Minutes to Midnight

Linkin Park is something bigger than just rap metal

Late 90's and the beginning of a new century were very important years for the formation of today's mainstream. It was that very time when new standards in rock and metal music were established, nevertheless, these genres are not the only ones, in fact, hip hop or rather its modern pop incarnation also became prominent in that period. And it is worth admitting that Linkin Park has contributed a weighty share in this process. Along with such bands as Limp Bizkit and Korn they molded and popularized the sounding of rapcore. Of course, the bands mentioned here differ from each other but if we put the course of events on a big scale than the significance of this groups becomes incontestable. However, while rap metal has somehow grown smaller and obscure with the course of time, Linkin Park remained the same huge band. And there is a pretty objective explanation to it. This band was always something bigger than a mere combination of heaviness and rapping. More melodic, more rock harmonized and more pop. That's what made each of their albums so popular allover the world.

Linkin Park offer only best material

Linkin Park release studio albums not that often. Their recent one was issued in 2003. So, there is nothing astonishing about that fact that their new album Minutes To Midnight has already caused quite a stir. Speaking briefly this is a powerful, fresh and simply first class record. The band spent 14 months in studio and recorded more than one hundred demo versions. The album includes 12 best tracks picked from 17 best songs, which were selected from 150 rough compositions. Minutes To Midnight also gains a special weight because it was Rick Rubin himself – a person who is famous for his talent of making milestone albums, who took a place of the album's executive producer. Minutes To Midnight starts with a pretty intriguing intro, which fluently switches to the first song Given Up. This is probably the best heavy track on the entire album - speedy tempo, mighty guitars and aggressive departure from the general line in the middle. Bleed It Out sounds great, this is also a pretty powerful and fast track featuring anguished vocals but here you can find Mike Shinoda's trade mark recitative. The album's leading single is What I've Done. This song is represented with a softer sounding and reminds Linkin Park's radio/MTV hits. There is a fair amount of half balladry compositions, they all sound quite nice and heartfelt, the best track from this part is Leave Out All The Rest.

Linkin Park are trying to depart from their rapcore sound

Overall Minutes To Midnight notably differs from Linkin Park's former releases. First of all the band decided to depart from its rapcore sound, this task was mostly achieved at the expense of sensible reduction of rap driven portions and extension of rock music influence. Lets put it like this – Minutes To Midnight is not the heaviest Linkin Park's album but definitely the most melodic one. This opened new opportunities for Mike Shinoda as a singer in the direct sense of the word. Though he didn't forget about rapping either, those who like this part of Linkin Park's songs will definitely love track called Hands Held High. However, the best songs of the album were made in the Band's classic heavy manner: loud guitars, fast tempo and anguished vocals sustaining high notes in choruses. The number of such tracks here is big enough and actually many songs of different sort have these features any way. In fact, there are practically no lame compositions here, even if someone will find something disappointing in a certain song there always will be somebody else who will find attractive points on the same track. In a word, Minutes To Midnight is a worthy album indeed, which proceeds Linkin Park's triumphant procession over this planet.