A Thousand Suns : An Album

I’m really happy I was born on 11 March 1993. There are several reasons behind that, but the one relevant to the post is this – it meant that I could be a part of the Linkin Park explosion. Now before you start flaming this post, let me explain. When I started with my music collection, it originally consisted of an abstract collection of songs which my brother borrowed from a friend. However, after a few years of listening to them, I decided to wing it.

I borrowed 2 CDs from Nikita, a good friend – Hybrid Theory and Meteora, and instantly fell in love with the sound. I remember, for several months (maybe even years?) I couldn’t listen to anything else. In short, I was a Linkin Park maniac. In retrospect, I realise that I liked the noise, the screaming, the angst-filled lyrics, the videos and the turntables – in brief.

But, I’ve now come to realise that as I grew, so did LP. After some time of Hybrid Theory and Meteora, I moved onto other subgenres of alternative. But somehow, Minutes to Midnight was released at a time, when I was getting tired of the stuff I was listening, and I liked it.

Similarly, A Thousand Suns has come out a time when I hit a wall with respect to my music collection. I wasn’t particularly interested in the stuff people were recommending. Then I realised that LP’s new album was out. Usually, whenever I review an album, I give a descriptive term alongside its name in the title of the post. This is exactly what I’ve done this time. A Thousand Suns is the name of the latest album by Linkin Park.

I give you freedom to look incredulously at this line, and then reread the last line paragraph. Go on.

What I mean is that A Thousand Suns is an album in the truest sense of the world. Although LP maintains certain vestiges of their old sound, the band as a whole has evolved from it’s Hybrid Theory days, in certain cases, almost unrecognisably so. The sound has changed – there are mellow lyrics, more melodies etc. This is the point that the entire fanbase has been divided upon – old LP v/s new LP. I for one, am completely open to new music, and find the new LP quite interesting.

LINKIN PARK – A THOUSAND SUNS

The album consists of 15 tracks, and 10 of them are songs. I’ll get to what I mean in just a moment. This is an album that was been very meticulously crafted, so that each song flows into the next. And I don’t mean a crossfade or anything, I actually mean that each song tries to pick up where the previous one left off. Because of this, the whole album sounds very much like one 47-minute long track. So, I’m going to review it as of such. No individual track ratings. Just one final album rating.

The album begins with an eerie, soft intro, that slowly builds up. It is called The Requiem, which means ‘a mass held to mourn the loss of lives’. The vocals certainly suggest so, that is, till the electro-synth voice kicks in. Invoking on God to save our souls – typical LP, as most would say. But listen on.

After this, you hear the voice of Robert Oppenheimer, the Father of the Atomic Bomb, speaking about his creation, in the track The Radiance. This is with an edgy beat in the background. He mentions the Bhagvad Gita. This is expected, as the name of the album – A Thousand Suns – itself borrows from the same scripture. The speech gives you the idea that this album is going to be one with a political statement.

Then we move onto the first song of the album – Burning In The Skies. It begins quiet, with some light piano, bassline and guitar to back some slow vocals. Then things pick up and get better, with some riffing in the middle. I like this song, simply because of the simplicity. It’s not overly done, as some LP songs tend to be. A nice rythm and melody carry the song from beginning to end. Chester Bennington does not scream in this song.

The song is followed by a small filler, with the sound of crickets, interrupted by bombs and gunfire. It sort of prepares you for what’s coming up – When They Come For Me. In a matter of seconds, some grungy guitar informs you about the intent of this segment of the album. Some ethnic percussion follows, followed by Mike Shinoda taking up the mike (sorry, it just came naturally). He’s back to rapping in this song – it seems that there is an unwritten rule about LP albums having at least one song with him rapping. What makes this one different is the fact that it’s along the lines of his other band – Fort Minor. This song is very much about him, like several songs by the other band. The chorus is bound to take you by surprise, because it sound like something straight out of a war movie on Iraq. Chester takes over for a while to lend some mellow vocals to this otherwise rough song. But I like the overall effect.

