Linkin Park
One More Light

February 16, 2017: Linkin Park releases "Heavy," in collaboration with R&B singer Kiiara, the first single from their upcoming album "One More Light," set to release on May 19th. The song was not well received by the band's fans, as it was judged too pop and far removed from the previous productions of the famous Californian sextet, leading fans to expect the worst, since, according to Mike Shinoda, "Heavy" symbolizes how the new album will sound, stating that Chester's screams and badass distorted electric guitars will be practically a distant memory. The first thing that caught my ear when listening to the song's chorus is that we are faced with something already heard (See You Again by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth, you know?), but this is a very personal observation. I listened to the album in its entirety a few days ago, freeing myself from any prejudice absorbed from reviews seen on specialized sites and on YouTube, with the possibility, perhaps, of reassessing it. What do I feel like saying then? Basically, neither praise nor blame, a neutral judgment even if with a slight tendency towards the negative, let me explain my reasons: if it weren't for the voices of Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda, the album would sound, from an instrumental point of view, quite anonymous and recycled, it's hard to believe they're the same ones from In The End, Numb, Breaking The Habit, One Step Closer, etc. (a thought that practically everyone would have had, even my cat); the rest of the band is practically sidelined, except for some guitar parts by Brad Delson placed here and there, just to show that he still exists. Sonically the album presents itself as a summary/recycling of pop/rock/electronic music from the 2010s, from the latest Coldplay, to The Script, Imagine Dragons, One Republic and Twenty One Pilots (in fact, this comparison was frequent with the latter), Ed Sheeran (an artist I really appreciate nonetheless) and I would also say with a pinch of Fabio Rovazzi (I'm referring to the robotic voice of "Sorry for Now" track no. 7 of the album, a cliché now found in the vast majority of dance productions of recent years). In essence, the songs do not express anything new other than claiming to draw inspiration from what preceded them, like the already mentioned "Heavy," "Battle Symphony," a cute piece in my opinion, even if instrumentally it reminds me of "Paradise" by Coldplay and "Sharp Edges," the only track where you can hear an acoustic guitar with a folk rock rhythm and cadence like Of Monsters and Men (remember Little Talks? Try listening to Dirty Paws). I admit that probably the comparisons I made are quite daring and forced, and you might apostrophize me with a "What the hell are you saying?", they are just personal considerations, so I can understand if you don't agree with me.
I didn't stop to do a track by track because I don't think there's much to analyze, although I would like to give credit to "Invisible," a piece sung (and not rapped, mind you!) by Mike Shinoda, consistent with the style of the album and quite catchy.
What is there to say in conclusion? No doubt that Linkin Park is a group that tends to do whatever the hell they want, which is obviously right, we would miss it, so I refrain from thinking that they sold out or that it's a way to grab new fans, as if they didn't already have enough as evidenced by the over 60 million records sold.
As mentioned at the beginning, objectively I do not judge this album a colossal disaster because I find it courageous to want to change and sometimes experiment with new sounds, and in today's music scene, now short of ideas, it is needed like air, but as I always say: "Change is not synonymous with improvement." Certainly, this softening of sound makes people frown, it’s more or less like hearing Metallica now caught up in senile dementia playing to Tiziano Ferro, just to exaggerate, but beware, the term "Pop" is not synonymous with "garbage," there are ways and ways to do it, but it is evident that our heroes were not inspired enough to be convincing, some tracks may also be catchy and beautiful, but at least personally they don't grab enough to push for a repeat listen in a loop.
A courageous choice also regarding the overall length of the album, which settles at 35:19 minutes, a tiny-ino-ino more than Rock Or Bust by AC/DC, in fact, the duration of 7 out of 10 tracks remains around 3 broken minutes that pass quite quickly, so it's also useful for spending a half-hour when there's nothing to do. The album will probably sell quite a bit, also because it is known that quality does not always go hand in hand with sales (example from our home, "Infinito" by Litfiba from 1999, is defined as their worst album, even though paradoxically it is their best-selling record with over a million copies); probably it will lead fans to reassess previous releases like "A Thousand Suns," not well received at the time of its release. It makes you wonder what their next move will be, will they continue down this path? Or will they backtrack and return to their roots? Only time will tell.