Linkin Park - The Hunting Party (Album Review)
The Hunting Party is the 6th studio album from six piece nu-metal/ rap-rock outfit Linkin Park. The album was released June 13th in most countries and the 17th in the United States through Warner Bros. records.
Of the album, vocalist and guitarist Mike Shidona said; “we’re not 18 year old kids making a loud record, we’re 37 year old adults making a loud record. And what makes a 37 year old angry is different than what made us angry back in the day.” Linkin Park went a little bit of a different route with the recording and composition of the album as well; songs were written and composed in the studio, nothing was written before hand. Lead guitarist Brad Delson stated, “Something unintentional might be the coolest sound I make all day, and knowing how to allow those mistakes to happen and to shape them potentially make for some good music.”
There were three singles off the album; “Guilty All the Same” released March 7th, “Until It’s Gone” released May 6th and “Final Masquerade” released June 8th. The record starts off with the opening track “Keys to the Kingdom”, it’s really in your face, heavy, and sets the tone for the entire album. It seems as they’re going back to their heavier side with The Hunting Party, but in more of a hardcore/punk fashion, not like earlier albums (Hybrid Theory, Meteora). Everything finishes off and rounds out with the relatively mellow “A Line in the Sand”. There were two stand out tracks for me on this album; “Keys to the Kingdom” being the first. It’s rough, raw, and one of my favorite things about bands that head in the ‘punk’ direction. The second being “Wastelands”; the ‘start & stop’ guitar and the way that Shidona and Bennington’s voices compliment each other on this track is nothing short of phenomenal. All in all it’s great, must listen!
Rating: 4.5/5- Amazing album. I’m very happy to hear them going back to a more harder and edgy sound. For a while there, I’d lost faith (during the albums released basically long with the first two Transformers movies) and strayed away from them a little bit, and didn’t have high hopes for this album. However, I was wrong. The album is phenomenal, the fact Chester went from fronting STP to recording this is amazing and I’m just very pleased with the entire album. Except for the fact every local rock station plays “Guilty All the Same” every 10 minutes; it’s a great song, but cool your jets! If you haven’t picked up a copy of The Hunting Party, I highly suggest you do so! You won’t be disappointed. All in all it’s great, must listen!
THE HUNTING PARTY - Out Now: http://bit.ly/thp_lp
Download on iTunes: http://smarturl.it/thehuntingparty
Buy Tickets to the Carnivores Tour: www.Carnivorestour.com
