on the album, like in the songs “Casualty” and “Two Faced” invoking the more typical stereotypes of 2000s nü-metal angst and agression, the overall album does feel like more of a pop album in structure, especially on the single “Over Each Other”, “Cut the Bridge” with vocal lines that sound reminiscent of “you should see me in a crown” by Billie Eilish, and the pop-infused rap stylings of the closer “Good Things Go”, all of which will also be taken for better and for worse with fans and listeners. So that brings in a rather important question in regards to this album:
What did everyone actually want?
And that’s a tricky question to answer with several different answers to it.
As mentioned earlier, bands like Linkin Park and their contemporaries of the era – Limp Bizkit, My Chemical Romance, Green Day, even Creed to an extent – all currently live and thrive in 20-to-25 year range of musical nostalgia that appeal to both new listeners and long-time fans who miss those “glory days” of their favorite bands. And that comes with a clear double-edged sword with the focus tending to be solely on older materials and albums with newer songs only seeming to exist to remind people that this older band still exists and is, most likely, touring to play an older album of theirs in full for a larger crowd that loves said older album. That’s not to say it’s a bad thing, though, but when it becomes an over-reliant ploy for concert attendance that’s when some alarm bells need to be ringing. How this comes into play for this new Linkin Park album has less to do with the aforementioned touring ploy and more to do with the inner structure of the album, as in how the songs sound in the grand scheme of things:
“It’s too late for choosing sides… two-faced, caught in the middle…”
It’s the most Linkin Park-sounding Linkin Park album in many, many years. It borrows bits and pieces from past albums, like the rap-infused aggression of Hybrid Theory and Meteora, the more electronic infusions of Living Things, A Thousand Suns, and even the “New Divide” single, and some of the more stripped-down rock arrangements from Minutes to Midnight to craft this album into something both new and familiar. And if you go to their more recent concerts in support of this album, from large venues across the world to stadiums coming up next year, you’d believe everyone was fully on board with the album and hearing older songs be performed with a bit of a newer twist.
But was this what everyone really wanted? Or even what everyone expected?
Based on the rather… divisive reception online, it feels like a coin flip of emotion depending on who you ask. For every group of fans that love it for what it is, you’ll have another group of fans lambasting it for similar reasons; same goes for more critical outlets, for as much praise as there is from some there will be an equal amount of criticism from others. And this brings me to my biggest point in talking about this album, how in a musical climate that is more reliant on bankable nostalgia more than ever combined with a rapid and vocal internet response, in a lot of ways this album was doomed from the start to be a lighting rod of polarized controversy and intense division. For as many people who like the album as a familiar step forward after a long period of inactivity – and even meeting small expectations – there will be as many people who dislike the album for not doing enough, or even falling below expectations, even if everyone’s expectations may be widely different between one another. One may view it as an emotional tour de force, one may see it as a cynical cashgrab; one may hear the songs and take it in with enjoyment, one may hear the songs and feel let down and disappointed; one may love it, one may hate it.
And that makes writing about this album especially difficult to do. Hence why this isn’t a typical “review” of sorts.
Fan expectation can be a curse in and of itself, a half-loaded chamber that all depends on what each individual fan wants, and it’s become very clear that the divide in reception is all the proof needed to justify this claim. You, reading this, may fall onto one side of this divide or the other; you may dislike it or really like it, or even be somewhere down the middle, but talking about it should feel much more conversational and far less confrontational than how it is currently. Discussion pieces and reviews tend to sway the feelings and reception people have towards media, be it for television or film or even music, but reviews should not be the be-all-end-all towards one’s feelings. Whether it’s from industry outlets like Pitchfork or The Guardian, more genre-niche platforms like Metal Injection and NME, or even YouTube personalities like Anthony Fantano, reviews serve a strong purpose in what they do – serve as an outlet for one’s perspective and opinion on such a subject. Every review is different, every reviewer style is different, and every review will most definitely have a difference of opinion, and people should use them to further and flesh out their own opinions on a subject – just not as fact through confirmation bias.
My advice for this album?
Listen to it as it is and form your own opinion. I can tell you that it’s a fine album that doesn’t do anything new and serves as a piece of familiarity, and that it’s okay to be just that – but that’s just my own opinion. Listen for yourselves and find your own ground on it.
But it’s NOT worth fighting over, no matter what.
This “not-a-review” of the newest Linkin Park album was brought to you by Alexander, who can be found primarily on the bluer skies of Bluesky right here.
From Zero is available from Warner Records and Machine Shop Recordings on CD, vinyl, cassette, digital download and streaming, and at your local record store where snobbish clerks will side-eye you for buying it – just ignore the looks.