Linkin Park finally released their much much awaited and hyped album Minutes To Midnight, the single of which scorched the modern rock charts weeks ago.
You can preview all 12 tracks at Last.fm’s Linkin Park Minutes To Midnight page.
Here’s the official track list from their site (With my views on each) :
- 1. Wake (1:40)
An intro. Worst of all 3 Linkin Park albums. Though the instrumental is as great as always, being Linkin Park themselves at it, the vinyl scratching sound gets me, its bloody irritating. (2.5/5)
- 2. Given Up (3:10)
A hard track. Hard cause rest stuff is soft. This one could go a hit on music channels but it just isn’t a good deep song like old Linkin Park, its more like their unfathomably-popular One Step Closer kind of hard which makes no sense at all. A good track never the less, catchy in parts. (3/5)
- 3. Leave Out All The Rest (3:18)
The best song you’ll find on the album. This song is very very emotive and well sung by Chester, and rules the entire album. Its still different however, from all old Linkin Park stuff, cause its mostly slow and other things like that, but still, you would definitely like this one if you liked the mood of Numb, In The End, etc. (5/5) (My favorite)
- 4. Bleed It Out (2:54)
A very cool song. Catchy, fast and everything nice. It will give you a feel of Hybrid Theory and Meteora in parts and the addition of chorus to the song does add a great deal of energy to it too! (4.5/5)
- 5. Shadow Of The Day (4:50)
I had to check if I wasn’t accidentally playing “The Postal Service” for this one. The track has good music, nice emotions and I just love the way Chester manages to add so much to just the word “Sun”. Nice track to set on repeat IMO. (4/5)
- 6. What I’ve Done (3:25)
You’ve heard this single before and you’ve loved it or hated it. But this is the second best track on the album and yet another favorite of mine. It didn’t top the Modern Rock Charts for no reason at all. (5/5)
- 7. Hands Held High (3:53)
There are some pretty deep and emotive verses in this one, but though its a full rap song sung by Mike most of the part, it lacks the good old Hip-Hop tune which goes well with his rap. The music’s bad, the lyrics good. (3.5/5)
- 8. No More Sorrow (3:38)
You’ll definitely love the guitars in this one and the drums at the beginning. The song has a political feel to it, and its yet another song you can find yourself humming to, or screaming to in some cases. Again a nice track to keep on repeat. (4/5)
- 9. Valentine’s Day (3:15)
A slow, soft, poppy track that makes you sleep till the end where the loud chorus wakes you up and you go “Hey! This is nice .. but only in the end!”. This song could go good on radio and sorts but nothing that you’d like to repeatedly listen to. (3/5)
- 10. In Between (3:14)
Once you hear this, you figure if Linkin Park has a new singer. No. Its Mike Shinoda rapping singing. Yeah, singing. Slowly progressing track and the music just doesn’t fit with his mostly bad singing. He sure raps a lot better than he sings. But the song has a very good lyrical depth to it. (3.5/5)
- 11. In Pieces (3:37)
It sounded like “The Postal Service” again to me. This time I really had to wait for Chester to start his voice to confirm otherwise. But the song, though another slow style thats predominant on this album, has a good feeling to it and has a small guitar solo in near end which sounds really awesome. (4/5)
- 12. The Little Things Give You Away (6:23)
Mostly a guitar solo, this is a wonderful track except at the ending. Each part of the music will bring out a different emotion in you, which is what’s wonderful about this track. The bad part is, at the end, on headphones, Mike sings into one side of the headphone and Chester on the other. Simultaneously. Eeek, that’s a bad experience. (4/5)
Overall rating – (3.5/5)
Your rating: [ratings]
[Worth giving a try before you buy but for Linkin Park fans, it is a must isn't it?]
Nice review.. Well done!
Kalpik
15 May 07 at 2:22 pm
I too didn’t understand why WID dint top the charts
strange
a very nice song
anomit
15 May 07 at 6:39 pm
blooper!!
I think you meant it didn’t top the charts just like that. Realised after I checked out the charts history
anomit
15 May 07 at 8:08 pm
Am I the only one or should I say can anyone else confirm that upon playing this albumn into your Windows Media player, all of the track listings were incorrect. Some titles were completely different (for instance Wake was titled Stand up!) found it kind of odd.
I’m loving the album and that fact that it’s totally different than Hybrid or Metora. The one thing I didn’t like about LP’s music was the fact that you would have never been able to tell which tracks came from which album since it was all alike. This new sound is truly a sign of growth froma band that is determined to roll with the times. I don’t see it as a band selling out, I see it as a band growing with their fans. Thanks for the review.
Jessica
17 May 07 at 3:52 am
Yeah Windows Media Player tags them wrong as for now, so tag them manually.
@Kalpik – Thanks! My first review on music actually, guess its not good enough ..
@Anomit – I know. I hate sentences like that myself, but its cool
Harsh J
17 May 07 at 9:25 am
well done!!
the most perfect review of the album
exactly felt the same way about each and evry song
” leave out all the rest ” is truly the best!! for sure, rules the album!!
overall not as good as hybrid and meteora but shud aprreciate the effort made to be different coz they had become really predictable!!
i rate it the same as u bddy, 3.5/5, its perfect!!
LP rocks!!
ralph
17 May 07 at 2:36 pm
Nice album – this one has a few mind kind of songs. Its not all headbanding stuff that makes me go nuts.
The “Leave Out All The Rest” track is quite good and enjoyable. Liked “Valentine’s Day” too.
Pallab
18 May 07 at 1:13 pm
I will have to say ive been a huge fan of LP since it first came out and having a listen to the new album for the first time i had to double check to make sure i actually had the right album! Ive read all these reviews and to be honest i dont agree with many of them, sure there are one, maybe two songs that i could listen to occasionally without wanting to automatically skip it but overall i cant say i feel justified in buying their new album. This is just my personal opinion but if your a hardcore LP fan through and through then this should not be added to your favourites list.
Pyro
24 May 07 at 6:59 am
Eh…I like the old style linkin park…
robry
27 May 07 at 8:33 am
i agreee with palab. Its not like meteora and hybrid where its all scream (which i still love) but i also like some nice mellow songs. Minutes to midnight has both with no more sorrow and bleed it out and hands held high with shadow of the day. I like where mike sings in “In between” a change from his normal rapping. A perfect album
blakeyyboii
15 Oct 09 at 1:52 pm