MB Album Club 2022

Trollheart · 03-26-2023, 09:09 AM

Linkin Park Living Things

See, I always get these guys mixed up with Limp Bizkit. Don't laugh. I had heard zero from LP so had no idea what to expect, but from the first I really liked this. Then I started to love it. I've listened to the album five times now, this is my sixth as I review. I sort of feel like I did the first time I heard Bodycount: I love the mix of rap and rock, and some/most of the songs are truly spectacular. Feel free to laugh at me, haters, but I'm downloading their discography as I type.

So then: the powerful synth and percussion opening "Lost in the Echo" is joined by the thumping guitars and then the rap comes in, and look, I have nothing against rap or hip-hop. I just get bored with all the boasting. This sounds far different and has a kind of post-hardcore (as I understand it, which is probably not very well) sound to it too. Great energy in it and it's hard to ignore it, excellent opening and it just gets better with "In My Remains" which has a slightly slower, kind of marching rhythm, using more "normal" singing than rapping, with a great hook in the chorus; the buildup is superb. "Burn it Down" stays in the same basic rhythm with a good punching chorus and a really good rap too, while "Lies Greed Misery" comes in on a stabbing almost eighties AOR synth with a powerful rap and a manic vocal, bouncing along like a mad thing.

A little more restrained then is "I'll Be Gone", a driving guitar leading it, with almost orchestral synth, still fizzing and crackling with energy and enthusiasm, a kind of slightly industrial feel merging with eighties new wave in "Castle of Glass", touches of a sort of country rhythm, puts me in mind of a train chugging along. Love the hook here; the lower-key vocal really works with this song. Things kick back up into fifth gear then for "Victimized", on which I have mixed feelings. I'm no fan of the screaming, almost out-of-control vocal on the chorus, the rap I could live without but I do love the sung parts of the verse, for some reason reminds me of Simon and Garfunkel. Shut up. If there is a track thus far that I don't actually love, then this is it.

The first ballad then in "Roads Untraveled", driven on a beautiful soft piano with a crooned vocal, the melody reminding me of a slowed-down version of The Animals' classic "House of the Rising Sun". Favourite track for sure. Love this one. The "whoa-oh-oh-oh" in the chorus is perfect. After that the tempo slams right back up for "Skin to Bone" with a busy keyboard line and buzzing guitars, "Until it Breaks" runs on a punchy rap with a marching synth melody; I could probably live without this one too. A really short instrumental in "Tinfoil" - the main melody of which is very familiar but I can't place it - takes us to what should be the closer, another ballad, "Powerless", which is really nice, but for some reason there's another track which seems to appear on none of the versions I can see via Wiki, but is on my YouTube, and seems to be called "Not Alone"? It's another nice ballad, just not too sure where it comes from.

Overall, really superb album, one of the few I've heard here from which I've been actually singing the tracks when away from the computer. Made me a fan, that's for sure.

Rating: 9.9/10

djchameleon · 03-26-2023, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Linkin Park Living Things

See, I always get these guys mixed up with Limp Bizkit. Don't laugh. I had heard zero from LP so had no idea what to expect, but from the first I really liked this. Then I started to love it. I've listened to the album five times now, this is my sixth as I review. I sort of feel like I did the first time I heard Bodycount: I love the mix of rap and rock, and some/most of the songs are truly spectacular. Feel free to laugh at me, haters, but I'm downloading their discography as I type.

I'm a bit shocked by this but since you are doing that listen to Meteora then Hybrid Theory even though Meteora is their second album.

I feel like it slightly edges out Hybrid Theory but that's just my opinion though.

Synthgirl · 03-26-2023, 12:36 PM

Glad you enjoyed Linkin Park! Living Things is probably my third favorite album of theirs after their first two. I actually saw them on the tour for that album back in 2012, and I really enjoyed the greater emphasis on electronics in their work during that era.