Robot Boy makes a return to a soothing style. The unique selling point of this song is that all the lyrics are sung by both Chester and Mike, at the same time. It’s a good song, overall, and receives a thumbs up from my side. I guess the only thing remotely robotic would be the roll of the vocals, which is quite interesting.

Some people would tend to classify Jordana del Muerto as a filler. I’m not one of them. I somehow love the sound of this short piece, as it slowly takes you higher and higher, with the pace and volume slowly building up, before suddenly fading away. And this is apt, because here are the lyrics:

持ち上げて
解き放して

Roughly translated, it means ‘Lift me up, let me go’. Keep that in mind… By the way, Jordana Del Muerto means “single day’s journey of the dead man” in Spanish. It’s a road in New Mexico, USA.

The song blends seamlessly into the next – Waiting For The End. When I heard the intro for this song, I was apprehensive. I thought it was going to be nothing short of a pop-cum-hip-hop fiasco with Mike at the spearhead. But then Chester kicked in with another set of soothing vocals. Rather clichéd lyrics, but the sound of the song more than makes up for it. It builds up a to a crescendo, with 2 voice tracks going at full belt at the same time.

And then it dies out abruptly to make way for Blackout. This is one of the only songs which harks back to the days of Hybrid Theory. Chester’s lyrics for the first part of this song are very powerful, delivered in the same style that he is famed for – by screaming his guts out. Again, the lyrics are reminiscent of the old LP. But then, in the second part of this song, the screaming disappears, making way for a set of different, albeit repetitive vocals.

Then, we hear the sound of Mario Savio, giving his famous “Bodies upon the gears speech”, which he delivered at UC Berkeley. This paves the way for another politically motivated song, with the throwback from Blackout carrying on for a while in Wretches And Kings. The name should make it fairly obvious. I’m certain that of all the songs in the album, only Blackout and Wretches And Kings will appeal to the diehard old LP fans.

Next, we hear the voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering his famous speech on 4 April 1967, at Riverside Church in New York City. His voice slowly gets more and more mechanical, till a robotic drone gets stuck on the last 4 words of the excerpt – Wisdom, Justice And Love.

After a soft piano beginning (yes, the album is filled with these), we get to hear Chester back to his mellowest. A slow number, somewhat along the lines of Burning In The Skies, but with different lyrics. This song, Iridescent,  one of the best segments of the album for me. It’s also got a chorus, in the true sense of the word – sounds like a church choir, but its probably just Mike with an audio editing program.

And then, we have the final filler in the album – Fallout, with a severely robotised version of Chester’s voice. Pay attention to the lyrics…

This is followed by perhaps the most awaited single in the album – The Catalyst. This song was released before the actual album was, and it received mixed reviews to be honest. And I won’t blame those who threw the rotten tomatoes. This song must be heard in context of the entire album. Listening to the song in isolation does not do it justice. If you listened to the fillers, you’ll find the lyrics coming together again – evidently, Linkin Park wanted this song to be the flagship of this album. The first part of this song is a power-packed performance, a perfect blend of the old LP and the new LP. Both parties should find something to enjoy about this song. But it’s the second part of the song that I like more. The Japanese lyrics come back, in English, and sound perfect to bring the album to a close.

Or so they would lead you to believe, because the album has one last trick to play. For the first time ever, Linkin Park have featured an all-acoustic song on one of their albums – The Messenger. It seems odd to hear Chester’s voice without the usual backing off distorted guitars. And in the absence of all this distraction, you can actually make out his voice. It’s not very good, to be honest, it breaks at higher registers, and grates when he screams. But that’s what somehow makes this song oddly beautiful. With a set of very emotional lyrics. But a good ending nevertheless.

And with that, the album draws to a close. If you have the album on full repeat, there shouldn’t be a continuity issue at all. I repeat, this album is only enjoyable if you have gapless playback. Additionally, turn off shuffle, because it causes a certain jarring when you skip songs.

The new LP sounds promising, and I hope they continue this way. I properly enjoyed the album, and give it a solid 4 on 5.