Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns

Chances are that if you’re of a certain age you bought Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory when it was released and you loved every second of it. The youthful nu metal bounce, to that particular generation, was simply put - the shit. Chances are that that record still occupies a small space on your shelf at home or maybe even a spot on your I-pod. But my, my times do change.

Linkin Park have evolved in the decade that has passed since then. Of course, no one should really advocate the belief of “it ain’t broke don’t fix it” when it comes to music. Bands should be ever evolving, but unfortunately for Linkin Park that progression has been a disconcerting one. A Thousand Suns shifts to a more electronic/light industrial driven sound that’s drawn out and exhaustive.

First single/video 'The Catalyst' is largely indicative of A Thousand Suns as a whole. It has a slight grandiosity to it; almost a call to arms like passages but therein lays the problem. 'The Catalyst' sounds like it should be the intro track to an album of a much deeper plot, emotional meaning and instead, it feels like the intended height of A Thousand Suns and the centrepiece of the record… it’s the second last song, the fourteenth.

The clang and reverberation of a guitar is yearned for throughout the record as electronics and synths dominate the album, which is entirely industrial tinged as mentioned earlier. Guitar riffs are still here of course, and are at times used ever so tastefully like the climax of 'Burning In The Skies', however they’re far from being the focal point.

Predecessor Minutes To Midnight, had somewhat (somewhat) of that old bounce to it with the likes of 'Given Up', however it was much more "mature", as some people will put it. Here, the former is fully dispelled and the latter heavily accentuated. It is indeed a very serious album, thematically. The lyrical concepts are overtly political, and provide, as clichéd as it sounds, a social commentary.

Mike Shinoda’s rapping is still a presence on A Thousand Suns too, as heard on 'When They Come For Me', to hone in on one example. Again, it’s deeply stern but it just becomes tedious after a few verses. Plus, the ridiculous lyrics portrayed in such a histrionic environment only damages the course of the record. Meanwhile, following track 'Robot Boy' sounds partially like an East 17 b-side. The only jagged intensity can be found on 'Blackout' with Chester Bennington returning to his scream, laid in front of a luridly synthesized backdrop. His beat laden side project Dead By Sunrise has certainly infiltrated the ‘Park camp overall in this album.

The only real standout moment of the record is semi ballad, 'Iridescent' and to refer to it as ‘standout’ is quite a stretch it must be said. Despite its explicit U2 worship it’s the track of the least fault.

Frankly, there’s just nothing on A Thousand Suns that grabs you by the balls­, the figurative balls of course. It’s a fleeting record, which passes off as being tired and a little uninterested.

4/10