Linkin Park and Dead by Sunrise complete discography review ( Work in Prgress)

Linkin Park

Hybrid Theory (HT) (2000) Meteora (M) (2003)

Genre: Nu Metal, Rap Metal, Alternative Metal

I mashed together both of these reviews because both albums sound pretty much alike, the band tried to capture lighting in a jar again and the pretty much used  many of the same Ideas on Hybrid and reused them Meteora, but I must say I do enjoy both albums they sound like one big double album. 

 So let's go with my review :

Vocals: Linkin Park has a 311 dynamic with one vocalist the raps, Mike Shinoda and a melodic singer Chester Bennington that adds a pretty intense screams in the Nu metal heavy parts, these guys work great  together, their interaction  adds a lot to the songs, but sadly on Meteora they copy a couple of things they did on Hybrid.  HT 10 M 8

Guitar: Brad Delson is as basic as they come, ok riffs in the choruses and  not doing much on the verses, just leaving room for Mr. Hahn.  

 Bass: On both albums the bass doesn't play much of a role in the songs, now the difference between productions  is that on  Meteora Phoenix the original bassist plays on that production, while on Hybrid Delson does the honors, I have no idea why Phoenix isn't on their first album.

 

Drums: Rob Bourbon does a ok job, being more hip hop than heavy, and he uses on both albums midi triggers on the drums to add to his sound (note it probably Mr. Hahn at work here). 

Keys and Turntables : Mr. Hahn DJ work makes this band stand apart, he brings a lot to the songs, not only adorning them , he does some cool stuff even though it difficult to separate what he does, from production tricks. It also interesting to hear how the band brings back key boards by the hand of Mike Shinoda, they had disappeared in band during the 90's   HT/ M 7

Melody and/or Structure: Melodically this band is very interesting they know how to write good songs  that are memorable  and have a pop sensitivity without sacrificing substance, on a structure level the song have a new metal basic structure  Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus Angry part, Chorus, they are predictable in this aspect. HT /M 10

Sound, Production and Feeling: Don Gilmore's production is good, he seems to work off Hahn's samples  and Shinoda's keys to make the songs chuck full of interesting details, both album sound alike, they can get heavy but never forbidding, and very alternative radio friendly  HT/M 10

Songs: Both album  are short but sweet, with a good batch of hit singles.  HT 12 M 13

The Bad: Metoera has no artistic progression from Hybrid the play it real safe on this album copying stuff from their previous efforts to make sure the land a hit. M -1

Originality:  These guys with Limp Bizkit break Nu Metal into the mainstream and are able to appeal to a very large base of new fans, drawing new people to listen Nu Metal and Alternative Metal, so they deserve some merit to this.  HT 10 M8

Overall: HT 59 M 55

Linkin Park

Reanimation

Genre: Nu Metal, Rap Metal, Hip Hop, Electronic

This is a remix album with songs from Hybrid Theory and surprisingly it's really good, and maybe better that the original, this is something that I've only seen once with another band,  Nine Inch Nails,  where I anticipate their remix album almost as much as the studio albums. It isn't as cookie cutter Nu Metal as Hybrid they  actually rework some of the songs letting them stretch their legs, the songs have matured with time and grown, there is a strong Hip Hop element to this production with a long list of guest rappers that I have no idea who they, are but they kill it. Also there are a couple of Nu Metal guests like  Jonathan Davis from Korn, the Aaron Lewis from Staind and even the Dude from Taproot, making some interesting addictions to the songs. 

Overall: 62 

Linkin Park

Minutes to Midnight

Genre: Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal, Rap Metal

Moving away from the Nu Metal sound the band tries to experiment with its sound and style,  trying to scale back the samples and keys and having a less of a hip hop presence. But sadly they mostly fail  the band alone with less Hahn and Shinoda can't hold up the album the writing is pretty mediocre, Chester gets overly melodic and starts to drag the production with overly radio-friendly ballads. When Shinoda raps thing really picks up, the energy  level spikes and a couple of experimental ideas do work it isn't all bad. It one of the few Rick Rubin production  that I don't like the mix is terrible.

Overall: 49

 

 

 

Dead by Sunrise

Out of the Ashes (2009)

Genre: Alternative Rock, Hard Rock

All that I can say about this band that has to ex Orgy members Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck teaming up with Chester from Linkin Park, is that it sucks, totally boring and the album goes nowhere.

Overall: 38

Linkin Park

Little Things (2012)

Genre: Alternative Rock/Pop, Pop Metal, Alt Hip Hop

Vocals and Lyrics: Mike and Chester do a good job; they are the driving force in the band. 7

Instrumentation: The band is almost totally lost among the drum machines, synthesizers and samples. 6.5        

 

Melody and/or Structure: It has a couple colossal sing along choruses with simple melodies is what keeps this Album afloat. 8

Sound, Production and Feeling: Production almost replaces the band. 10

Songs: It’s weird, to many songs sound the same; they do not differentiate themselves to well.

Except for Victimize that kick ass.8

The Bad: The singles to the album sound very similar. -1

                                                                                                     

Originality: Album is more focused compared to “A Thousand Suns”, there are more songs not just concepts. 7  

Overall: 45.5

Linkin Park  

One More Light (2017)

Genre: Pop, Electronic Pop, ¿Alternative Pop Rock?

Linkin Park again go for a sound shift, these guys have a musical identity issue. From my point of view,   bands that are limited as musicians tend to make these constant stylistic shifts to hide that they are pretty mediocre songwriters or that they have run out of ideas. This is the same thing that has been plaguing Korn the past 10 years. 

Mediocre, bland and predictable as hell are the best way to describe this album, it's a complete waist of time, I have no problem with bands going pop or trying things like this but justify pissing off your fans with good material.

 
overall: 29