Nine weeks after this record came out, Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington committed suicide in a house he had just purchased a month or so prior.
This record is a complete 180 from the Linkin Park that we know and love. The band went full pop and the resulting criticism allegedly weighed heavily on Bennington. The band seems kind of fractured when you read the liner notes of this disc. The vocals were recorded in two different studios, the music was recorded elsewhere, and Bennington has little-to-no credit on the songwriting. This release seems to be largely the brainchild of co-vocalist Mike Shinoda and guitarist Brad Delson.
Opening track “Nobody Can Save Me” sounds so creepy and eerie considering what ended up happening, but there seems to be a bit of hope in the lyrics. ‘Tis a shame that Bennington didn’t heed the words. “Heavy” is a piece of junk, no matter how you slice it; this isn’t the Linkin Park we liked and it really sucks that this might be the band’s last major single.
“Good Goodbye,” featuring Pusha T of the Clipse, sounds a bit like latter-era Park with some rapping, but the song doesn’t work. At least “Talking to Myself” actually features guitars, but it does feel that DJ Hahn took a back seat and didn’t really have much to do with the material. I could be wrong, but it feels that Linkin Park rolled the dice to see what would work and unfortunately, the material falls flat and comes across as a rock band struggling to find themselves in a pop world. Some of these lyrics sound like Katy Perry or Miley Cyrus could be singing them to their devoted teenage fans, rather than being featured on a bland ‘rock’ record.
The disc’s title track has become a message of hope amidst all the despair, and it’s the one song where the band feels like they’re on the right track. This cut is ballad but with real emotion, and it sounds like the band is not just going through the motions. One can actually get choked up hearing Bennington croon on this song.
While it is an absolute tragedy that Bennington chose that fate for himself, there’s no getting around that this record is mostly crap. If this is the end of Linkin Park, then it’s a damn shame this had to be the last record.
