Review Summary: It's...different.
I suppose the listeners’ appreciation of the album varies based upon when they started listening to the band. Many people were absorbed into the band when Hybrid Theory came out in 2001. I started listening to them later, as I only started getting into their music around 09/10 (I’m probably younger than a lot of users on this website). I purchased this album around the same time as I purchased Hybrid Theory and Meteora. However, being the fact that they were praised more, I ended up listening to Hybrid Theory and Meteora a lot more, eventually burning those albums into my brain as what Linkin Park was supposed to sound like. I ended up never listening to my Minutes to Midnight copy until a year later when I found it somewhere in my CD collection buried in the way bottom of my shelf. I decided to give it a listen, wondering if it really was all that different than the first two albums. And it was.
The first thing I noticed with the album was the lack of Joe Hahn. In my opinion, he is a key figure in the band’s older sound. He is completely absent on tracks like Given Up. They also didn’t give him his signature instrumental sample track (like Cure for the Itch and Session), which was another disappointment. He’s not totally absent, but his talents are barely used on the record.
Speaking of talents being barely used on the record, there are only 2 songs on this album that feature Shinoda’s rapping. Those two tracks (Bleed it Out and Hands Held High) happen to be two of the worst songs the band ever made. Bleed it Out certainly has a cool feel to it, but the rapping doesn’t rap the music at all. Additionally, the chorus is extremely repetitive and boring. Chester basically repeats a sentence during the whole chorus. It could’ve been a cool song, but they executed it really poorly. Hands Held High could’ve been an awesome track as well. The organ at the beginning with the army like snare drum sound really cool at the beginning of the track. Shinoda’s rapping also fits the mood of the song. The problem is the track never seems to evolve. If they gradually built it up to something louder, that featured Chester screaming or something like that, than the track would’ve been a lot better than it turned out to be. But the song features a very bland and boring chorus that just makes the track drag on. It seems like it never ends. Shinoda also sings the song In Between. We learn here that he has a great voice that he wasted on a crappy song. Overall, Shinoda’s performance was mediocre on the album, just because he performed on mediocre tracks.
Minutes to Midnight also seems to showcase the softer side of Linkin Park. On the first half of the album, the ballads are lighter sounding and more radio friendly. Leave Out All the Rest may not have their best lyrics, but it does have one of Chester’s best vocal performances, making it one of the album’s highlights. Shadow of the Day seems to be an imitation of U2’s sound, as the ending of the track is laced with the Edge’s signature delay sound. The second half shows darker ballads, such as the haunting Valentine’s Day, which is definitely one of the album’s strongest tracks. Once again, Chester’s vocal performance is once again excellent (while sometimes it can be horrible like on Bleed it Out). In Pieces is cool sounding from the beginning, but eventually comes off as a bit of a whiny track (which Linkin Park certainly has too many of). However, this one does use Mr. Hahn more than the other tracks do.
While it shows their softer side, the album does have their two most aggressive tracks. Given Up (which is practically the album opener except there’s a weird instrumental before it called Wake) is a fast paced extremely aggressive track. While the song itself isn’t particularly good, it is a great song to listen to when you’re really pissed. It also has the slightly impressive 18 second scream (though an even better and longer scream takes place in a Tool song called the Grudge) and showcases the fact that they can be very heavy sounding. A much more impressive heavy track occurs later on in the album (and is a great song to listen to after the incredibly boring song Hands Held High) is No More Sorrow. Beginning with an ebow effect, the song is a lot better than Given Up. No More Sorrow is fairly repetitive however (especially during the THIEVES AND HYPOCRITES part), but it’s a fun song to listen to and it does a good job at outshining Given Up.
What I’ve Done is a track that there’s really not a lot to say about. It was the only one I recognized when listening to the album (because I never listened to the radio back then and I still don’t) and it’s probably one of Linkin Park’s most recognizable tracks as well. The only thing I can say about it is that it’s a generic radio friendly rock song. There’s nothing wrong with that, as I do enjoy the track. However, it has been done before, and done better. There’s nothing particularly special about it.
Minutes to Midnight is one of those examples where the closing track is better than the rest of the album (such as Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Aenima by Tool). The Little Things That Give You Away is an incredible track from the very beginning. The guitar feedback that opens up the tracks blends really well with the turntables (Mr. Hahn is finally on another track), and then an acoustic guitar comes out of that noise. Chester’s vocals sound sort of painful and breathless, as if he was scared of something. Later, after the drums come in, Chester drops out and a very interesting instrumental begins. As the song comes to a close, Chester and Mike both sing, as Bono-esque vocal rings in the background of the two of them singing. While the song musically isn’t anything special compared to other artists, it’s definitely superior to anything Linkin Park has ever done.
Linkin Park right now has an idea. That idea is that they want to sound different. However, this album shows that they don’t really know what they want to sound like. Tracks like Given Up show that they want to try heavier music, at the same time Shadow of the Day shows that they want to explore the alternative pop genre in the same way U2 did. It’s a very different album than Hybrid Theory and if you were a fan of those two albums than you will be quite disappointed. If you didn’t like Meteora because it sounded way to similar to Hybrid Theory (I liked both but some people had problems with Meteora), you might like this album. There’s no guarantee that your evolved music taste will enjoy the content of this album as your music taste might be more mature than it. However, the one thing I can say about this album is that Linkin Park is a very different band now than they were back in 2000.
