Some random guy: Oh, I know that place! It's in the heavens above!
English-looking tourist: .....Err, what?
Some random guy: Yeah, the place Lincoln Park is suspended in the air!
English-looking tourist: *looks up* ....What the heck are you talking ab--
Linkin Park: *falls from the sky in flame like a huge meteor* I'VE BECOME SO NUUUUUUUUUMB!!!!
English-looking tourist and some random guy: METEOR AAAAAAAA!!!! *runs away*
Linkin Park: IT'S EASIEEEEER TO RUUUUUUUUUN!!!!
....That was an odd way to start.
Welcome back to LINKIN-PARK-A-THON where I review every Linkin Park studio album only because there's too many (seriously too many) compilation albums, demo albums and EP albums to listen and discuss. One album per month, because of rumours of a new album coming up this year (not really, an acquaintance of mine inspired me to do this so thaaaaaaaaanks you-know-who~). Unknown of the specific date or even if it's true, that doesn't stop me from doing this.
On the previous review, I mentioned that Hybrid Theory may not be a masterpiece but it is a special album. Like Linkin Park just created a new sub-genre within the Nu-Metal genre with this debut album, or from my own perspective...redefine the Nu-Metal genre. What they had is something that cannot be replicated or duplicated by anyone, not even any Nu-Metal bands that came out back then. And you know the funny thing?
Linkin Park themselves claimed that they "don't remember how they did it" and "don't know how they're gonna do it again"! And yet somehow, they were able to do it again in their second album, Meteora! The album is an expansion pack, a follow-up, a sequel to Hybrid Theory, and was it as good as the first?
Personally, I think this is somewhat slightly better than the first. Once again, Chester Bennington was damn great with his scream and singing delivery. He carries that anger and messages through his scream without revolting to unclear, nonsensical scream. This is how you do scream and shout in music, new scream-inspired bands! Mike Shinoda too provided a pretty decent flow and rhyme whenever he's up. Even if he's not rapping, he still provided a good backing vocal to balance it out.
Brad Delson's loud guitar riffs and Joe Hahn's mix still outshine Rob Bourdon's drumming, but that doesn't mean he hadn't has his moments in the album. The things that I noticed from him is his ability to make good intros in tracks like "Easier To Run" and "Faint"; Tracks like "Somewhere I Belong" and "Breaking The Habit" proves that he can play very decently without sticking to the basic a lot; and he creatively used the Hi-Hat cymbal to make every track sound different than the other like in "Easier To Run", "Hit The Floor" and "Lying From You". But again, like in Hybrid Theory, Rob's part (even in my favourite tracklist) is always sound lower or softer than anyone else's (and trust me, it's not because of my audio settings or bad audio output).
Honestly, that is as much of a negative I have with the album and the positives that I shared are almost the same as what I have given for Hybrid Theory, so Meteora should be considered being just on par with their first album. But what I think makes this slightly better is the lyrical content. A lot of the tracks here....contain some heavy subjects--at least, in the way I interpreted each track.
"Breaking the Habit" speaks about the danger of addiction and how it could lead to a suicidal attempt--another subject that seems to be hinted alongside self-harming in track "Easier To Run". "Hit the Floor" may used the general theme "what comes up must come down" but one that fits with the track was based on someone's interpretation--whereby it's about being victimized, abused and blackmailed to the point the victim was afraid to spill the beans. "Figure.09" is a realization of being someone you hated in the first place, "From the Inside" says a thing or two about trust issue, and my most favourite song from Linkin Park "Faint" is about feeling and being ignored by the people you thought loved you--and despite what they kept doing to you, you still remain by their side because they're all that you've got but never give up to shout it out. But beyond them all, "Somewhere I Belong" is probably the only positive song in Meteora, talking about recovering from depression.
So in conclusion, I pretty much do enjoy listening to most of the tracks in the album. It is slightly better than the first due to some more heavy lyrical content, and slightly developed musical style. Though I am still in between about the intro to the album, "Foreword". It was pretty damn short intro, and pretty much pointless. All it had was the sound of knocking and lastly, the shattering glass.
Hmmm....Meteora is a sequel, meaning it's a continuation to the first album. The last song on Hybrid Theory was "Pushing Me Away" which was a realization of living in a lie, taking a blame for a lover who no longer cares about the singer are pointless. It is practically the same song as "Don't Stay", except "Don't Stay" is more of the singer being angrily fed up with the bullpoop the lover did. Hmmm....could it be? Is "Foreword" represents the continuation of where they left off? The shattering glass represents the exceeding breaking limit to the singer by the lover's beating. So.....
...Where am I going from here, anyway?...Bloody hell, that was a waste of time.
With that said, this album got my rating of: 4/5
Favourite tracks: Faint, Numb, Breaking the Habit, From the Inside, Lying From You, Somewhere I Belong, Easier To Run, Nobody's Listening
Like tracks: Figure.09, Don't Stay, Session, Hit the Floor
Mixed tracks: Foreword
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