Minutes to Midnight

They've done well. The L.A. collective was one of the first to encapsulate the (albeit annoying) "nu-metal" tag. Combining hip-hop, sheet-metal hard riffs, pounding beats, and an always inspiring electro-backing, was a strong mix that had rarely been done before, and even more rarely done as well since. 'Hybrid Theory' was the trailblazing debut, and 'Meteora' an equally strong ? though pleasingly different - follow up. But that was back in 2003, and a lot of riffs have passed under the bridge since then. In the interim for the band there have been big tours, health scares, and side projects, which have all combined to take Linkin Park off the boil.

Maybe it's being picky, but please people, can we get away from putting scratches on any CD to make it sound like vinyl? Get over it. Not interesting anymore, and to start an album with that needle-on-the-record effect is just rubbish now. As you can gather ? this one starts like that. But ignoring that redundancy the moody beginning which breaks into ripping chords is strong, even if it fizzles out without going anywhere. So "Given Up" is effectively the start, and it's where Linkin Park last left off. Big beats, released attitude, a lot of expletives, and what must be an incredibly sore throat at the end of it. So maybe the screamed "put me out of my f**king misery" line is the emotion after the supply of throat drops ran out.

So it is brute force to grab your attention, but where they have always shone is their dense diversity and ability to throw in a really good hook into the mayhem. "Leave Out All The Rest" has that naggingly good chorus and that mid-tempo beat with real latent power. It's still a few beats off their best, but only a few. They play with different rhythms on "Bleed It Out" ? which also has the biggest rap presence so far. Again, a good effort, but before it would have been consigned to a B-side. "Shadow Of the Day" is their "With Or Without You" moment, climbing and inspiring well.

The first real belter is "What I've Done". There's the tasty keyboard intro, the shotgun chords, odd sampled scratchings, and a majesty of power chords. The tracks to this point have been pointers to their possibilities, but finally that achievement is realised.

Their anti-war / anti-terrorism moment is the purer rap-driven "Hands Held High", but as with all moral protest songs, gesticulating from a higher moral ground has got to be perfectly positioned. This one nearly gets the message across, though could have had extra punch. The driven beats of "No More Sorrow" are much stronger, which also enhances the more venomous message.

Ah, but that's when the direction becomes listless again. "I never know what it was like to be alone on a Valentines Day" is too dreary an emotion for Chester Co. They should be past the lovesick teenager stage by now, and even though the sturdy production and complex melodies try really hard, it is still a phase they should have passed beyond years ago. "In Between" is more engaging and really quite nice. Woah, "nice"? Linkin Park should never be nice. A brilliant drum pattern on "In Pieces" gives it a much edgier feel, but oh dear, a tale of love gone wrong doesn't suit them either. Even Bennington sounds like his heart's not in his trademark guttural vocals.

So by the time that "The Little Things Give You Away" comes around, you wonder when the real album is about to start. Apart from 2 or 3 stonkers, the rest are also-rans. Expectations are a dangerous thing after 2 top-notch albums and a long break before this one. They've not grown old since then, but they have grown ordinary ? and that's never been in their songbook before. Sure there's still the backbone of what made their debut so blazing, but it's more limp.

Neil Chase
Music Editor
May 2007