Music Review

04 July 2009 23:35 BST

Linkin Park: Minutes to Midnight

Warner Bros Records, released on May 14th.

In a nutshell…

Peter Pan does nu-metal

What's it all about?

The much-delayed Minutes to Midnight is Linkin Park's third album, coming four years after sophomore effort Meteora and seven since Grammy-award wining debut Hybrid Theory.

Containing the Californian band's latest single What I've Done, the 12-track album has been given a hip-hop lick not heard in their previous work, with more than a dash of punk thrown in too.

Lead singer Chester Bennington, who occasionally has the look of an emaciated Bono, says that Minutes to Midnight represents a year of "dedication, experimentation and soul-searching" for the six-strong group.

In the months ahead of its May 14th international release (a day later in Linkin Park's native US), the album was leaked on the internet, leading to the band's in-house rapper Mike Shinoda to plead with fans to, "at the very least", listen to the disc's songs in the right order.

Minutes to Midnight is also the first Linkin Park record to feature Shinoda singing lead vocals.

Who's it by?

Formed by high-school leavers Shinoda, Brad Delson (lead guitar) and Rob Bourdon (drums) more than a decade ago, Linkin Park's ranks and music swelled up with the addition of Bennington, Dave Farrell (bass) and Joe Hahn (turntables), leading to the release of debut album Hybrid Theory, which won the Grammy award for best rock album and has sold more than 15 million copies to date.

2003's Meteora did not approach the commercial or critical success of their nu-metal maiden CD, but did win plaudits for presenting a more mature and refined sound.

Minutes to Midnight sees the band move further away from their alt-rock origins with some of their most emo-led mainstream material yet.

As an example…

"Telling me to go/But hands beg me to stay/Your lips say that you love/Your eyes say that you hate.

"There's truth in your lies/Doubt in your faith/What you build you lay to waste/There's truth in your lies/Doubt in your faith/All I've got is what you didn't take." - In Pieces.

"I close both locks below the window/I close both blinds and turn away/Sometimes solutions aren't so simple/Sometimes goodbye's the only way.

"And the sun will set for you/The sun will set for you/And the shadow of the day/Will embrace the world in grey/And the sun will set for you." - The Shadow of the Day.

Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys?

The Grammy awards have been familiar territory for Linkin Park since the trailblazing success of Hybrid Theory, but a lack of progression in Minutes to Midnight means the band will probably miss out on the Grammys' half-century celebrations in 2008.

What the others say

"Maybe Rick Rubin, who helped produce, got the musicians to loosen up, but loose is relative with a band this fastidious. Instead of writing songs during jam sessions, the members typically share ideas by swapping hard drives… Even on this album, just about everything is tweaked to perfection, and there's always an infectious refrain around the corner (provided you can survive the often banal verses)." - New York Times.

"The California rap-rockers are stymied by their decision to stay roughly within the shrieky boundaries of their genre (albeit with less emphasis on the rap). This opens up new opportunities for rapper Mike Shinoda as a gruff, bellicose singer, but the sound still pivots on the interplay of walloping guitar chords and self-flagellating lyrics." - the Guardian.

So is it any good?

The unfortunate thing for Minutes to Midnight is that it is filed immediately after Meteora in my alphabetised media library, and a couple of tracks in I realised I would rather be listening to the latter's final track Numb.

From the bass-heavy resonance of opening instrumental Wake to the frankly Snow Patrol-sounding The Little Things you Give Away, it's obvious that Linkin Park were trying to do something very different with their third album.

Sadly though the experiment is largely a failure, with Shinoda-led shouty tracks Given Up, Bleed it Out and In Between a tired throwback to the band's earlier heights, as well as sitting uneasily next to the more melodic Bennington's harmonies. The main problem with Minutes to Midnight appears to be this lack of cohesion, despite the CD booklet's handy insets explaining what each song represents for the band (What I've Done apparently works on "many levels").

Linkin Park arrived in 2000 in the last flicker of the rap-rock flame led by Korn, Limp Bizkit et al, but seven years on their music seems a little bit lost, with their meaningless emo lyrics betraying the dearth of direction. So while British music has found a new voice through bands singing about irreverent and everyday actions, Linkin Park are still writing stuff like "A black winter took you away/From sight/Another darkness over day/That night/And the clouds move closer/Looking so dissatisfied/And the ground below grew colder/As they put you down inside/But the heartless wind kept blowing, blowing".

Admittedly it's not all a downer, Shadow of the Day and In Pieces are both very listenable tracks, but the album overall is missing the triumphant songs of In the End and Cure for the Itch of Hybrid Theory.

Nevertheless, Minutes to Midnight, is likely to leave Linkin Park fans feeling a little shortchanged, and new listeners probably more bemused than anything else.

5/10

Matthew Champion