Linkin Park Album Review: Minutes To Midnight
Hello. Welcome. This is LightningBlade and this is my review for the album Minutes to Midnight. Enjoy!Minutes to Midnight may not be hard-rocking or it may not have reached near perfection as albums like Hybrid Theory or Meteora but Linkin Park has demonstrated that they can handle newer styles with good talent. The album may have a few not-so-great tracks but overall, its another good Linkin Park album. The band moved from their classic rap-rock style to a new, appealing and fresh sound. I’ll admit that I was one of those people who didn’t like Linkin Park after the release of Minutes to Midnight. The highlights of the album are evidently ‘What I’ve Done’, ‘The Little Things You Give Away’ and ‘Shadow of the Day’. Here's my song by song review:
What I've Done: As I mentioned before, What I’ve Done is one of the main highlights of the album. The track is medium paced and is pleasant to hear. The intro of the song is wonderful and equally amazing to those hit songs of their previous albums. Chester’s voice in this album is angelic and the song conveys the theme of guilt and sorrow. Its probably the best song on the album.
Leave Out All The Rest: This is one of those songs where Chester sings angelically. His vocals are slow-paced and beautiful. And just like What I’ve Done, this track is a pleasant one and med-paced. The chorus is good and overall, this song may not be memorable but Chester’s performance is good.
No More Sorrow: Other than Given Up, No More Sorrow is the only other hard-rock song on the album and the song is great for me. The song has an incredible trash sound to it. The song is enjoyable and its more punk-influenced. The song is catchy and its exciting. The guitars are well played.
Given Up: Given Up is one of those two hard rock songs in this album and I was attracted to it than any of the track perhaps because of my love for hard rock. The signature 17 second scream by Chester is jaw dropping and fabulous. The f words are used by Linkin Park for the first time in this song. The song is ultimately furious and more punk-inspired. Overall, the song is enjoyable and its a favorite for those who love the hard-rock aspect of Linkin Park.
Shadow Of The Day: SOTD is another soft song on the album with a pleasant chorus by Chester. This song clearly shows that Linkin Park can handle the soft sides of music as well. The bass playing is good in this song and the electronic drums are played well. And so, Shadow of the Day is an above-average track on the album.
In Pieces: This song is one of those successful tracks on the album. Chester’s beautiful singing again led this song to success. The song is slow-paced but it manages to catch the attention of the listener and has been called ‘a very gripping track’.
Bleed It Out: This song is an average track and still likeable. This song is one of those two songs that features Mike’s rap. Its appears as if Mike only got to display his rap in the most unrecognized songs of this album and that’s disappointing. I’d really love to hear Mike’s rap but the lyrics he rapped in this song aren’t very meaningful. The track is mediocre. But overall, the rapping was furious and the chorus is good.
Valentine's Day: The song is med-paced and Chester sings it well. The song is rather introspective in nature. The song is gentle and good. It might not have been catchy nor great but its a pretty decent track and overall, its good.
Hands Held High: This is the only other song that features Mike’s rapping. The verses that he raps are good and great where he says things like “When the rich waged war, its the poor who died”. The melodic ending to the song is good. Overall, this song isn’t very catchy as fans and die-hard fans of Linkin Park would expect and again, both the songs that Mike got to rap for didn’t get any highlight and that’s disappointing.
The Little Things You Give Away: This track happens to a thought provoking song. A review on the band’s album says that the band coolly torpedoes George W. Bush's petty, disastrous arrogance on Iraq and New Orleans (for starters), building from acoustic strum and soft-shoe electronics to magisterial Seventies-arena guitar and lacerating disgust. "All you've ever wanted was someone to truly look up to you," Chester Bennington sings. "And six feet underwater/I do."
In Between: The song features Mike ‘s singing and its clearly shows how melodic his voice is. The song sadly didn’t achieve much success and sounds more industrial. The music sounds dull but still Mike got a chance to sing and that’s the best part. The unequal treatment of the band’s singers might’ve also been one of the reasons why the album wasn’t one of Linkin Park’s greatest.
So that's it. The songs weren't arranged in order but according to my favorites. Thank you for reading the review. Peace out.