Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory

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This is part of a new weekly thing I’m going to do called Music Monday. Basically, every Monday I am going to look at an album in depth. To start things off, I am going look over Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory. Papercut is the first track off of Hybrid Theory. The song is just incredible, with awesome instrumentation along the sounds of men losing their grips on reality brought to life through the great tag team of Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda. One Step Closer is just as good as Papercut, and still holds up. The anger that Chester Bennington brings is just as understandable as it is relatable, which isn’t always the easiest line to walk, but this song seems to do expertly. With You isn’t as good the first two tracks, but it is still an awesome song, with a spectacular chorus that, unfortunately is more memorable than the verses themselves, but that doesn’t take away from the song by any means. Points of Authority, to me, is Hybrid Theory’s most underrated song. When I first heard the album, this song was on constant repeat along with In the End, and makes for a great workout tune, and a personal favorite. Crawling seems to allude to feelings of pain that won’t go away, something that is relatable for several people. The song is really good, but doesn’t quite have the effect that Points of Authority and Papercut do. Runaway works well into the album’s overall themes of anger and loneliness. Dealing with a person who clearly wants to avoid confrontation, the song is driven home by an awesome and memorable chorus by Chester Bennington. Once again, Linkin Park shows how good they are with songs layered by levels of anger, loneliness, depression, and hints of hatred, and few songs on Hybrid Theory showcase that better than By Myself, which really comes off as a breakup song, but easily can be read as something deeper. In the End is a classic amongst Linkin Park fans for good reasons. This is most definitely the song I would recommend to potential fans, as I believe it is the song that most perfectly encapsulates Linkin Park’s musical talents, abilities, and lyrics and content. This is my absolute favorite Linkin Park song, for obvious reasons. Much like the rest of Hybrid Theory, A Place for My Head is a fantastic showcase for angry lyrics, backed up by amazing instrument work that give off a real head banging feel that few rock albums from the last fifteen years do. Forgotten is an ironically titled song because the chorus is actually very catchy and memorable. Various lyrics from the verses really shine through, and once again showing how good a tag team Bennington and Shinoda are. Cure for the Itch works a lot better in terms of the album than it really should. Its lyrics are very little, and the song is largely instrumental, which might actually be why I like the song as much as I do. The issue is it doesn’t have a huge replay factor, but it isn’t something I will ever skip when I want to listen. Pushing Me Away serves as a fantastic end for the Hybrid Theory album. The lyrics are completely relatable, and the beginning buildup from softer to harder instrumentation really helps drive the song home.

4.8 / 5