Linkin Park
One More Light

Release Date: 2017 | Tracklist

Lets take a step back here. After all the backlash Linkin Park has seemingly been getting by critics and fans alike who are beside themselves with the idea that one of their favorite childhood bands has taken a newer, softer path to their musical works, the album itself is drowned in poor reviews and anger to the point where most didnt even bother to listen past the 3 singles released for the album. You could say giving this album a pretty good review is playing some kind of devils advocate, but theres really no devil to advocate in this situation. The only real devils for this album are the waves of reviewers and people who havent really taken the time to listen to the album. The moment Heavy was released, you could tell most reviewers had their punches at the album written out long before the albums release date was even announced.

So after a couple months of release time for this extremely taboo record, lets get into the gutts of One More Light.

To start, lets get the whole "Sell out" thing out of the picture. From the lack of instrumentation to the very basic song structuring, it extremely easy to niche this record as a money maker or something Linkin Park were forced to make by their record label or producers. Anyone whos done a sliver of research on current-day Linkin Park knows that they now have the trust from their label to work on albums by themselves. The Hunting Party was produced and written with Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson as the sole producers for the album, and the same is said about One More Light as well. The whole idea behind the album was to put a strong focus on lyrics instead of instrumentation. Sure, The Hunting Party was nothing short of a banger and the album people have been waiting for since Minutes To Midnight nearly put the band on life support after critical backlash. But lyrically, the album was extremely cheesy with lines along the paths of "you dont know what you got until its gone" and "theres no peace, only war, victory decides whos wrong or right". Its clear linkin park took very little time on lyrics for that album. This album, however, is the polar opposite of that. Lyrically, One More Light is the strongest Linkin Park has been sine A Thousand Suns. Every song is written extremely well and speaks numbers on how well songs can turn out with the help of professional writers, which Linkin Park openly noted of their assistance. Instrumentally, the album is definitely not strong, but its not awful either. Being an audiophile, its no trouble for me to hear the amazing plethora of guitars and piano spread throughout the songs' structures. However, to the common Pandora listener where audio qualities rarely breach a 128kbs mark, most of those works get drowned in the poor mixing and digital audio compressions the album has gone through. Sadly, these are things that can now only be seen during live performances, but it still doesnt take away form the album entirely.

Song to song, the album is definitely nothing special. Nearly every song follows the same "intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-outro" format. A lot of Linkin Parks staples, including strong electronics, rap, and screams that are usually mixed in with their rock-based formats are absent throughout the album. The only song featuring Mike's rapping is Good Goodbye. Its a great song with a great message and catchy chorus, but the song itself is incredibly boring. It doesnt even contain a bridge, and Mike's verse is really the only interesting one in the song. Its easily skipable after the first verse. Talking To Myself is the closest to rock youll get on the record. The song features some strong percussive inputs and uses the second-most common punk beat on the planet. Heavy is sadly the only song to feature any harmonics with vocals, and its not even between Chester and Mike (Which is almost always beautifully done and shown in songs like The Catalyst and Little Things Give You Away). However, Kiiara's pleasant vocals compliments Chester's very well, and gives the song a powerful refrain the second time around. Battle Symphony, Sorry For Now, and Invisible dont have much about them other than Mike has chosen to sing much more on the album than he has in previous works, which is a great breath of fresh air from Chester. Halfway Right and Nobody Can Save Me are my two personal favorite tracks on the album. They're the strongest instrumentally, have very catchy choruses and easily reciteable lyrics, though Halfway Right is a bit cheesy. Linkin Park's first title track, One More Light, is also an extremely well written song. It features Chester alone, with a very mellow effect-less electric guitar in the background to powerfully execute one of the lyrically strongest songs Linkin Park has ever written. Sharp Edges is the only acoustic song on the album. It sounds almost western, which may have struck fans in a very uncomfortable way at first listen, but the song itself isnt bad and isnt very boring either.

Is One More Light Linkin Park's best work? Obviously not. Had it been written instrumentally like The Hunting Party or Hybrid Theory, it may have easily been, but sadly the lack of instrumentation throughout the album takes it a step down from those standards. But is One More Light Linkin Park's poorest work? Definitely not. A lyrically fantastic record with catchy choruses, this album can strike fans and others alike very easily. This album is also not an album that can be judged at first listen. If you've only listened to it once since it came out, give it a few more spins. I found it to get better and better the more i listened to it, and more things to appreciate about it began to bloom as time went by. Give it another chance, what you find may surprise you.

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