With their fourth album ‘A thousand Suns’, Linkin Park underwent a complete transformation from blockbusting nu metal to left-field, electronic and political pop. While their earlier album, ‘Minutes to Midnight’ catered to modern rock radio aggression, ‘A thousand Suns’ had intense character, thematic depth and rustic textures. And, experimenting with sub-genres and eccentric styles, the band’s obsession with dense layers and clean sounds has led to some interesting compositions over the years. However, their latest album ‘Living Things’ proved to be completely stripped-down in comparison with the alt-metal-electro-rock band’s preceding oeuvre.
Though Linkin Park showed up late at the rap-rock outfit, the band has some brutal sounds on display with ‘Living Things’. In fact the entire album is soaked in gigantic screaming choruses, monoliths of sound and digital washes. Interestingly, their signature ‘guitar anthems’ and wobbling melodies took a backseat with this album. Leaning on Bennington’s harrowing hooks, the five LPs traded turntable scratches for dub step trimmings. The album opener ‘Lost in the Echo’ featured some interesting sound samples but it failed to cater to the overall musical palette. Apart from some sparkling synths and chomping guitar samples, it seemed to have a dull outlook altogether. With missing bass drops and dry vocals, the opening track felt like something you have heard over and over again.
With ‘In My Remains’, Linkin Park’s crisp verses slid tersely into the song’s refrains. Offering some confessional balladry by Chester Bennington, the track is doused in melodic bridges and mediocre sounds. Of course, Mike Shinoda’s repetitive verse Like an army falling one by one couldn’t get any more predictable. While ‘Burn it Down’ strived to deliver an anti-war sentiment, the track is eerily reminiscent of a nu-metal journey long forgotten. With elements of electro-pop and sonic haze, Rubin brought his classic Midas touch to the knobs. Offering moments of poignancy, the song had some polished tunes and textures.
Though characterised by thick bass wobbles and slick rhythms, tracks like ‘Lies Greed Misery’ and ‘Victimized’ had their moments. Nestled alongside rap-metal and fierce ‘Kasabian-like’ stomp, the former was a bold experiment for Linkin Park. With Mike Shinoda spitting some hard rhymes in the former and Chester Bennington giving his unhinged screams on the latter, the tracks had wicked melodies and winding climax.
‘Castle of Glass’ juxtaposed dark elements of nature to create a sonic paradox. Using extended metaphors and radical arrangements for this track, Linkin Park managed to merge intriguing melodic elements with walloping guitar chords. Undoubtedly, the second half of the album offered more experimental and granular sounds than the first half.
In ‘Road Untraveled’, the piano ballad that leads to Bennington delivering some melancholy tunes fascinatingly grows into a mesh of power chords and extended lighters. Soothing and mellow, this track’s dense structure appeased all senses.
The last track ‘Powerless’ dropped some great lock-step beats, soaring harmonies, and synthesizer whispers prior to Brad Delson’s slick guitar riffs. Featured in the closing credits of the movie ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’, this track provided a complete Linkin Park package.
Overall, though the album traversed familiar terrain, it had its warm moments. With Linkin Park’s lyrical strength growing by leaps and bounds with every song, this album displayed both optimism and anxiety of a band that is yet to discover its ‘apocalyptic’ side.
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