It's good to be writing on Ciao again. All my old friends don't write anymore though. Where are Ro...
It's good to be writing on Ciao again. All my old friends don't write anymore though. Where are Roberts, JoJammy and Matildas World?
Guess it's time to make new friends.
Member since:13.01.2002
Reviews:16
Members who trust:8
*In an nutshell*
A 13 track album from Rap/Metal band Linkin Park with enhanced CD featuring ‘The Art of Meteora’ (Documentary), a website toolkit and Exclusive Access to Web based Media.
*The package*
The box is made mostly of card. It has a fold down cover, which provides good protection to the CD. The cover also doubles as a place for storing the 40-page booklet that comes with the CD. The front cover shows notably dark images – as is the style of Linkin Park. It shows a youth spraying paint onto the ground while wearing a pair of headphones. The cover is in black and white and just looking at it puts you in the right mood. The booklet inside is a more than satisfactory companion to the album. It shows images of the band along with full lyrics. I always think it is a good sign when a band is proud enough of their lyrics to print them in full in their album. The back cover shows a full track list as above. It also features a description of the enhanced content on the disk including a documentary called the Art of Meteora (A making of documentary). As well as all the legal gobbledegook
about copyright etc, the back also features the website address for Linkin Park (linkinpark.com) and Warner Bros records (Warnerbrosrecords.com).
*The CD*
1. Foreword 2. Don’t stay 3. Somewhere I belong 4. Lying From You 5. Hit The Floor 6. Easier To Run 7. Faint 8. Figure.09 9. Breaking The Habit 10. From The Inside 11. Nobody’s Listening 12. Session 13. Numb
When I looked at the box I instantly looked at the track list. Song titles jumped out at me such as ‘Hit The Floor’, ‘Faint’ and ‘Numb’, which sounded like they would be quality rock songs with a heavy base line and Chester Bennington’s soaring voice at the forefront. I was quite excited as I put the CD in my CD player, plugged the earphones in and sat back to listen.
Track 1 is just an introduction to track 2. It features drumbeats about 10 seconds long before ‘Don’t Stay’ kicks in. Don’t stay has got to be one of the greatest opening tracks on any album in history. It has everything. It starts off with a spine tingling guitar assault which just makes you feel instantaneously awake before Chester mixes sentimental and soaring vocal techniques to remind us that he is one of the greatest rock singers around. Next comes the first single ‘Somewhere I belong’. A great example of the partnership between Mike Shinoda’s rapping style and Chester’s vocals and a reminder of just how important the two of them are to Linkin Park. Track 4 ‘Lying from You’ is without a doubt the greatest song they have ever produced. Chester takes his singing in a whole new direction and this song actually hits you in the soul. It is a song about emotion, as is much of this album. Track 5 ‘Hit The Floor’ is pretty much a standard song and doesn’t stand out in any way from the other songs on the album. When you get to track 6 ‘Easier To Run’, it becomes apparent that Linkin Park have made efforts to change their sound in some ways. This song is a lot more mellow than the other songs on the album and is different in that at one point you have Mike and Chester performing in unison when they utter the words ‘If I could change I would, take back the blame I would, retrace every wrong move that I made I would.’ It is a thoughtful, infecting song and really deserves to be a single. Track 7 ‘Faint’ is amazingly fast paced due to an error in the studio that is detailed in the booklet. They liked it though and decided to leave it as it was. It is a lot more up beat than most of the other songs on Meteora and Hybrid Theory. Track 8 ‘Figure.09’ is as song that seems destined to be a hit with the crowd at live concerts. It just makes you want to get to your feet. ‘Breaking the Habit’ took me by surprise when I first heard it. It is so different from the rest of the album that it too could be a single. ‘From The Inside’ sounds like it’s about a relationship and from the way Chester sings this song, you feel sure that he was involved in the writing. He seems to be able to sing with all of his heart and soul. Track 11 – ‘Nobody’s Listening’ is a bizarre break away for Linkin Park. It seems to have Indian pipe music mixed with guitar patterns and Mike’s rapping. The song is rescued by Chester coming in for the chorus. ‘Session’ is an instrumental song masterminded by Mike Shinoda. It is quite good and gives your ears a break from the pretty constant barrage of rap and rock. The final song ‘Numb’ sounds a bit like Linkin Park’s version of a pop song. It has quite a sing a long chorus and could too be a single.
*FINAL THOUGHT*
All in all I am pleased with this album. My only disappointment was that my computer couldn’t get the documentary on the enhanced disk to play. A small let down though – I definitely recommend this album to anyone who likes good music.
You can buy it in Woolworths (for those of us who live in the back of beyond!) for £13.99 or in any good record store.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Meteora, Linkin Park's second studio effort (not counting the 2002 remix ... more
albumReanimation), overflows with glossy production values and Big Rock oomph, fully embracing the pop instincts of theirHybrid Theorydebut. For many,Theorysounded inexcusably cor...
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