Minutes to Midnight

One of my favorite albums to come out this decade from Linkin Park

I've been listening to everything since funky Rick James, to sweet but vindictive Taylor Swift. I have embraced Euro industrial and electronica, pop/neuvo-disco in American musik for the last few years. I have to say Linkin Park has been a life saver. I was taken in by Gaga, entranced by Nirvana, but the ones who touched my heart and brought me out of the darkness were Linkin Park. MTM is definitely the next chapter in their progression. How people can complain or doubt, I can understand. If you like/love a group and their albums, you hope the next will be a continuation of the former. But groups want to grow, experiment, evolve. They are getting older and have amazing new experiences that are represented in their music. MTM seems as good or better than Meteoria or Hybrid Theory the more I listen. Yes my initial reaction was along the lines of "uh, this isn't the same. Do I like it?" Geez, Chester obviously throws his heart soul and guts into everything when he's singing, whether rockin' or reflective ballading. I thought Mike's influence was lacking at first, but man he is there in bounds. I really think it was great for Mike to record with Fort Minor. Gave him opportunity to express himself and let go of what's deep inside. REANIMATION also allowed alternate expressions with guest rappers to add dimension to the emotion and expression of the songs. Then MTM. It's the expression of a maturing group. No, not every song needs a rap, as Chester soulfully expresses the immensity of feeling and throbbing of the heart in his lyrics. Then he explodes, and it just hits your soul like a tsumnami. Meanwhile Mike is throwing a heartful, killer rhyme from the heart out there. LP always has hope in the end of their songs. Yeah life is a killer and takes us for all we're worth, but we try to evolve from what we were to something useful and have hope for the future. I'm a pessimist or a realist, as you look at it, so I relate to the disappointment, fear, and lack of understanding in LP. This album just continues the feelings of rejection, fear, but hope of resilience and acceptance in a hard world. I think this is why LP still is relevant to their fans. So many artists lose their edge as they age and make big money, but LP seems to see the real people. MTM might be different than previous albums, but the more you listen, the more small touches or amazing lyricism shows through. Yeah, give it a chance through quite a few listenings. I don't think you pick it all up the first few times and have to make a judgment after familiarity as it surrounds you, before you can make a fair analysis. I think they still understand how it feels to be one of "us".

"Minutes to Midnight" is an ambitious mixture of the sound that made Linkin Park famous blended with some quieter mainstream pop sounds and serious comments on current events. In general, there is more singing, less rapping. The first track, "Wake", serves as an intro and reminds me of U2's intro to "Zooropa", which I always thought was just brilliant. The next 3 tracks sound pretty much like vintage Linkin Park, with the difference that Chester dominates 2 and 3, while 4 is mainly Mike's. Tracks 5 and 6 slow things down a little, showing more U2 influence, in the guitars, the strings and the harmonies. The next 2 tracks are overtly political. Track 7 is Mike's version of the state of the world, with a rather solemn backing, and track 8 is Chester's, very fierce hard rock; neither one is very optimistic lyrically, and I would say they both hit the nail on the head. "In Between" is a softer song about the difficulties of communication. The final track, "The Little Things Give You Away", undoubtedly is about the Hurricane Katrina disaster, with all that talk about water "...while the nation simply stares...", but I'm not sure exactly what their message is. However, as a Katrina survivor myself, the lyrics certainly hit home, and the track evolves musically into a beautiful power ballad (again, the U2 influence) which provides an appropriate cathartic effect to the song and to the CD as a whole. To be sure, some of Linkin Park's fan base will not welcome these stylistic changes. But as one who has bought the previous 2 albums and likes them both, my mind was open to the change, and I think the CD overall is an artistic success. It obviously succeeded commercially.

Purchased as a gift for my Grandson

140gm black vinyl. Cleaned and played, sounds really good, nothing to complain about.

The problem with this album is that there are die hard Linkin Park fans that will give 5 star reviews to anything they come out with and haters that will always give negative reviews. Before I say anything about this album, let me just say that I'm a huge fan of LP and have been following them ever since hybrid theory. I have nothing against rap-rock. But objectively, this album falls short of anything LP have done before. It's probably not as good as some of the 5 star reviews and really not deserving of the 1 star reviews. Probably a 3 and half ranking really, It's just an ok album. Good points: 1) Brad Delson's guitar playing has always been one of the weak points for LP. In this album he takes it up a notch and plays more than the layered chords he is known for. 2) Listen to meteora and you wonder whether or not they have a bass player at all but in this album we can actually hear pheonix's bass 3) Chester shows off his melodic side and proves that he could do more than scream. 4) Mike can sing. 5) They took a risk and tried something new instead of creating a Hybrid Theory Part III. Bad points: 1) Wake????? In terms of instrumentals, this is no cure for the itch or session. It doesn't even compare to foreward from meteora which as an intro was just brilliant. 2) Was the swearing really necessary? ie. "put me of of my f***ing misery" adds nothing to the song. It's just pure songwriting laziness. 3) Emo-ish at times. Just way too many sentimental ballads for my taste 4) Mike raps in only 2 songs. I miss the interplay between Mike and Chester that made the Linkin Park sound so unique. Just listen to Points of Authority and compare it to this album and tell me that this dynamic between the two frontmen is not sorely lacking. 5) Doesn't flow as well song to song as their other albums. The Little Things Give You Away is a standout track, probably one of their best songs musically. Bleed it Out and What I've done are also great tracks. I still love LP. I saw them in concert this summer and they are still energetic and wonderful live. They're probably one of the most underrated bands out there, with too much negative manufactured boy band/nu metal connotations that doesn't really describe how talented they are. But that said... my opinion about this album is that it's not great and I'm sticking with it. You can agree or disagree but don't give me negative comments or say that my review is not helpful because I didn't give them more credit than they deserve on this one.

Excellent CD Fast shipping Thank you Cheers!

Such a great album and we spun the vinyl the day it arrived

Perfect

Produit arrivé en très bon état ! Rien à redire !

Another fantastic album. Always great to hold a real disk in your hand that you can keep regardless of digital licencing.

This one of my favourite albums