Trollheart · 03-27-2023, 05:14 AM

Ok various life forms! We're movin' on. Time to slate yet another of my choices... (God how i hate you all...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_mI...AqwrMZJe3Zh-Gi

Trollheart · 03-27-2023, 08:49 AM

Yeah yeah, I know: one day early. But Monday is a better day to kick things off, and I think we're all done with Linkin Park now. Besides, it's better than my usual forget-about-it-three-days-after-I-should-have-had-the-new-album-up-and-have-to-be-reminded, isn't it?

03-26-2023, 09:09 AM	#1 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Linkin Park Living Things See, I always get these guys mixed up with Limp Bizkit. Don't laugh. I had heard zero from LP so had no idea what to expect, but from the first I really liked this. Then I started to love it. I've listened to the album five times now, this is my sixth as I review. I sort of feel like I did the first time I heard Bodycount: I love the mix of rap and rock, and some/most of the songs are truly spectacular. Feel free to laugh at me, haters, but I'm downloading their discography as I type. So then: the powerful synth and percussion opening "Lost in the Echo" is joined by the thumping guitars and then the rap comes in, and look, I have nothing against rap or hip-hop. I just get bored with all the boasting. This sounds far different and has a kind of post-hardcore (as I understand it, which is probably not very well) sound to it too. Great energy in it and it's hard to ignore it, excellent opening and it just gets better with "In My Remains" which has a slightly slower, kind of marching rhythm, using more "normal" singing than rapping, with a great hook in the chorus; the buildup is superb. "Burn it Down" stays in the same basic rhythm with a good punching chorus and a really good rap too, while "Lies Greed Misery" comes in on a stabbing almost eighties AOR synth with a powerful rap and a manic vocal, bouncing along like a mad thing. A little more restrained then is "I'll Be Gone", a driving guitar leading it, with almost orchestral synth, still fizzing and crackling with energy and enthusiasm, a kind of slightly industrial feel merging with eighties new wave in "Castle of Glass", touches of a sort of country rhythm, puts me in mind of a train chugging along. Love the hook here; the lower-key vocal really works with this song. Things kick back up into fifth gear then for "Victimized", on which I have mixed feelings. I'm no fan of the screaming, almost out-of-control vocal on the chorus, the rap I could live without but I do love the sung parts of the verse, for some reason reminds me of Simon and Garfunkel. Shut up. If there is a track thus far that I don't actually love, then this is it. The first ballad then in "Roads Untraveled", driven on a beautiful soft piano with a crooned vocal, the melody reminding me of a slowed-down version of The Animals' classic "House of the Rising Sun". Favourite track for sure. Love this one. The "whoa-oh-oh-oh" in the chorus is perfect. After that the tempo slams right back up for "Skin to Bone" with a busy keyboard line and buzzing guitars, "Until it Breaks" runs on a punchy rap with a marching synth melody; I could probably live without this one too. A really short instrumental in "Tinfoil" - the main melody of which is very familiar but I can't place it - takes us to what should be the closer, another ballad, "Powerless", which is really nice, but for some reason there's another track which seems to appear on none of the versions I can see via Wiki, but is on my YouTube, and seems to be called "Not Alone"? It's another nice ballad, just not too sure where it comes from. Overall, really superb album, one of the few I've heard here from which I've been actually singing the tracks when away from the computer. Made me a fan, that's for sure. Rating: 9.9/10 __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

03-27-2023, 05:14 AM	#4 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Ok various life forms! We're movin' on. Time to slate yet another of my choices... (God how i hate you all...) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_mI...AqwrMZJe3Zh-Gi __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

03-27-2023, 08:49 AM	#5 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Yeah yeah, I know: one day early. But Monday is a better day to kick things off, and I think we're all done with Linkin Park now. Besides, it's better than my usual forget-about-it-three-days-after-I-should-have-had-the-new-album-up-and-have-to-be-reminded, isn't it? __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

03-26-2023, 12:36 PM	#3 (permalink)
Synthgirl Music Addict Join Date: Jan 2023 Location: Cheeseland USA Posts: 162	Glad you enjoyed Linkin Park! Living Things is probably my third favorite album of theirs after their first two. I actually saw them on the tour for that album back in 2012, and I really enjoyed the greater emphasis on electronics in their work during that era.