Can it be midnight, now?

Linkin Park is not really a band known for quality music. But they are known for infectious melodies and ready-made rap interludes with electro-DJ-Rock as backing music. So what happens when they dump the nu-metal and run with super-producer Rick Rubin?

You'd think a great album. You'd be terrifically wrong.

So, what does the new Linkin Park sound like? I don't think they even know. Minutes To Midnight, their third album in the last 7 years, sounds like a badly put together mix CD of crappy bands. From one song teetering on the verge of turning into a Rob/White Zombie imitation band to the next which sounds like Nick Lachey turned rock (with even worse vocals) [that, or the horrible praise rock that is popular in Protestant circles]. In their last two efforts they had masterfully blended different genres to a polished, radio-friendly product. A fact that made them an interesting band to listen to. But that is exactly what is lacking.

My second concern with this album is the overwhelming amount of bad politics surrounding it. I think artists should stick to their trade. They should make meaningful music about their personal struggles, because I believe art can be a form of therapy. Linkin Park does not do this even marginally well. Artists like this influence the young populace in America. If they make a blatant statement about their stance on a certain political issue they should first spend some time studying how this country works and what the facts are about the issues they are writing about. I do not know the extent that this band has in studying international politics and United States policy but I doubt, because of their career, that they are in the position to address them. Minutes to Midnight is littered with references to the Iraq War and the disaster in New Orleans. No matter what partisan side Linkin Park falls under, they should keep politics out of their mostly-introverted music.

Third, the lyrics on this album have come from mediocre to terrible. In the song "Valentine's Day" the lyrics follow that of bad poetry written by a 15 year old on MySpace.

Shown here:

And the clouds above move closer

Looking so dissatisfied

And the ground below grew colder

As they put you down inside

But the heartless wind kept blowing, blowing

So now you're gone, and I was wrong

I never knew what it was like, to be alone

On a Valentine's Day!

The last line is repeated as a ready-made chorus with Linkin Park's signiture power chords playing under it. I was driving with my girlfriend when we were listening to this song for the first time and once the "chorus" hit we looked at each other and started laughing. Chester sings it with such passion and without any sense of irony that it is hard to take him seriously.

I am very unimpressed with this album. Linkin Park has begun to take themselves too seriously in an ineffective new sound. The new album title might be appropriate, not for the world (like they mean) but for the life of the band.

Download (Only if you must):
"What I've Done" and "The Little Things Give You Away"
-these are the best two tracks on the album, and "What I've Done" is the better of the two.