T-Man's Games: T-Man's CD Player: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park) Review

T-Man's CD Player: Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park) Review

Published Wednesday, December 12, 2007 by T-Man | E-mail this post

Of course, I had to go into music reviews sometime, didn’t I? Well, whatever. So, I got Linkin Park’s new album, Minutes to Midnight, and I thought it would be good to share my opinion of it. Well, Minutes to Midnight is Linkin Park’s first attempt at moving away from its previous nu metal format, and, ultimately…they turn mediocre in the process. Since some songs had curse words in them, I had to skip a few, but I still heard enough to tell you one thing:

Linkin Park has gone to the dark side.

Yes, remember seven years ago when they struck gold with their breakthrough album, Hybrid Theory? This album put such songs as Papercut, One Step Closer, and Crawling (my personal favorite) in the mainstream’s attention. As a result, their next three releases, Reanimation, Meteora, and Collision Course received good sales and released hit singles such as Numb and Somewhere I Belong.

Then Linkin Park began work on something new.

According to Wikipedia, they grew tired of the nu metal format and went for a softer and more melody-like direction.

Yeah, big mistake, guys.

This decision led to many a whiny and cheesy song along the lines of How Could This Happen to Me? which ultimately reeked of an 8th grader’s journal. These songs are a bit more mature than that, but are still whiny and dumb enough to fall into this category, that I refer to as “wah songs.”

Okay, maybe I’m being a bit harsh on Minutes to Midnight. I mean, it’s not a good album. Especially for a band like Linkin Park. But it’s still not that bad. Still, mediocrity is not of Linkin Park’s nature (aside from Cure for the Itch and Enth E End. Ugh.), as it wasn’t of Pearl Jam’s before they crapped out. It’s just like their transition from good to bad: one day they’re awesome, and the next, they’re so mediocre their fans are frothing at their door. It’s just like that, and just as disappointing. And it would have been better if they had included more guitar in their songs.

Let’s get down to business, now. The album opens with Wake, a short intro similar to Meteora’s Foreword. This ultimately leads into Given Up, which I didn’t listen to because of the cursing in it. So, instead, I started with Leave Out All the Rest, the second song. This song should have had the word “wah” written all over it. And what’s worse: no guitar! I really liked Linkin Park because of their awesome combination of rock and rapping. That was one of the things that made them awesome. But this entire album got rid of it entirely. Madness. This doesn’t change in Shadow of the Day, which doesn’t even sound like them at all!

You are given a nice breath of fresh air from these “wah” songs with What I’ve Done. It’s still different, but in a good way. It’s a bit closer to their previous songs, with some rock guitar, and a nu metal sound. In fact, the lyrics seem to be talking about them realizing the mediocrity of most of the album! Too bad that’s not true…

Soon after, No More Sorrow is played. This is more of a heavy metal song than the others, and, like What I've Done, isn't as whiny as most of the songs on this album. Having sat on tack that wedged itself firmly in his buttcrack, Chester Bennington was forced to play with this consistant pain in his butthole, and thus, he had his teeth clenched throughout the entire song, it seems, except for when he was doing his trademark screaming, and didn't notice that he had sat on tack before they were done recording. But, one thing to note here: this song’s great! It’s not as good as What I’ve Done, but it’s still at least five times better than most of the stuff on this album!

Sadly, these moments of glory are short, as Valentine’s Day, played right after, is even whinier than the last ones! In Between, the following song, is a solo for Mike Shinado, who usually raps during the songs. Thing is, it’s still whiny as a baby! And dare I mention that Mike Shinado sounds kinda girly when he sings? (No offense, dude) Then, the last two songs, In Pieces and These Little Things Give You Away play, which are no different from the last songs in terms of whinyness and rock-lessness.

So, sadly, I must say that most songs on this album are along the lines of How Could This Happen to Me? in whineyness and cheesiness alike, its only redeeming songs What I’ve Done and No More Sorrow (and, in retrospect, Bleed It Out, because I’ve heard the censored radio version and liked it). I must advise that you do not buy it, but instead buy the singles What I’ve Done and Bleed It Out and leave the album in the store to be bought by a gothic Linkin Park fan. No More Sorrow didn’t make it into a single, so if you want to hear it, you’ll have to download it off iTunes. The only case scenario in which I would recommend you buy this album is if you liked How Could This Happen to Me?

…Which probably isn’t the case…

Good Songs:

+ Bleed It Out
+ What I’ve Done
+ No More Sorrow

Bad Songs:

- Leave Out All the Rest
- Shadow of the Day
- Valentine’s Day
- In Between
- In Pieces
- These Little Things That Give You Away

Overall Rating: Crappy. Hope for their next album to return to their roots.