Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns

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The album opens with an intro track called The Requiem. This is a perfect way to introduce the album. It’s fairly creepy and haunting. It’s actually something that could get you excited for the rest of the album. The next track is called The Radiance. The track is awful. It is completely unnecessary, and serves no purpose to the album. All it feels like is a tacked on introduction. It doesn’t connect to the former track or the next track in any way. As a song, Burning in the Skies doesn’t work nearly as well as it should. Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington warp their voices to points that they just don’t feel recognizable. The instrumental buildup of the song is good, but the song has not aged well. By the time the 4 minutes of this song are up, it just falls apart. The next track is a 20 second interlude called Empty Spaces. This is a track that feels like it completely embodies this album as a whole. Much like The Radiance, you wouldn’t miss it if it were cut from the album completely. All it is is the sounds of gunshots and war. When They Come for Me is okay at best. Shinoda’s rapping is solid. The instruments start off well enough, but the sound has not aged well. As much as I loved Chester Bennington as a singer, he just doesn’t contribute to this song. Most of what he does is a chanting sound. When he does start singing lyrics, it is the same lyric over and over. Robot Boy is one of those tracks that until I had to listen to it again, I remembered nothing about. I listened to it again just before writing this review. I listened to the album in full a week ago. This isn’t the worst track on the album, but it’s not good either. It is completely forgettable. Jordana del Muerto is another interlude that feels like it doesn’t need to be there. I honestly thought it was just Robot Boy continuing (the most I actually remembered about that track). The problem is that doesn’t make it feel distinct or worth your time. Waiting for the End is the first legitimately good thing on the album since the intro. Chester and Mike feel like the Chester and Mike of the previous albums. The chorus is amazing. The instruments are really good. I really like the song’s slow build and softer feel. Blackout starts out by offering some promise. Then (and I hate to say this) Chester comes in, and sinks the whole song for. This song, to me, represents the worst of what Linkin Park’s attempt at blending their old style and their new style gave us. This song has aged horribly. The warping is atrocious. The instruments that started off all right devolved by the end of the song. On the other hand, Wretches and Kings feels like it was the best blend of the two styles on this album. The one knock I really have against this song is that doesn’t age well. The next track is called Wisdom, Justice and Love. The overall track is just a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. set to an instrumental backdrop. The thing just kind of gets distorted as the track goes on. I understand what they were trying to do, but I just don’t think the final result works nearly as well as it should have. Iridescent is one of those songs that fellow Linkin Park fans praise, but I never really connected with. Listening to it now, I think this is one of the few songs on the album that time has actually been kind to. It isn’t perfect by any means. I don’t the instruments do enough to really stand out. Mike and Chester both sing on the track. While I do feel Mike’s singing has improved, it still isn’t anything spectacular. The next track is called Fallout. I don’t really have anything to say about this song. It’s another awful interlude with intentionally robotic singing that I don’t care nearly enough about to remember five minutes from now. The next track is The Catalyst. This is the lead single off the album. What else can I say that hasn’t actually been said? This song is amazing. This is what this album should have been. It actually would’ve gotten me excited for this album. Yes, there is repetition, but it really works in terms of the breakdown that song wants to get across. The final track is called The Messenger. This feels more like an acoustic ballad where it sounds like a singer that I actually think is a good singer is intentionally singing poorly. Couple that with the tonal whiplash of going into this following The Catalyst, this album doesn’t so much end on a triumphant note as it does a limp one. Overall, I respect Linkin Park wanting to try something do. There were songs on this album that really showed that A Thousand Suns could have been a fantastic album. The sum of the parts just didn’t add up in the end unfortunately. This is the first time I really remember being disappointed in a project from a band that is a personal favorite.

2.3 / 5