Linkin Park
Live In Texas

THE REVIEW

While catching fragments of conversations during the pauses of my mental wandering, a name reached my ears a few years ago: Linkin Park. I asked myself who they were, and quickly ran to my trusty dealer to get (s)old a dose of "new metal".

Inserting the compact disc into the player I wondered: "Will they finally bring a positive twist to this genre that has been stagnating lately?" The answer was as quick as it was predictable, and we all know it.

This Live In Texas is the last resort of a band that, after two albums the length of a short car ride (combined, mind you), has already run out of ideas. All the tracks start and end with fairly predictable riffs, the bassist (if there is one) is a semi-ghost, the drummer holds his own, the singer has a decent scream but dresses like Timberlake in the videos, and then there's a heavy imprint of Shinoda which is felt too much, as he insistently sneaks in here and there with rapped verses and electronic effects. In reality, there are some songs worth a half-listen, and in the end, this disc is an excellent summary of the two studio albums, where they demonstrate a fair knack for catchy choruses that invariably distinguish every track. The downfall of this group was the remix album and the one with Jay-Z, ridiculous and absolutely unfeasible for a group that even remotely defines itself as nu-metal, thanks to which they lost the gleam of musical coherence they had.

And soon the new album is slated to be released: if the result is similar to this... my God, save yourself!