Niki N. Phaser

If you are a bit familiar with the history of Linkin Park, you would know that their 2007 album, Minutes to Midnight, was a crucial moment in the band’s evolution. A big difference from previous albums was that they got more in touch with their inner pop child and the result was several softer songs like Leave Out All The Rest, Valentine’s Day or In Pieces. This is a song where Chester Benington really exhibits his pop voice. There is no nu-metal screaming, just a lot of vulnerability and that “wounded soul’s power”, displayed in some of Linkin Park’s best songs. In fact, the whole track, lyrically speaking, sounds like a love song, but in LP style, which means plenty of imputations and emotional accusations like “There’s truth in your lies, Doubt in your faith, What you build you lay to waste”.

Musically, In Pieces represents a fortunate combination of numerous elements from distinct genres. The song is built on what sounds like a celesta riff. There are hip-hop synth beats and atmospherics effects courtesy of Mr. Hahn, but you also get real rockin’ drumming, both intense and complex. The vocals, as I said, are soft and quite balladesque. The second verse is punctuated by some Clashy guitar hits and speaking of guitars, Brad Delson’s solo really takes you back to some 80′s hard rock, something like AC/DC or Motorhead even. It’s a shame that Linkin Park didn’t saw a single in this one, but they certainly haven’t ignored it live.

LISTEN TO THE SONG HERE

Linkin Park’s frontman Chester Benington is finally releasing an album with his side-project, Dead by Sunrise, comprised of Julien-K and ex-Orgy members. Talks of a non-Linkin Park project have been circulating even before Meteora days. This time, it’s the real deal. Benington revealed that Dead by Sunrise will release an album entitled Out of Ashes in September. The sound will be dramatically different from Linkin Park, mainly due to the absence of Mike Shinoda, who, Benington considers, “has created our signature sound“. There will be no hip-hop influences on this one, just straightforward rock. The album will have ten tracks, as this reminds Benington of the memorable records of the 60′s and 70′s. A possible first single is a track named Crawl Back In, for which they will be shooting a video around the beginning of August. As for gigs, the nu-metal icon announced through Twitter a series of surprise Dead by Sunrise shows, adding “They will be short sets. And no one will know when or where they will be”. The one hint he gave was “So if anyone wants to see us doing these performances you’d better try to get to the LP shows this summer”. Their first official offering (through their Myspace page), entitled Morning After, is quite promising.

New Divide

Linkin Park have released their latest single on June 16, titled New Divide, included in the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack. The song has also been reworked by Hans Zimmer for the movie’s score.The song charted really well, in the Top Ten in all the important American charts. The video is pretty cool, too. But…

As an appreciator of Linkin Park, I must say that New Divide got me a bit worried. Their last album, Minutes to Midnight was an instant classic. It was one of the few cases when a band says that ol’crap about “this album is different than the others” and it was really true… and really fortunate, since their straighforward rock songs and punky ballads (does that exist?) were a breath of fresh air. The rap-rock of their first two albums gave the mainstream baptism of a new genre and they moved from that with grace. So…

The problem with New Divide is that, despite having no Shinoda vocals, it represents absolutely nothing new, it is Linkin Park by the manual, which might not be a good omen for their upcoming 2010 album. It might as well be a middle part in What I’ve Done. Minutes to Midnight was a great surprise and I woun’t be the only one disappointed if they don’t follow up on the evolved sound or, even better, come up with something even more fresh.