A Thousand Suns

I decided to revisit this review because it was inherently unfair. Over the years this has become one of the standout albums of LPs career but maybe I wasn't listening enough to appreciate it then. The maturity and confidence that infuses this album isn't immediately obvious but once it's played enough the whole thing comes together gloriously. I am leaving my old review below because old dogs can learn new tricks ------------------------------------------- 3 stars, not because it deserved it but because I couldn't do 2.5. The extra half a star was in hope that this is merely a pit stop on what has been a great musical journey so far. I tried hard to like this, I really did. I have listened to it 3 or 4 times from start to finish but I just connect to this or even connect it to the Linkin Park I have enjoyed so many times. It is said that the musicians are on a journey which they take us on with their music. I can only hope that this is a cul de sac and LP manage to find the batteries for their GPS. Don't get me wrong, there are flashes of brilliance in this album with stand out rap performances by Shinoda and great vocals by Bennington, but this doesn't come together in the same powerful way that it has on all previous excursions. Much of this seems to be introspective, politicized, turgid and sample ridden. It's as if there was a moratorium on guitars as well with Phoenix's trademark sound all but completely absent. It is brave of artists to do something different, to try out a sound and see if it works. But this doesn't sound like a brave new direction. There is nothing bold or progressive about it. For that you have to listen to all previous albums. I hope that whatever helped persuade them to make this album is now out of their system and that we shall hear LP return with the energy and originality that they have always been previously associated with.

Hybrid Theory is the obvious high point - and for good reason I need not go into here - but Meteora and Minutes... sagged like a hammock full of smashed bananas. I got a hold of ATS a couple of years ago with the half-arsed idea of having something easy to listen to while I played Mass Effect 2. That didn't really work out, and I walked away from the situation feeling a little miffed; after all, LP are good for drop D, cranking it up to 11, etc... From the second listen onward, everything clicked. I could go into detail about how much I love it when bands stop singing about depression and girls for a minute to try something actively interesting that delves into ideas and concepts, or how much I love it when a band releases an album that isn't readily suitable for download track by track (almost as if they hadn't released an album at all, but a collection of songs designed for commercial release...) but I will talk about the feeling of incredible satisfaction got from listening to output from a band releasing their fourth album and discovering it is in fact the most adventurous and positive album from them yet. Few bands release a fourth album that's any better than stadium-rock fodder. For Linkin Park to produce this shows that the mainstream album is not yet dead! Blimey. If you listen to this once and wonder what on Earth these guys have been doing with their money, just sit down, stick it on again and actually make the effort. Not everything is designed for instant gratification. Kind of like tantrism.

I brought this album a while back as an MP3 download as I wasn't sure if I wanted it. Eventually after hearing all of the singles released (The Catalyst, Waiting For The End, Burning In The Skies and Iridescent) I decided to take the plunge. At first I wasn't keen on it as it didn't sound like their old music, but I was persistent and kept playing it on repeat and I've come to realise that I love it! Personally I think it's one of their best albums, I loved their other albums as at the time the songs were about stuff I was going through. Yes their sound has changed but it has matured and to me still sounds amazing, lyrically wise the songs are very interesting. There are some amazing lines featured in songs the one that stood out the most is in When They Come For Me (great song especially live) 'And I'm not a robot, I'm not a monkey, I will not dance even if the beats funky' I must admit at first I wasn't sure of some of the shorter songs, but listening to the album as a whole I grew to like them. As usual Mike's rapping is featured and Chester's voice sounds amazing. Plus the album sounds good through speakers and headphones :)Buy it you won't regret it, my only regret is not reviewing it sooner, I didn't realise it had so many negative reviews.

You have to hand it to these guys, make a million (or many more) churning out the same formulaic rap rock. Sure it was good, but did we really need to hear the same style album again and again? They were in danger of becoming like Oasis or Status Quo - same album - different cover. If you're are in it for the money thats fine, but Linkin Park are at least attempting to fight against the machine they created, and for that they should be congratulated. Sure, in places the stick to form with some convincing raps, but gone is the type of song they probably wrote in their sleep, you know, rap verse, sweetly sung chorus, a few riffs to underpin it and there you go, another million in the bank. Instead we have mood enhancing keyboard sweeps, dialogue, and more challenging rythms (do I hear Tribal drums in there?) In places its almost prog-rap, if there is such a genre. I can understand how this was puzzled/angered/dismayed their loyal fanbase who wanted another 'In the End' or 'Numb' but the band are fighting against becoming an almost parody of themselves. Inventive, sometimes challenging, sometimes filler but sometimes rivetting this album may be looked back at with real reverence - a real turning point in theie career.

A Thousand Suns is a great a album from LP. Some people might have said that the band has deviated from their original path but for me they have deviated to an awesome path and they did a great job to bring up a concept album. One should hear the songs from first track to the last coz each song is connected to the next or previous song. I can't pick a favorite song from this album as each song is beautiful. Amazon delivery is great as usual. Once you hear the songs from Audio CD, you will understand that clarity of the downloaded songs are nowhere near to this.

Perfect, niets op aan te merken!

