I’ve been anxiously awaiting Linkin Park’s latest album — Minutes to Midnight — for quite some time. I remember the first time I heard “One Step Closer”, I could literally feel the anger and energy blast through my very being, and although purists will say that Linkin Park is too pop for rock/alternative, too white for rap, I say that they have found a fantastic blend between the two. There’s power, meaning, and head-bobbing all rolled up into one. I wouldn’t say that I had high hopes for Minutes to Midnight (which was released earlier this week), but I was fully expecting something good. My expectations were not exactly met, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Overall, I found that the feel of their latest album, several years in the making, was significantly different than what I’ve heard from Linkin Park in the past. Much like Prozzak, the music produced by Chester Bennington, Mike Shinoda, and the rest of the Linkin Park crew is considerably more mellow than the anger- and energy-infused tunes they once produced. I was hard pressed to find a track that got me to jump up and down the way that, say, “Crawling” did back in the day. Most of the tracks are more sing-songy or “poppish” than I expected. There were moments that still had the typical Linkin Park appeal, however, where the verses are quiet and slow, whereas the chorus is high-powered and fast.

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Let’s go through track by track.

  1. Wake: The opening track to Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight contains no lyrics whatsoever. It just has a strange melody initiated by the sound of a needle hitting a record. The out-of-this-world atmosphere made me think of one of their other albums, Meteora. A little suspense is built before the drums are hit and you’re eased into the rest of the record.
  2. Given Up: My second favorite track on the album is also the second track in sequential order. I heavily prefer these higher-energy songs over the more mellow and sing-songy quality of other songs. The pattern is typical of Linkin Park with subdued, suspense-building verses, paired with an explosive chorus. There’s also some rather obvious cursing here too, so parents might want to proceed with caution. “I’m my own worst enemy. I’ve given up.”
  3. Leave Out All the Rest: With this track, you don’t get Chester screaming into the mic. Instead, he actually sings like a contestant on American Idol, including the chorus. Although it’s not typical of their style, I still enjoyed this track. Maybe they’re going even more mainstream with this offering.
  4. Bleed It Out: White boy rap. The verses are okay, I guess, but I’m definitely not a fan of the chorus. There’s a distinct amateur feeling to this track, as if it were played at a high school prom, at a ghetto concert in a community center, or just a couple of guys hanging out in their parents’ garage.
  5. Shadow of the Day: Like Leave Out All the Rest, this is more of a “song” with singing than a yell-into-the-mic rock/alternative track. Somehow it takes me back to the mid-90s with Chris Isaak or something. Outdated and uninteresting.
  6. What I’ve Done: This is the first single released from Minutes to Midnight and it clearly has an anti-war, anti-Bush sentiment to it. It’s okay, I guess, but it’s way too slow for my tastes. You can check out the music video on YouTube.
  7. Hands Held High: It seems appropriate that this song comes after What I’ve Done, because it seems to have a similar feel to it. Again, too mellow and slow for my tastes, but at least they’re not singing.
  8. No More Sorrow: This is easily my favorite track on the new album, even though it takes them well over a minute before there are any lyrics. Lots of energy in this track and that’s why I was interested in Linkin Park in the first place. It’s not as good as “A Place For My Head” or “Pushing Me Away”, but I still enjoy it.
  9. Valentine’s Day: Slow and not particularly interesting. Easily forgettable.
  10. In Between: This is way too mellow for my tastes, especially considering that they’re singing the entire time. This is not the Linkin Park that I know and love. It’s like they grew up and out of rock-emo mode or something.
  11. In Pieces: The opening few bars give a lot of promise, but as soon as the vocals come in, this song no longer feels like Linkin Park and starts to sound like Prozzak. In Pieces keeps sounding like it’s building up for something, but that something never comes. No impact-filled chorus, no head-bobbing, nothing. The beginning of the chorus is even more taunting and tempting, because you can hear just a touch of raspy-ness in Chester’s voice, making you think that he’s about to break out into something special. But it never really happens.
  12. The Little Things Give You Away: The longest song on the album at about 6:24, this is also the closing track. It also encompasses nearly everything that the entire Minutes to Midnight album was all about… slow, mellow, and anti-war.

Yup, in typical Linkin Park fashion, Minutes to Midnight is only 12 tracks long, with most of the songs being well south of four minutes long. It’s a very short CD, and as such, I don’t know if I can recommend the purchase. There’s a couple of good songs, but Linkin Park is far from being as good as they were on their freshman album, Hybrid Theory. That’s too bad, because I really wanted to like this album. Nearly gone are the beautiful blend of Mike Shinoda’s rapping and Chester Bennington’s raspy screaming. In their place are songs that almost qualify as ballads. Not quite Norah Jones, but we’re getting close.