Linkin Park
Living Things

Premise and clarity: Linkin Park has never been a rock band in the classic sense of the term, nor will they ever be, the current "Living Things" is proof of that. But if for some, the more 'classic' ones, this should be seen as an aggravating factor, it's useless both to listen to the album and to read this review.

It is, therefore, amidst the many, too many remix and live albums, the fifth official album for the Californian band. After the intricate and discussed "A Thousand Suns" which led the band towards a more pop style, the return marked by "Living Things" sees the band partially resume the musical paths of the past: "it will sound like Hybrid Theory, but not with the guitars of Hybrid Theory" these are 'official' words as pointed out by Mike Shinoda, rapper and producer of the band, in a recent interview shortly before the album's release. Anticipated by the single "Burn It Down", a hook perhaps a bit too radio-friendly for the tastes of those who have always followed the band, but which as a whole in its mix of electronic pop and rock, satisfied everyone. The spirit with which this album should be listened to is one of trying to understand what can come out of merging the latest pop-oriented works with the beginnings that instead winked at the now-dying, partly due to them, Nu Metal movement.

The opening of "Lost In The Echo" with a base enriched by an almost Techno beat (it's right to say it) satisfies and intrigues, and what immediately becomes evident is that this time a more refined mixing work was done in which Joseph Hahn and Mike Shinoda's bases are more catchy and convincing, trying to contain Chester Bennington's always energetic vocal performance, who also this time seems well-prepared (even though today in the studio you can really do anything).

After a couple of tracks that feature a similar structure like "In My Remains" and the already mentioned "Burn It Down", the first track that seemingly appears alien to the album is "Lies Greed Misery" which turns out to be a bit predictable except for an ending where Bennington, as already in the track "Lost In The Echo" returns to juxtapose screams with sung verses, which should surprise since it was a trademark of only the Linkin Park of years past. The good "I’ll Be Gone" is perhaps one of the first purely alternative rock episodes in the band's career, while "Castle Of Glass" is the attempt, finally well succeeded (after several wasted chances) of rapper Mike Shinoda to prove his worth also as a singer, holding an entire song on his own, thus shedding the label of the hip-hop verse entertainer.

"Victimized" in its being synth and electronic is the first Linkin Park track that has something to do with Metal, in a clearly digitally marked version. It's a shame that its duration is less than 2 minutes, in my opinion, it could have been better worked on and with more determination, placing it as one of the key tracks of the album.

A second part of the album a bit downhill also dampens excitement over the assemblage work of genres not close to each other, tracks like "Skin To Bone" and "Until It Breaks" characterize themselves, at least on first listens, very little.

As in the first two albums, there's also an instrumental track as the penultimate song of the lineup, "Tinfoil" acts as a prelude to the good closing of "Powerless" which in its melancholic path revives a Bennington who had been off the scene for too many minutes (an error not to be made in an LP just over 37 minutes long).

Overall "Living Things" is an album that meets expectations, always overly pressing and heavy when talking about Linkin Park.

The media pressure indeed does nothing but pollute what revolves around the band: "The band's most powerful material since its megabit 2000 debut"; expressed thus by Rolling Stone, a magazine always ready to idolize even when there really is no need.

The invitation is to listen to this album as a sort of cross between something that can be up-to-date and something alternative if instead, you are attached to other and rightful concepts of rock, it is useless both to strive to listen and to condemn in advance.

To close, a note on the lyrics, the Bennington/Shinoda duo partly returns to the past, talking about personal sensations and leaving aside important themes like politics and religion dealt with in "A Thousand Suns", which all in all is neither too close nor too far from the current album.

A band between past and future, but whether one likes to admit it or not, a band that represents today one of the cornerstones of international pop-rock/alternative, or as the directly concerned love to assert, the consecration of 'hybrid' music.

Key tracks: "Lost In The Echo"; "I'll Be Gone"; "Victimized"; "Powerless".