Minutes to midnight? More like minutes to doom...

Song of the day:
Breaking Benjamin
" Breath"

Ok.

I got hold of the mp3s of this album way before the official release of the new Linkin Park album.

"Minutes to Midnight" is the album title.

Well, as a former LP fan (I treat myself as a Daughtry fan nowadays), I always love to listen to their previous albums.

I remember I bought "Hybrid Theory" after watching Linkin Park's "One Step Closer" video clip on MTV during CNY long long time ago....

I still remember clearly that this track was on the UK Top 40, debuted in positions outside of the top 20 but nevertheless it caught my attention.

After buying the album, I suffered some sort of a culture shock because their music is hard enough for me reject at that time.

But somehow, "Crawling" and "In The End" saved the album from being kept away by me.

I continue listening to the album and love the rest of the tracks, especially "Cure For The Itch" and "Pushing Me Away".

Then after a while, LP releases "Reanimation", where tracks from "Hybrid Theory" were revamped with superb mixing.

"Krwlng" (a reanimated "Crawling") was the best track on "Reanimation" to date. My other favourites were "Enth E Nd" ("In The End") and "Pts.f.Athrty" ("Points Of Authority").

However, "Reanimation" was like an intermediate album or a teaser album before the release of their next album "Meteora".

And this time around, Linkin Park is already well known and they made a worldwide release thingy for "Meteora".

At least, "Meteora" wasn't a letdown.

Harder stuff and style. Superb tunes. These are things that kept the old fans and attracted new fans.

My favourite is always gonna be "Session" (without vocals), "Numb" and "Easier To Run" (a song which was played in my car during my first car accident...).

So Linkin Park hung around for a while with those two albums and then went into hiding for quite some time until...................

May 15th, when they will be releasing their new album "Minutes To Midnight"....

Linkin Park - "Minutes To Midnight"

Basically, I think I'm gonna write a short review of all the tracks in the album...

1. "In Between" - As the opening track, this song is not a good one. It doesn't give you the impact needed. Not that impressive.

2. "In Pieces" - A midtempo track which sounds melancholy. Sounds OK (reluctantly).

3. "The Little Things Give You Away" - The longest track on the album (6 to 7 minutes?!). But a new problem occurs. The 1st half of the track is boring, but the 2nd half (bridge) is superb, blowing me away.

4. "Wake" - This is the "vocal-less" song that would always appear in all Linkin Park's album. It's nice, especially the bass guitar. The awakening feel is clear and the title to this song is oh so correct!

5. "Given Up" - A typical screamo track I would say. Hard guitar riffs too. All in all, not too bad but I think the anger has been overboard.

6. "Leave Ot All The Rest" - A song which sounds too much like a sad pop track, but one can expect hardcore moments in the song.

7. "Bleed It Out" - Finally, more towards the original LP. Rap + Rock. Great bass and rhythm but Chester's coarse vocals are really not required.

8. "Shadow Of The Day" - A nice track, but the 1st half of the song should be heavier. The vocals and solo guitar parts though are.. NICE!

9. "What I've Done" - Linkin Park owe a lot to this song as it's the only track that fits to be the first single. The most consistent song in terms of song "weight".

10. "Hands Held High" - Mike Shinoda solo track I would call this. Using marching beats and pipe organ as background, this song is quite refreshing.

11. "No More Sorrow" - Another hard stuff by Linkin Park. Hard in a sense that would only be done by hard rock bands like Korn. Disappointing though.

12. "Valentine's Day" - Don't be deceived by the title. This song further proves my point where a lot of songs in this album are weak "in the 1st half" and strong "in the 2nd half". Hopefully this is not the style in future LP albums??...

In a nutshell, "Minutes To Midnight" is not anything near to the style of "Hybrid Theory" and "Meteora".

There are many tracks, in my opinion, are overdone and overhyped and overproduced.

Can't be helped, but I personally think that the album is a bit disappointing.

So guys. I think I gave a short insight of the album...

If you have already pre-ordered the album, you must have some mental preparation.

Till then, all the best and PEACE OUT!

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