Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight 2007   Warner Bros. Records Official Website Buy It Now

Has success ruined Linkin Park? I suppose that’s all a matter of opinion and fans have been waiting over three years for their next release. The break away success of Hybrid Theory was followed up by Meteora, an album that I’ll admit I disliked but after hearing it repeatedly thanks to my wife, it grew on me (that’s NEVER going to happen with Slipknot however, I still hate them.)

Minutes to Midnight marks the third release from Linkin Park, but has the wait been worth it? The band chose this time out to work with Rick Rubin, a legend in the industry and the name behind such acts as thrash metal pioneers Slayer, Danzig, The Beastie Boys, and even the forthcoming release from Metallica. Instead of the usual Linkin Park sound filled with layering of all sorts, Minutes to Midnight features a more stripped down sound, something that Rubin is famous for doing, and what many are calling a more “mature” sound.

While the previous two LP releases had a number of strong tracks, obvious by the amount of music videos released, Minutes to Midnight is a much tamer version of the band. All of the anger that was presently felt in Chester Bennington’s vocals seems to have been lost somewhere, much like has happened with Korn and their rise to success. Maybe it was Linkin Park and their association with Jay-Z that caused this, it’s all a mystery really. After a short instrumental, “Wake,” the CD seems to be leading up to something grand, but “Leave Out All the Rest” really is a somewhat bland song, save for the chorus, which feels more like it should be part of one of the many pop punk bands arsenal of tracks.

Many of the tracks however are mellow, almost too mellow for my taste. ‘Leave Out all the Rest” for example, which is another song which only shows any strength in the chorus, “Shadow of the Day” is yet another example of the new and sedated LP, a track which I could have sworn was left off the last U2 album.

“What I’ve Done,” the first single from the album, is really the only track on the disc which has any similarity to what you might think of as being the “classic” Linkin Park song, though having seen them perform it on Jimmy Kimmel Live a few weeks back, while it might sound good on Minutes to Midnight, it certainly lacks any punch live. “No More Sorrow” also comes close to the previous LP sound, though the heavily reverb guitar in the beginning really makes me want to track past it.

Mike Shinoda meanwhile does quite a bit less rapping on this album, but when he does, it’s almost sickening. Linkin Park has of course included this in the past, but it was tolerable, but the influences this time are almost too great for the sound that Linkin Park should have, and it sucks out any possible heaviness that you might expect to hear in the release. “Bleed It Out” and “Hands Held High,” perhaps the worst cut on the entire disc, really could have been left out. Another option would have been Mike simply sticking with his previous style of rapping, and while these are somewhat similar, it’s just the music and presentation that truly make them painful to listen to.

So, who’s to blame here? Is it the band, is it having let Rick Rubin get his hands on it? I can’t honestly answer that, but I can say without a doubt that Minutes to Midnight wasn’t worth the three year hiatus and there are going to be quite a few fans that are disappointed with this release. Linkin Park may as well just change their musical status from Nu Metal to Emo and get it over with since that seems to be the path they might be heading towards.

-mike-