Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight

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Minutes to Midnight opens with a track called Wake. This is an instrumental track that has the perfect amount of build-up to try and get the listener ready for the album yet to come. It feels more fitting of being its own thing than Foreward did on Meteora. But, it doesn’t hold much connection for me. I think it’s okay as a buildup. It does its job well enough, but I wouldn’t start here if I chose to listen to the album.

Given Up is the song that feels like classic Linkin Park. It has that right level anger and intensity. Similar to the opening track, I think this song does its job good enough, but doesn’t warrant huge replay value from myself. The third track on the album, entitled Leave Out all the Rest is fantastic. The song has a very somber tone to it with Chester Bennington essentially telling his lover “don’t forget or resent me, but remember I was never perfect,” about when he’s gone. That song bleeds right into the track Bleed It Out. This is both one of the chosen singles for the album, and a personal favorite of mine. Mike and Chester work really well together. But, I also want to commend Brad Delson, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell, Joseph Hahn, and Rob Bourdon, as they really help make this song what it is. There’s something about the song Shadow of the Day that doesn’t quite click for me. I don’t know what it is. There isn’t anything inherently bad about this song. Everything on the track is solid, but I never really find myself coming back to it. I firmly believe What I’ve Done is the best song on the album. Like Shadow of the Day, everything just works. The difference for me is that I’ve always been drawn to this song when I’ve chosen to listen to the album. I always sing along whenever I’m listening.  Hands Held High is one of those songs that I feel starts off strong. This is primarily a hip-hop track, where rapper Mike Shinoda (and to a further extent, the band itself) gets a little more political than they have in the past. The last minute or so of the song leads into an issue I have with the song that I will talk about later. The next track is No More Sorrow, which dives right back into the anger and ferocity that Linkin Park is known for. At first, I thought this was just an angry break-up song, but listening the song with twenty-something ears makes me wonder if there’s actually more of a political leaning to this song. Valentine’s Day is another one of those songs that I don’t think is awful, but I honestly feel that it highlights the problems I have with Minutes to Midnight overall. It isn’t the worst thing ever, but it just doesn’t give me much of a connection. Nothing about the song really stands out, even though I know that’s not what was intended. The next track on the album is In Between. I’m not a huge fan of the song. I really think this is the album’s weakest track overall. I think it’s okay lyrically. This is the song I alluded to when talking about Hands Held High. Near the end of the song, he and Chester sing together. On this particular song, Mike sings the whole thing. I really think the song suffers because of it. I just don’t think the carries a tune very well here. In Pieces isn’t really anything special to me as a song. I’ve always liked the song just fine, and really like Chester’s voice on this track. I do think there’s a potential double meaning on this song. I can somewhat hear a political slant to this song. I also hear a potential break-up song behind this. The problem is that I think it feels a little too been-there done-that. The last track I am going to talk about is The Little Things Give You Away. For me, this song sends the album off with a whimper instead of a bang. Chester’s vocals are soft, really showcasing the singer’s range. But, the way this song is structured just makes it feel monotonous. It’s about six and a half minutes long, but listening to it, it feels double the length. Overall, the best way to describe Minutes to Midnight is “good enough.” It’s not awful, but it isn’t something I would personally recommend to someone trying to get into Linkin Park’s music.

3.5 / 5