Linkin Park's new album, “The Hunting Party,” is by no means a commercial failure, but when it didn't debut at No. 1 on Billboard's album chart upon its July release, the band's vocalist/rapper/guitarist Mike Shinoda got condolences from friends.
His band, which will play Consol Energy Center on Jan. 20, had topped the chart with each of its four preceding albums — an unprecedented streak of chart-topping debuts on the U.S. album charts.
Shinoda, though, sounded like he wasn't surprised when “The Hunting Party” came in behind Lana Del Rey's “Ultraviolence” and Sam Smith's “In The Lonely Hour” in the United States.
“I feel like the Billboard chart is for one thing,” Shinoda says. “It's for the first-week album sales, and this is not really a first-week-album-sales kind of album. It's a statement album. It's a live album, an album that should be taken to the (concert) stage.”
Of course, Shinoda could take solace in knowing that “The Hunting Party” did go No. 1 in 67 other countries. He and his bandmates also can feel good about the album on a musical level, as it's been one of the best reviewed albums of Linkin Park's career, and fans seem happy with the music as well.
“Every single person that I've met since we released this record has told me that they love the record,” singer Chester Bennington says. “They appreciate what we do, but they've kind of been waiting for us to rock out for a while.”
But “Hunting” is a bit of a musical risk for Linkin Park.
Mixing frequent use of rapped lyrics with its aggressive guitar-rock sound, the album comes at a time when hard rock is almost entirely absent in the Top 40. Many of the songs even feature guitar solos — something Linkin Park has rarely built into its songs.
Of course, changing up its sound is nothing new for Linkin Park, which formed in Agoura Hills, Calif. (near Los Angeles), in 1996. And “Party” is something of a throwback to the first two Linkin Park albums.
The group's 2000 debut, “Hybrid Theory,” and 2003 follow-up, “Meteora,” featured hard-hitting rap-rock — a popular sound at the time.
But Linkin Park soon showed it had an adventurous spirit. The band started breaking the rap-rock mold with its 2007 album “Minutes to Midnight.” There were only token moments of rap-rock, as the band crafted a mix of bracing rock songs and softer, more spacious and melodic tracks. That expanded with 2010's “A Thousand Suns” and 2012's “Living Things.”
The progress on their recent work made taking the left turn toward a heavier guitar-oriented sound on “The Hunting Party” less scary.
“A lot of our fans have come along for the ride on the last (few) records, and we really did go and stretch our wings and see how far we could take (things),” Shinoda says. “I think, for us, like going through that process of trying things and making sure that we're creatively excited and energized helps us create music that still sounds like Linkin Park, regardless of what vibe the song is.”
It's easy to know why “Hunting” works for fans. It's a visceral, energized album that doesn't sacrifice catchiness at the expense of intensity. Big, hooky guitar riffs and the slamming drumming of Bourdon (who had to build up his conditioning to play the songs) power songs like “All for Nothing” “Keys to the Kingdom” and “Wastelands.” There's even a touch of hardcore in songs like “War” and “A Line in the Sand.”
Linkin Park figures to play a few new songs as part of a career-spanning set on its winter headlining tour. The new songs are translating well to the stage, as Bennington feels “Hunting” captures the feel of a Linkin Park live show.
“There's this, like, raw kind of more prompt and in-your-face attitude about the band when you see us live,” Bennington says. “Even, like, our mellower songs, there's an edge to them that you get in a live performance that kind of gets lost in the studio. And I think that with this record, like, we've kind of captured a lot more of what we're like live in the sound of the record. And I think that that's exciting.”
His band, which will play Consol Energy Center on Jan. 20, had topped the chart with each of its four preceding albums — an unprecedented streak of chart-topping debuts on the U.S. album charts.
Shinoda, though, sounded like he wasn't surprised when “The Hunting Party” came in behind Lana Del Rey's “Ultraviolence” and Sam Smith's “In The Lonely Hour” in the United States.
“I feel like the Billboard chart is for one thing,” Shinoda says. “It's for the first-week album sales, and this is not really a first-week-album-sales kind of album. It's a statement album. It's a live album, an album that should be taken to the (concert) stage.”
Of course, Shinoda could take solace in knowing that “The Hunting Party” did go No. 1 in 67 other countries. He and his bandmates also can feel good about the album on a musical level, as it's been one of the best reviewed albums of Linkin Park's career, and fans seem happy with the music as well.
“Every single person that I've met since we released this record has told me that they love the record,” singer Chester Bennington says. “They appreciate what we do, but they've kind of been waiting for us to rock out for a while.”
But “Hunting” is a bit of a musical risk for Linkin Park.
Mixing frequent use of rapped lyrics with its aggressive guitar-rock sound, the album comes at a time when hard rock is almost entirely absent in the Top 40. Many of the songs even feature guitar solos — something Linkin Park has rarely built into its songs.
Of course, changing up its sound is nothing new for Linkin Park, which formed in Agoura Hills, Calif. (near Los Angeles), in 1996. And “Party” is something of a throwback to the first two Linkin Park albums.
The group's 2000 debut, “Hybrid Theory,” and 2003 follow-up, “Meteora,” featured hard-hitting rap-rock — a popular sound at the time.
But Linkin Park soon showed it had an adventurous spirit. The band started breaking the rap-rock mold with its 2007 album “Minutes to Midnight.” There were only token moments of rap-rock, as the band crafted a mix of bracing rock songs and softer, more spacious and melodic tracks. That expanded with 2010's “A Thousand Suns” and 2012's “Living Things.”
The progress on their recent work made taking the left turn toward a heavier guitar-oriented sound on “The Hunting Party” less scary.
“A lot of our fans have come along for the ride on the last (few) records, and we really did go and stretch our wings and see how far we could take (things),” Shinoda says. “I think, for us, like going through that process of trying things and making sure that we're creatively excited and energized helps us create music that still sounds like Linkin Park, regardless of what vibe the song is.”
It's easy to know why “Hunting” works for fans. It's a visceral, energized album that doesn't sacrifice catchiness at the expense of intensity. Big, hooky guitar riffs and the slamming drumming of Bourdon (who had to build up his conditioning to play the songs) power songs like “All for Nothing” “Keys to the Kingdom” and “Wastelands.” There's even a touch of hardcore in songs like “War” and “A Line in the Sand.”
Linkin Park figures to play a few new songs as part of a career-spanning set on its winter headlining tour. The new songs are translating well to the stage, as Bennington feels “Hunting” captures the feel of a Linkin Park live show.
“There's this, like, raw kind of more prompt and in-your-face attitude about the band when you see us live,” Bennington says. “Even, like, our mellower songs, there's an edge to them that you get in a live performance that kind of gets lost in the studio. And I think that with this record, like, we've kind of captured a lot more of what we're like live in the sound of the record. And I think that that's exciting.”
