Dead By Sunrise
Out Of Ashes

Dead By Sunrise is the name of Chester Bennington's side project, the vocalist of Linkin Park. To bring the songs of "Out of Ashes" to life, he enlisted his longtime friends Amir Derakh, Ryan Shuck, Elias Andra, and Brandon Belsky from Julien-K. The album contains a series of songs developed over the last three years, which Chaz deemed unsuitable for the rapcore and nu-metal (or more recently nu-pop) formula of Linkin Park. There was a risk that it would simply be a collection of b-sides meant for the masses. However, thanks to these excellent musicians, the result is a sound that is quite different from the "LP style".

The merit or flaw of this album is that it is extremely diverse. On one hand, Chester can demonstrate that he feels completely at ease in any kind of situation, but on the other hand, the band struggles to carve out its own musical identity. U2-like ballads ("Into You"), then space rock-flavored tracks ("Fire" recalls the spacey scenarios of Angels & Airwaves), and yet decidedly pop tracks ("Give Me Your Name") alternate without cohesion with pure rock n' roll songs like "Crawl Back In", "Inside Of Me", and "Condemned" that strongly resemble Velvet Revolver. In both cases, however, they achieve convincing results, which find their highest expression in "Let Down" and "My Suffering".

The first is a song already familiar to fans since 2005, when it was proposed during 'ReAct: Music & Relief' in a goosebump-inducing acoustic version. In the album, it appears in a heavier form, dense with electronic elements that nevertheless blend perfectly with the engaging and emotional atmosphere of the song. In "My Suffering", Elias hits hard on the drums, and Chester finally finds himself free to let loose his vocal cords to the fullest; it almost feels like the untameable beast of the good old days, the one that spat fire with the cry of ‘‘shut up when I'm talking to you!''.

The rest of the album is a pleasure to listen to until the end, thanks to Amir's synth, which fits well as soon as it finds some space, and also due to the great guitar work of Ryan Shuck, capable of unleashing overwhelming riffs and numerous exciting solos that are heard less and less in the modern rock world.

A promising debut album then, which highlights Bennington's talent and great versatility, proving that he possesses a unique voice with thousands of nuances.