... "Hybrid Theory" war besser. Punkt. Aber das war mir schon klar, bevor "A Thousand Suns" erschien. Und das lässt sich auch über jedes andere Album sagen, dass ich kenne. HT ist und bleibt mein ewiges #1-Album. Deshalb sage ich aber noch lange nicht, dass ATS schlecht ist. Es ist schlichtweg anders. Und das ist auch gut so! Linkin Park hätte sich nicht gut dabei getan, ihren alten, ursprünglichen Stil noch einmal aufzuwärmen. Herausgekommen wäre wahrscheinlich etwas, dass vielen Fans der ersten Stunde (zu denen ich mich dazu zähle!) vielleicht auf Anhieb besser gefallen hätte, aber im Nachhinein wäre es mit Sicherheit untergegangen im Vergleich zu den alten Alben. Ihren neuen Weg leiteten LP ja schon mit "Minutes To Midnight" ein, von dem ich nach wie vor behaupte, dass es das mit Abstand schlechteste ist, was LP je produziert hat. Die Lieder sind durchweg langweilig und einfallslos, zu Mainstream verkommen und sollen doch noch an den alten Sound erinnern. Dabei fehlt aber der Einfallsreichtum und die Einzigartigkeit, mit der sich LP sonst auszeichnete. Einzig und allein "Hands Held High" war ein Lichtblick auf dieser Scheibe. Da dies hier aber keine Rezension der alten Scheiben werden soll, komme ich nun zu meinen Eindrücken von ATS. Diese Vorworte zu den älteren Werken sollen nur klar machen, wie ich zu meiner folgenden Meinung kam... Ich habe ATS nun schon x-mal komplett durchgehört, seit ich es besitze. Anfangs hatte ich wirklich noch Angst, dass LP ihren Weg von MTM fortsetzen - das taten sie Gott sei Dank nicht! ATS ist zwar anders als der ursprüngliche Sound (als kleine Anmerkung: das ist das erste Werk von LP, dass in meiner iTunes-Musikbibliothek nicht unter "Nu Metal" aufgeführt ist, eher unter "Electronic Rock"), aber alles andere als Mainstream. Die Songs (und auch die vielen Zwischensequenzen) sind so arrangiert, dass es einen deutlich spürbaren "roten Faden" gibt, des sich durch das ganze Album zieht. Die Stimmung in den einzelnen Liedern wechselt dabei von ruhig zu frohlich, ernsthaft, aggressiv oder rebellisch hin und her, jedes hat seinen ganz eigenen Charme. Und wenn sie auch noch so unterschiedlich sind, so trägt doch jedes ganz klar die Handschrift von Linkin Park. Sei es zum Teil im sehr ausgefeilten Text, zum Teil aber auch in den kleinen, kaum hörbaren Beats oder Screatches. Als langjähriger LP-Fan finde ich es auch ganz witzig, wenn ab und an Text-Teile aus alten Liedern übernommen wurden (z.B. bei "When They Come For Me": '... forfeit the game...' wie bei "Points of Authority" ). Überaus positiv finde ich auch, dass Mike Shinoda wieder öfters Rap-Parts übernimmt und man generell mehr von Joe Hahn hört, ganz zu schweigen von Chester's Screams (leider nur in einem Lied), auch wenn es bei weitem nicht so viel ist wie früher... Ich sehe es zwar genauso, wie es die Band etliche Male betont hat, dass man das Album als ganzes nehmen muss, will aber an dieser Stelle doch noch ein paar Songs extra Erwähnen, meine Anspiel-Tipps, sozusagen: - When They Come For Me: erstes härteres Stück auf dem Album, eher raplastig (was mir persönlich sehr gut gefällt), hat auch irgendwie orientalische Einflüsse, gefällt mir mit jedem Hören besser -> 10/10 - Blackout: hier darf Chester endlich wieder schreien! Wechselt innerhalb des Liedes die Stimmung einige Male, sehr interessantes Lied -> 10/10 - Wretches And Kings: das Lied, das sich am meisten am alten Sound orientiert, harter Sound, ein rappender Mike, und ein Traum von einem Refrain, gebrüllt von Chester, dazu ein klasse Text. Dieser Song kann es ganz klar mit jedem HT-Track aufnehmen. Meiner Meinung nach das klare Highlight auf der CD (auch perfekt durch die vorherigen Tracks hingeführt) -> 15/10 ;-) - The Catalyst: die erste Single-Auskopplung, ziemlich ungewohnter Sound, gefällt mir aber erst richig gut, seitdem ich das ganze Album kenne. Passt unglaublich gut ins Gesammtbild und schließt einen inhaltlichen Rahmen zum Anfang des Albums -> 10/10 Als Fazit möchte ich sagen, dass das Album nicht viel mit vergangenen Zeiten zu tun hat, aber für sich alleine mit Sicherheit ein großes Werk ist. Ich kann die vielen Fans verstehen, die es noch vor Veröffentlichung in der Luft zerfetzt haben, aus Frustration darüber, dass der alte Sound wohl für immer weg ist. Aber ich finde, man sollte diese Entscheidung respektieren und dem Album eine Chance geben - bei mir hat es funktioniert!

come titolo non penso serva dire molto. seguo i Linkin park sin dagli esordi, amo la loro musica in ogni sua declinazione. il prodotto è fedele a quanto descritto nella scheda, tempi di consegna in linea con quanto comunicatomi (non era disponibile al momento dell'ordine). Purtroppo l'acquisto è capitato in concomitanza con la morte di Chester, pertanto i prezzi sono decollati pressochè all'istante su tutti i loro album in vendita. questa tra tutte è la cosa che non mi è paciuta. per il resto l'album merita, assoltamente

Not their best album, but even an okay Linkin Park album is a must for any heavy rock fan.