Review Summary: Caught in the middle.
To say that Linkin Park was one of the least expected comebacks of the year has already been done so much, and already done by other reviews on this site that I'm gonna skip my usual paragraph long intro explaining why that is. Why? Because everyone already knows. In fact, it's probably the first thing that a good chunk of people think of when it comes to Linkin Park. And it would also be completely cliché to comment on the other big elephant in the room here: Emily Armstrong, the late great Chester Bennington's replacement, better known at this point for her association with Danny Masterson and the church of scientology. What I will comment on, however, is how I felt about Linkin Park continuing without Chester. Honestly, they have every right to. It's Mike Shinoda’s band after all, and he can do whatever he wants with it. Chester Bennington's writing about struggles in his life and his screams that spoke to 10 year olds like myself in 2003 was what drove the band forth, and to say that he was one of their biggest assets would be an understatement. And like the majority of people who listened to them as kids, when he died, it felt wrong, at the time, to even have someone try to fill his place.
But like a good chunk of the fans, as I've gotten older, and had more of an understanding of the times we live in, I realize too that just Fort Minor and the occasional re-release of a classic album by itself doesn't pay the bills. Sure, Mike Shinoda is probably richer than I will ever be, but I think he eventually realized he's not at the level where CD copies of his classic albums will sell at least a million copies every year, and that's before we even get to the fact that nobody buys CDs anymore. So, it makes sense to me that he'd want to start from scratch, From Zero if you will, and start a new chapter of Linkin Park history.
What I do have an issue with, however, is what a wasted opportunity this first attempt at a comeback is. Sure, it's probably not wise to make an entire album of
Minutes to Midnight,
One More Light or even
Hunting Party soundalikes, but to use a metaphor that I use quite often in my reviews, the entire experience of listening to
From Zero is like eating a McDonalds hamburger. If you like hamburgers, you'll like this hamburger because it tastes like a hamburger and it goes down easy, but after you're done consuming it, you're left with a stomach ache. In fact, lead single and sort-of opening track “The Emptiness Machine" makes it pretty clear what the experience is like: catchy, to the point and quick, but also over before it begins, and leaving you wanting more, not in the good way, but in the way where it feels like there's entire chunk missing.
As quite a few others here have already pointed out,
From Zero’s best parts are when it's sheer nostalgia bait. “Two-Faced" is definitely a worse version of “One Step Closer" and “Figure 09”, but it does do a good job of bringing the fundamentals of a classic Linkin Park song back: the simple but effective riffs, the soaring chorus, Shinoda's catchy raps, some screams for good measure and even a decent outro to round things off. Likewise, “Heavy is the Crown" is a fun “Faint" soundalike, and don't get me wrong, “Faint" is definitely a better song, but it nails the best parts of “Faint"- the uptempo beats, the string sample, Shinoda's rapid-fire verses, even the chorus looks the part. Elsewhere, “Cut the Bridge" and “Casualty" also get the job done, both tracks being showcases for Armstrong's screaming ability. In fact, let's talk about her. Armstrong fits the bill near-perfectly. One of the best things about this album is, surprisingly, I didn't have Chester in the back of my mind while listening to it. Sure, after listening to the album, I would find myself thinking “Imagine how sick ‘Two Faced' would be with Chester", but she fits the bill to the point where it's hard to imagine anyone else singing these songs. Going back to “The Emptiness Machine", the decision to have her come in at the second verse and dominate the rest of the song makes her presence more effective. Her shouting vocals put paid to any worries that her voice was too clean for the band, though that is just me not being familiar with Dead Sara. “IGYEIH" begins with her shouting the title numerous times, over a riff that wouldn't be out of place on
The Hunting Party, to hammer in just how well she suits this version of Linkin Park.
On that note, the worst parts of
From Zero are… well, to be frank, when it tries to sound like any other albums of theirs. Going back to “The Emptiness Machine" (again, yeah I know), one of the first things on my mind when I heard that song was that it sounded like a worse version of “Guilty All the Same", and unlike the other worse versions on this album, where I didn't wish I was hearing “Figure 09” or “Hit the Floor", I fully wished I was listening to “Guilty All the Same" again. “Guilty" is a 6 minute ride of a tune that packs on the ideas more and more as it goes on; this song on the other hand tries to do too little with the formula of a song that already has too much going on". “Over Each Other" sounds like a song that the band would have thought twice before putting on
Minutes to Midnight. It's a by-the-numbers breakup song that, while featuring a particularly strong vocal performance from Armstrong, just feels like it has that going for it and nothing else. “Stained" is a song they would have thought twice about before including on
Living Things. In fact, that's the biggest issue with the album as a whole: I get that being a repackaged trip through your entire discography is a necessary evil when starting over with a new singer, but
that's all it feels like the songs ever are. You can name exactly what song every song on the album is a version of. And yes, I already know I said that this by itself isn't a bad thing, and I still stand by that, it's still hard to shake the disappointment of knowing what could have been.
Which is the perfect note to close this review out on:
From Zero is fine. The band is starting over, hence the title of the album, and naturally they have to ease us back in. But rather than being the
Brave New World or
Private Dancer or even the
Vapor Trails the album could have been, it just feels like an album of “almost"s. Almost enough of a nostalgia bait package to remind old fans of the good old days. Almost a good way to start a new direction for the band. Almost a mission statement to justify continuing without Chester. Almost a good way to introduce Emily Armstrong to the fans. So let's hope that next time, the band decides to take Linkin Park version 2.0 in a direction that will allow it to mature and settle into the current musical landnscape.
