Mike Shinoda "Post Traumatic" Album Review

By: James Southworth
Rating: 4/5 Stars

There were so many heart wrenching losses of well-known people in the music world last year. One of the most significant was Chester Bennington, lead singer of Linkin Park, one of my top 10 favorite bands ever. Chester passed away by suicide. This loss was pretty heavy, especially in light of an album that seemed to be thematically all about Chester moving on from his dark past. It's not surprising that one of the people affected the hardest by this was Mike Shinoda, co-vocalist of LP as well as Chester's closest friend. In fact, they were more like brothers. With everything being so uncertain, I was wondering what Shinoda would do next. I felt for him immensely in having to deal with something so tough. What ended up happening is Shinoda releasing a masterpiece of a solo album entitled "Post Traumatic". I've been listening to this album fairly consistently, trying to make sure all my thoughts on this album came out accurately. This release tackles a powerful thematic arc: dealing with loss, as well as moving past it and trying to find release. It's also musically incredible, with almost every song on here being extremely well produced and well written.

In my opinion, it's fitting that the album begins on a hopeful and redemptive note, as that is the arc this release as a whole goes on. There are some undeniably dark moments throughout, but Mike needed to be honest about the dark places in order for the places of hope to come to fruition. "Place to Start" is quiet and meditative, with subtle yet effective electronics dominating the musical background. This song is only a little over 2 minutes, but Mike does a good job of establishing the main idea of the album in just a few concise lyrical bits: "Cause I'm tired of the fear that I can't control this/I'm tired of feeling like every next step's hopeless/I'm tired of being scared what I build might break apart/I don't want to know the end, all I want is a place to start". That's really what this album is about: Mike looking the hopelessness in his life dead in the eye, and moving past it to try to find a new way to live. This song already got me feeling a little emotional, and it was only the beginning. I actually cried the first time I heard the lead single "Over Again", which is still one of the best moments on this album. Mike lets out some uncomfortably raw sadness in this song, pouring out how hard it was to perform that live concert that was a tribute to Chester. I saw a good portion of that concert, and I could tell it was hard for the whole of Linkin Park to perform without Chester there. I wouldn't call this song an easy listen because of how brutal it is, but it's a necessary brutality. The chorus offers a simple but hard truth about the nature of losing someone: "Sometimes you don't say goodbye once/You say goodbye over and over and over again". The booming electronics give this song the intensity it deserves, with Shinoda viscerally spitting out the lyrics to the verses in a compelling fashion. I love this song, and the fact that it's not even my favorite on the album speaks volumes to the quality the rest of this release has to offer.

"Watching As I Fall" is a song that is very easy to sing along to, especially in its chorus. The song is still heart breaking, though, as Mike discusses how for the longest time it was so hard for him to be out in public, and he talks about how he distanced himself from everyone around him. This song, once again, is sort of like a therapy for Shinoda, him being honest about the steps he had to go through to overcome such a big change in his life. I feel bad for ever calling Mike's singing underwhelming in "One More Light", but maybe that's because the softer guitar tones didn't suit him. His singing voice works immensely well throughout this more electronic heavy album, and that definitely goes for this track. Yet another chilling track appears in "Nothing Makes Sense Anymore", which is probably the most harrowing portrayal lyrically of how broken Mike was inside after he lost Chester: "I’m a call without an answer/I’m a shadow in the dark/Trying to put it back together/As I watch it fall apart". If you can't tell already, I love the lyrical content this album has to offer. Shinoda proves himself to be a stellar writer throughout this release. The visual imagery this song has to offer is haunting. You would have to be hard pressed to not find something to like musically in this track, as it shifts from a brooding ballad to having some more intense, rock tinged moments in it. "About You" isn't one of my top favorites from the album, but I find it interesting in how Mike expresses his frustration about how every song he writes may unavoidably be about Chester in some way. I can understand his frustration on this; he's so intrinsically connected to this loss that he may never be able to remove it in his writing. I also found blackbear's feature in this song surprisingly good; he really works well in the track.

