antiMusic.com: Linkin Park - Minutes To Midnight Review

Linkin Park - Minutes To Midnight Review
by Dan MacIntosh

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When Linkin Park demands, "Put me out of my misery," during its new Minutes to Midnight CD, the listener can well relate. (The listener, however, is dying to put out of Linkin Park's musical misery). This is, after all, a band that has made a name for itself by combining primal scream lyrics with rap/rock music. And lyrically, at least, this new CD is mostly more of the same.

Where it differs slightly from the band's past output is in its musical styles. "Given Up," from whence the aforementioned miserable cry is heard, is Chester Bennington in full screamo mode. In other words, this shout could have come from almost any album in the group's noisy back catalogue. But there are musical moments on this one that sound like a million other bands other than Linkin Park, which is a good thing.

One new aural wrinkle instance, "Shadow of the Day," is a bass-driven, quiet, U2-like track. It shares mood similarities with that Irish band's "With or without you." "Bleed It Out" is mostly rapped, although these words are spilled out over a jangle-y guitar part. One of the disc's only other rap-related tunes is "Hands Held High," an anti-war song where Mike Shinoda complains about "a kid my age dragged under a jeep." The song's chorus uniquely features a choir-like backing vocal. Musically, there are more quiet songs, like the string-sweetened "In Between" and the stripped-down-drummed "In Pieces," than there are lumbering hard rock blasters like "No More Sorrow."

CD notes include plenty of inside information into the making of this disc. For instance, the lyrics to "Shadow of the Day" are accompanied by the following explanation: "The keyboard loop in "Shadow of the Day" went through many different changes during the song's creation. Dozens of options were created on piano, acoustic guitar, marimba, xylophone, and even electric banjo before finally writing the reversed/edited keyboard version that appears here."

Minutes to Midnight would have been a far more enlightening CD if the band had written more outward-looking songs like "Hands Held High," and if the group had taken the same musically experimental approach of "Shadow of the Day" on more tracks. The band is so internally focused at times; the listener gets tired of hearing Linkin Park complain about its many dramas after a while. "I'll face myself/To cross out what I've become/Erase myself/And let go of what I've done," Bennington emotes during "What I've Done." Enough about yourself already!

U2's Bono is way too egocentric at times, but even he realizes there's a great big world outside himself. It sounds silly to try and throw your arms around the world. But that's a far better goal than merely spilling your guts out all the time, don't you think? Once Linkin Park begins to think and write like Bono, as well as sound like his band at times, this group's music might be taken seriously. And obviously, to be taken seriously is something Linkin Park sincerely desires.

CD Info and Links

Linkin Park - Minutes To Midnight
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