Linkin Park
A Thousand Suns

1:30 PM, finally another school day is over, back home and time for lunch. The TV keeps talking about nothing else, Kabul is now in flames, "what should we do, it's always the same Americans." I change the channel and "In The End" by Linkin Park is on Mtv, they seem like the refined cousins of Limp Bizkit, but I really like the track.

It's true, when you turn 18, time flies by, I was just talking about it with a friend yesterday, this hip hop fanatic doesn't even deny Jay-Z's records, including the latest 'pop oriented' collaborations, although I admit that his piece "Numb/Encore" with the Shinoda/Bennington duo isn't that bad.

Before going to work, I can't leave the house without spending a bit of time in front of the computer discussing this and that with friends and colleagues; in the end, we always talk about the usual things, and when I turn on web radio, it's always them, Linkin Park with "Leave Out All The Rest," by now Bennington's vocal cords aren't 'worn out' by screams like in the past, this is pop.

On July 23, 2010, I was in a famous nightclub in Rimini, and the guest was Gabry Ponte, now I’m sitting in front of the computer writing you these lines, and it can't help but come to mind because the first single by Linkin Park, "The Catalyst" from the latest effort " A Thousand Suns " seems mixed by the former Eiffel 65. This is the latest product from Linkin Park S.P.A., because the Los Angeles band is to be considered such, a company with its own capital, which has its fans and ruthless marketing as the necessary 'subsidies' for survival.
The ability with which the group (understood as a set of 'members', not musicians, let's be clear) manages not to compose anymore is something enthralling. To think that "The Catalyst," with its Synth Pop well inclined to techno remix, is among the most successful tracks on the record is surprising, it is said that the Japanese are good at copying, but Shinoda can't even do that anymore. The mistake the company made is that this time the product won't work! You can't sell trinkets pretending they are gold and silver if you don't even polish and take care of them. Tracks like " Burning In The Skies " have an elementary simplicity of composition, "Wretches And Kings" and "When They Come For Me" desperately try to distract the listener by directing them towards a dull hip hop badly mixed, while the new 'emo vein' (a terrible syllogism) of Chester Bennington in "Iridescent" and "The Messenger" is embarrassing, interludes like "Jornada Del Muerto" and "The Requiem" (the latter you hear the refrain of "The Catalyst," original I'd say) are useless. The highest levels are those of mediocrity, between the political 4 and the failing 5 of tracks like "Blackout" and the already mentioned "The Catalyst", so here is that the album cover, which in itself seems senseless and dead, acquires a true sense, that of a perfect representation of the album, an LP poor in ideas indeed, an album composed of 15 tracks, of which 9 are actually such and everything else is an unseasoned side, an album that I believe will be a failure announced at the start, an album that simply is not an album. Who will provide to heal the finances of this company that probably will not go as planned? Will Warner Bros abandon them as Interscope abandoned M. Manson, or is it the same Warner that is a slave to this money-sucking machine? Many questions that have little to do with a musical album surround the release of this "A Thousand Suns," the effect of 'a thousand suns' can hurt the head, they are a confirmation of this, with a brain devoid of ideas but with a pocket full. Do not contribute to all this (may Debaser forgive my negative advertising) but above all don't try to say the opposite of what I've said, firm stances and fanaticism when they turn into utopia, can be very, very dangerous because they are illusory, just like "A Thousand Suns."