I’ve been anxiously awaiting a new Linkin Park album for quite some time. While Reanimation and Meteora were pretty good in their own right, they were nowhere near as good as the original Hybrid Theory. “One Step Closer” is probably the best Linkin Park song ever recorded and it was also their first.

Although it wasn’t named as such at the time, Minutes to Midnight was originally scheduled for release in mid-2006. And then it got bumped to the fall. And then they told us that it would hit shelves in “early 2007.” Only now do we finally get an official release date. Linkin Park’s return to the record store is now scheduled for May 15th. Rock on!

While I was waiting for this new album from Linkin Park, I dabbled in a few other rock-alternative bands like Three Days Grace. They’re good, but not Linkin Park good. When Chester Bennington opens it up and screams into the mic, it’s electric. And Minutes to Midnight is no exception.

The current single — What I’ve Done — can be viewed on YouTube and it shows the effects of war on poverty-ridden countries, with clearly some sort of anti-war sentiment directed at Dubya and the rest of the US Administration. In fact, that’s where “Minutes to Midnight” came from: it is a reference to a Doomsday Clock.

I had a chance to listen to a few other songs on the album and they are equally good, equally powerful. “Bleed It Out” starts out slow like most other Linkin Park songs, but as soon as you get to the chorus, the explosive energy comes bursting out. This is classic LP style and is exactly what I want to hear on their new album. “The Little Things Give You Away” is high energy throughout and easily gets you to bob your head to music.

So stoked… I can’t wait until May 15th to give the entire record a fair run-through. Looks like good stuff.

Track Listing:
1. “Wake”
2. “Given Up”
3. “Leave Out All the Rest”
4. “Bleed It Out”
5. “Shadow of the Day”
6. “What I’ve Done”
7. “Hands Held High”
8. “No More Sorrow”
9. “Valentine’s Day”
10. “In Between”
11. “In Pieces”
12. “The Little Things Give You Away”