Linkin Park is a world-renowned rock band that revolutionized the world of metal and rock in the music industry. Formed in 1996, the band took the hearts of many aspiring musicians and music fanatics for over two decades. The band saw world hits with albums such as Hybrid Theory, Meteora and Minutes To Midnight. Despite this overwhelming success, Linkin Park tragically dissolved after the unfortunate death of Chester Bennington, the band’s lead vocalist.
Fast forward seven years to 2024, with the revival of the band and two recruits. Linkin Park also saw most of its original members return with the exception of Rob Bourdon, the band’s former drum kit. The new additions, Emily Armstrong and Colin Brittain fill the spots of lead vocalist and drum kit, giving the band a new taste for music enthusiasts. Soon after Linkin Park announces their return, they release a brand new album to kick off their career.
Brian Butler, the junior and senior Bible teacher here at Fresno Christian Schools, shares his view on the return of Linkin Park.
“It seems like they are trying some new stuff.” Butler said. “Trying different ways to express themselves.”
The new album, From Zero, surprisingly has symbolism nodding to their previous career. It nods to the band’s first ever album called “Xero” as well as symbolizing their fresh start in the music industry and starting from the bottom. “From Zero” consists of 1 intro and 10 songs, two of which are explicit. Each song has different pacing, going from hard rock to remorseful chorus supporting the lyrics.
Although the lyrics and vocals of the song are really well composed, the genre interpretation is a different story. The inconsistent switch between hard rock and soft lyrics can be very misleading and mood ruining. Overall the album is very good and highly recommended, but if you’re looking for a genre specific album its not what you’re going to get.
- “From Zero (Intro)”
- “The Emptiness Machine” [E]
- “Cut the Bridge”
- “Heavy Is the Crown”
Midnights to Midnight was Linkin Park’s fourth album and was released May 14, 2007 (Linkin Park – Album Cover) - “Over Each Other”
- “Casualty”
- “Overflow”
- “Two Faced”
- “Stained”
- “IGYEIH”
- “Good Things Go” [E]
Almost every song within the album has seen top 100 in popularity, but two songs are spotlighted for their uniqueness. “The Emptiness Machine” and “Heavy Is the Crown” have a combined 607k streams on Spotify alone within the last three months, with the band still seeing 48 million monthly listeners on the same platform. Many lifelong fans of the band raise both approval and dislike towards the new band, mainly because it doesn’t feel like the old Linkin Park anymore. The fans that appreciate their return counter this because it isn’t the same band, but something new entirely. The new band retains many characteristics of chorus and lyrics from the old Linkin Park, fascinating new fans while bringing back old ones.
Cole Fluharty, ‘26, shares his opinions about the new album as a listener of the original band.
“As much as I appreciate the effort for them returning to the stage,” Fluharty said. ”They’re just not the same anymore, it almost feels disrespectful to Chester.”
As the new band both mends and breaks fans hearts, everyone is happy for something new to listen too. Make sure to give the album a listen and see if you like or hate it.
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