I've been tweeting about how wonderful Linkin Park's new album is, and I think it is about time that I blog about their latest offering in the form of "A Thousand Suns."
I admit that when I first saw and heard their song "The Catalyst" it really made me think, this... is... Linkin... Park...? Many of us who loved the kind of music they brought about 10 years ago will find their latest album something very new and very different from the songs they started. I've even read comments from so-called fans about how disappointed they were and wished they stuck to the Hybrid Theory type of music. It is, after all, the best music that time.
However, "that time" is the operative phrase. That was 10 years ago. We related to those songs. During those times. Yes, 10 years ago, I dare say that Linkin Park's album was the best there was.
And now I dare say again, "A Thousand Suns" is the best album in our time now. The best in these times. The beat, the songs, the lyrics, probably even the bad itself has matured. The times now may have probably influenced their new direction. Sure, there is still this sense of "doom" but it's not just about screaming our hearts (and lungs and voices) out, but as the last song "The Messenger" tells us, the album, amid turbulence and seeming desperation and despair, is hoping for hope, hoping that things will turn out right. As it says, "WHEN LIFE LEAVES US BLIND, LOVE KEEPS US KIND." Very
human.
Gone are the days when it's just all about anger. There is wisdom. I don't know if I make sense but the album sounds
organic, earth-y, human. No matter how jaded people may be, there is an option to move forward, to go beyond. Be angry, be in despair. Yet you have to can decide to go beyond it and not just be stuck to it.
I also find it funny how others who have listened to the album say there are a lot of fillers and they felt robbed and all. Well, you will think that way if you try to appreciate it in a segmented kind of approach. However, once you open yourself to what the band is offering, you'll notice that the album is fluid, as if it's just one whole song with crescendos, crests, troughs, emphasis. That's why I mentioned earlier that I felt the album was very
organic. It grows. It makes you think and not just make you go with the flow blindly.
Oh, and I must be getting old, but I think the album too is easy on the ears. Like I said, 10 years ago, I loved singing all their songs in full-blast, not caring how doing this would affect my ears. There's some sort of humor too. I love the message "When They Come For Me" says. Grow up because we've grown. A few got offended, saying that it was an F*** Y** to people who wanted them to stick to their first music and that LP should show some respect. Well, I for one find it amusing. Maybe because I too got sick of those who keep on telling them to go back. Oh well, I love the beat.
Earth-y.
To Linkin Park, I say... Thank you for yet another great album. Thank you for moving forward.
PS:
I do not like the album simply because it is Linkin Park. I like it because of the album itself.