After the amazing instrumental "Brooding" (which sounds like it could be right at home on the LP release "Minutes to Midnight"), we get "Promises I Can't Keep", which is one of the several tracks on this album that sounds like it'd be right at home on a Linkin Park album. No one should be surprised by this, as the LP sound is a part of Mike just as much as something like Fort Minor is. I find the more LP-sounding tracks to be some of the best on this release, and it's awesome that so many of them appear in the second half of the album. This song in particular sounds like it would fit right at home on "A Thousand Suns", as Mike's vocals sound like his style from that album. This track has an interesting idea in that Shinoda discusses how the fear of the unknown often can make him unreliable as a person. This is the first indication on the album we get of a song not about Chester, and I think it's clever that Mike put this track pretty much directly after "About You". I love the combination of electronics and guitars in this track, and Mike's vocals are incredibly strong. "Crossing a Line" is perhaps the most hopeful and upbeat song on this album, as Shinoda discusses how he is going in a new place in his musical journey, and he is excited for the prospects it offers. This song ended up getting me emotional in a different way from "Over Now", as this song shows Mike actively pursuing happiness and choosing strength. The confidence this song exudes never comes across as arrogant, but instead is very heart warming. I love the vibe the musicality of this track gives off, especially in the criminally catchy chorus. We get another upbeat song after this one in "Ghosts" which uses ghosts as a metaphor for the unknown. The unknown is looked at as a positive in this track, as Mike states that we need to interact with things that are mysterious to us, and maybe even have fun figuring out things we don't understand. I think this track is fairly underrated as far as the album as a whole goes.

 "I.O.U." is straight up intense, with Mike practically screaming out the lyrics. He is delightfully venomous here and clearly having a fun time. I didn't really expect such a banger on this album, but we get it, and it's an absolute treat. This album's ending three tracks are all incredible, and give this album an emotional gut punch of an ending. "Running From My Shadow" is my favorite track on the album, as it has a lot of rock tendencies in it. This song has a really intense beat, and Mike's singing here is at its best. What might make me like this track more than anything, though, is that Mike's rapping style actually evokes his style from "Meteora", which I would have never expected at this point in his career. It put the biggest smile on my face. This song even has similar thematic ideas to that album as Shinoda discusses in detail about how he doesn't always face the darker parts of himself: "Light side’s got a dark side to it/Daytime flows into night like fluid/The yin and the yang with a curved line through it/And none of it’s illuminating why I do it". I found grandson's feature here pretty compelling as well, especially when he lets loose some pretty intense screams near the end of the track. Things slow down a bit with "World's On Fire", which is Mike's sweet dedication to his wife being there for him. And then there's "Can't Hear You Now", the third track on this album that made me emotional. There's not many albums that can do that to me. This song is dedicated to Chester, as Mike actually speaks in Chester's perspective, sort of accepting that he is gone and that Mike has to move on from this loss. This song musically works well, too, with the electronic soundscape giving this track the emotional heft it requires. This song may sound dark, but I think it's actually hopeful in a compelling way.

There's only one track on this album that doesn't work for me and that would be "Make It Up As I Go". I think it's more because I can't stand featured vocalist K. Flay. Shinoda sounds fine enough against the track, although I do think music-wise this track's production is a bit weaker in comparison to the rest of the album. "Post Traumatic" is an incredible achievement that I can't praise enough. Mike Shinoda lets loose all of his emotion about Chester Bennington's passing in honest, powerful, uncomfortable, and compelling ways. There was hardly a moment in this album's 16-track, 53-minute run time where I wasn't fully invested. What makes this album even more powerful is that Mike doesn't let Chester's passing entirely define him. He shows time and time again that he wants to continue to live and do the stuff he loves, because that is what Chester would have wanted. I love this album, and can't recommend it enough. It is one of the best explorations of dealing with loss I've ever seen. Don't miss out on this release, as not only is it one of Mike's best works, but it also has great potential to be my favorite album of the year.

Favorite Songs: "Running From My Shadow", "Nothing Makes Sense Anymore", "Over Again", "Promises I Can't Keep", "I.O.U."
Least Favorite Songs: "Make It Up As I Go", "Lift Off"