By: James Southworth
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars
Linkin Park has never been the type of band to paint themselves into one style. That is something that I have always respected them for. It makes for a band that stays constantly interesting and unpredictable, even if it is at the expense of a sometimes excessively critical fan base that won't always like those changes. For me, I've honestly been able to get behind, to an extent, every album they've done. "A Thousand Suns" was certainly their most polarizing album with its huge change to an electronic/dubstep influenced sound. But even on their most crazy of changes, LP still had one important element at the center of all their releases: a rock genre backbone. That is what kept the albums feeling familiar, in addition to well-written lyrics, Chester's raspy vocals, and Mike's clever and fast-paced rapping. For their newest album "One More Light", the rock element is pretty much non-existent, and a lot of things that make Linkin Park who they are feel like they are gone.
There are some undeniably shining moments on this album that do feel like Linkin Park, even if not one song on here will have any real staying power compared to LP's other tracks. The best song far and away is "Talking to Myself", the only track where there is a somewhat prominent guitar riff. It's the most upbeat song and sounds fun as well. The pop elements combine well to create an effective pop/rock song. This track also has a pretty serious subject as it is from the subject of Chester's wife when Chester was going through some serious drug addiction. Chester paints some really good lyrics showing his wife's pain of feeling so alone when she was going through this: "The truth is, you turned into someone else/You keep running like the sky is falling/I can whisper, I can yell/But I know, yeah I know, yeah I know/I'm just talking to myself". "One More Light" is a truly touching anti-suicide message in which Chester points out how even though there are so many lights (a metaphor for lives) out there, he still cares if even one of them goes out. This song is by far the best ballad on the album, as it has a beautiful sounding acoustic guitar, and this is easily Bennington's best vocal performance on the whole album. Closing song "Sharp Edges" has a bit of a folk vibe to it that I enjoy, even if in the lyrical department it's a bit cliched. "Good Goodbye" is the only other song here to commend, as it's the one song where Mike raps, and he sounds great as ever. I also enjoyed Pusha T's verse, but I could've done without Stormzy's feature. The chorus is catchy and easy to sing along to, even if it is done a few too many times.
Unfortunately, the rest of this album just isn't all that great. Most songs on here are generic and pass by without any impact, which I never thought I would say about a Linkin Park song. Even at their worst, almost every LP song has left some sort of impression on me. There are two songs to talk about first which just make me angry. "Heavy" is by far the band's worst song to date, and it is still my least favorite song of the year. Absolutely everything about it shows what is wrong with top 40 radio right now. It has the most basic trap beat I've ever heard, and it still makes me cringe every time. Chester's vocals are unbelievably weak here, with his voice cracking in some places. He just doesn't sound natural on a track like this with no rock influences at all present. This song often doesn't feel like an LP song either, as Kiiara's vocal feature takes over way too much of the track, and she has no vocal charisma to hold up her part of the song. The lyrics of this song feel like they come right out of a middle school diary: "And I drive myself crazy/Thinking everything's about me/Yeah, I drive myself crazy/'Cause I can’t escape the gravity". The weighty subject of alcoholism this song has is totally brought down by awfully written lyrics that do it no justice. "Battle Symphony" feels like it's trying to be this important fight song, but it doesn't come close to establishing that feat. Nothing about this song is grand. It starts off with some annoying vocal effects that are a stupid trend present in so many other pop songs. Chester's vocals are utterly void of any emotion, especially in the chorus that is done way too many times and leaves no impact. This song feels like it's trying to build off the success of other LP songs such as "Castle of Glass" or "Shadow of the Day", but this song has no emotional heft to hold it up to those track's standards.
Those are the only two tracks on this album that make me legitimately angry; I just despise everything about them. There's just not a lot else to say about the rest of the tracks here. "Nobody Can Save Me" tries to be an inspirational song, but it just comes off cliched, as it is your run-of-the-mill song that tackles the theme of fighting your demons. Songs with this theme have become tiresome to me. It doesn't help this song either that it has no real bite to it in the musical department, and Chester's voice has hardly any variation at all. "Invisible" and "Sorry for Now" are both led by Mike Shinoda, whose singing voice isn't quite strong enough to entirely lead two tracks. I'll admit they're both touching as they are addressed to his children, but once again, the writing of both songs doesn't make them feel as powerful as they could be. It doesn't help "Sorry for Now" especially that it has this bad drop that once again has some annoying vocal effects, something that LP like to do way too much in this album. "Halfway Right" dedicates almost the whole song to repeating its chorus again and again, with very short verses that don't have much to say in way of discussing Chester's struggles with addiction. I commend Linkin Park for talking about such mature issues, but they've done it so much better in the past, even going so far back as "Breaking the Habit" off Meteora.
I was anticipating to hate this album based on the lead singles "Heavy" and "Battle Symphony", which are by far the worst tracks on the album. But instead, I ended up being just disappointed, which is probably just as bad in its own way. There are some commendable tracks on here, but with the exception of "Talking to Myself" and the title track, none of them really feel distinctive to the band's identity. The lyrics here are overall just generic (that's probably due to having 8 additional writers). The pop sound is about as bland as it can get. It's discouraging to only really hear Chester, Mike and Brad (sort of) making the only significant contributions to the overall sound. Everything else feels like it was put way in the background. It was odd to read so many interviews where the band thought this album was truly something revolutionary and interesting for them. For me, this album holds no real impact and with the exception of a few songs, I don't see myself returning back to it any time soon. This is easily Linkin Park's weakest release to date.
Favorite Songs: "Talking to Myself", "One More Light", "Sharp Edges"
Least Favorite Songs: "Heavy", "Battle Symphony", "Nobody Can Save Me", "Halfway Right", "Sorry for Now"
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