Review Summary: It's still their best ever
Let’s continue the nu metal reviews. Remember how I said that Drowning Pool didn’t exactly look or sound like our stereotypical idea of a nu metal band? Well, today, we have the band that might as well be the anthropomorphic personification of nu metal. Join me if you will on this review where I try to say something interesting or new about Linkin Park’s Meteora. What did I get myself into?
Should I describe their music as if you had never heard it, or explain what it means to me? I’ll try a little of both. Whatever you may think about Linkin Park, their signature mix of rap, electro, pop and metal was incredibly creative, and I believe that Meteora is the album where their creativity shines the most, the album with some of their best-crafted songs, and the one that had the biggest impact on me.
From the beginning, the album establishes its unique mixture of music genres, of sweetness and aggression, with that intro made of weird metallic sound effects, which suddenly turns into the riffs and electronic sounds of “Don’t Stay”. This song has some intensity and aggression, but it’s also catchy, accessible, basically the sound we’ve come to associate with Linkin Park. Chester Bennington’s voice seems so light, and yet it expresses so much emotion. Just like Dave Williams, he can easily go from singing to screaming, but he doesn’t sound so much mad with rage, rather bursting with pain and anger. He’s angry in “Don’t Stay”, but in the beautiful and melancholic “Somewhere I belong”, he sounds sad, desperate to find happiness one day. When he sings “I wanna heal” and “I won’t be anything else till my wounds are healed”, you really feel it. If you don’t find Linkin Park’s lyrics too melodramatic, they’ll absolutely break your heart, and that’s one of the reasons I love going back to this album. But it’s not the only one.
Chester is at his best when he sounds sad, but he can handle heavier, more aggressive tracks, like “Hit the Floor”, with its slightly sinister riff and electronic sounds, and Chester screaming the chorus, after Mike Shinoda’s energetic rapping. The combination of Mike’s rapping and Chester’s singing and screaming is an interesting twist on the Beauty and the Beast style, and it is what made the Linkin Park sound. Mike isn’t an exceptional rapper in any way, but at his best, he can bring a lot of energy to the songs, like the verses of “Faint”, or so much emotion to the softer moments, like on “Easier to Run” where he repeats “If I could, I would bring all my shame to the grave”. Chester has most of the saddest lyrics, but this one really gets to me, especially at the end of the song. However, that isn’t the best Mike Shinoda song in my opinion. That honor goes to “Nobody’s Listening”, which has some of his best rapping and amazing Japanese flutes, as well as some of the best call-and-response between him and Chester on the chorus.
As I said, Chester can definitely sing and scream with a lot of energy, like on the chorus of “Faint”, but my favorite heavy song on the album would be “Figure 0.9”. Now, when I’m talking about mysterious and creepy nu metal songs, this is what I’m talking about. There’s this strange title, a sinister riff, equally sinister rapping from Mike, and Chester singing and screaming “And now, you’ve become a part of me […] giving up a part of me, I’ve let myself become you”. The bridge, where Mike repeats “It never goes away…” and Chester screams “Get away from me!” also gives me the chills.
But the songs where Chester really shines are the sad ones, both the ballads and the heavy ones. “Breaking the Habit” is probably my favorite LP ballad, with some really creative but melancholic electronic sounds and heart-breaking lyrics about Chester desperately trying to get rid of his addictions. I’m doing my best not to mention his actual issues, and to speak of him in the present tense, as a way to remember him.
And then, right at the end, saving the best for last, there’s probably the best song he’s ever performed, one of my favorite Linkin Part songs, heavy, angry and sad at the same time, the almighty “Numb”. So many things to say about this one. The sinister, creepy electronic sound that serves as its main hook, Chester’s sad singing on the verses, Mike’s creepy whispering, exploding into that legendary “I’ve become so numb” chorus. It’s all part of my cultural DNA now. The first time I heard this song, as a child, it scared me. That could be because I had never really listened to metal or heavier rock, but also because I had never really listened to any song so intense, about such a dark subject matter. It’s far from the only song about emotional abuse, or any other possible interpretation for this song, but it’s one of the most devastating songs about that subject, because it puts it in such clear and evocative terms.
That’s the best thing about Linkin Park’s lyrics in general: with a few words and with the right dose of emotions in the vocals, they can make you really feel whatever they are singing about. I like nu metal albums that make me feel something strong that can’t really be put into words, and Linkin Park does that really well. Years later, their first 2 albums still are some of the music that moves me the most, devastates me the most. This is rather different from the visceral anger and disgust expressed by Drowning Pool or a few other bands I’ll review later, but it’s just as great. Compared to past and future subjects of this series, LP are not as heavy, they could easily be called more commercial. However, their sound is also more elaborate, with their mix of different genres that could be called pop metal as a compliment, a truly creative blend of pop and metal. An album that includes song as different as “Nobody’s Listening”, “Figure 0.9”, “Numb” and “Breaking the Habit” can definitely be considered creative. And this is why this album is still so great 22 years later, why it’s still so great to review. It’s not even going to be my only Linkin Park review, but that’s for another day.
