LINKIN PARK: One More Light - Album (Review/Reaction)

Hi, I'm Victor
and I listened to a new album today
the first song of the album is "Nobody Can Save Me"
It's a song that starts with a few electronic effects, and very calm beat
at first glance, we perceive that the album will follow a very different style from Linkin Park's usual sound
The song follow this calm climate until the end of the first chorus
When it ends
you have a guitar sound, but it's so at the background, that it sounds almost as an electronic element
With this you think that song will get more interesting
but no, in fact, it keeps the same atmosphere from the end of the first chorus until the end of the song
"Good Goodbye" is song that has a structure clearly defined
This structure is pretty simple:
Chorus/Rap/Chorus/Rap
The song follow this through all its duration
The first chorus starts right on the first seconds of the song,
and it's basically Chester singing with a piano at the background
starting from the second time that this chorus is sang, the song gets a lot more heavy and dense
and keeps in that way until the end
Despite ofthe very catchy chorus, the highlights are the raps
First Mike Shinoda, then Pusha T, and at last Stomzy
All of them did a great job, and made the song much cooler
"Talking To Myself" is probably the most 'rock" song on the album
which doesn't mean much
is another song with a clear structure
it starts in a way that gave me hope to listen something close from the "Minutes To Midnight album"
It's a little faster than the previous songs
with a small guitar riff being accompained by direct and dry drums
until the pre-chorus, that has a cool melody that does a great transition to the chorus
where the sonority of the beginning of the song returns
"Battle Symphony" is another song that has a beginning with several electronic elements
It's a song that has a "happier" sonority than the other songs
and a smooth climate that is accentuated by the reverb on its beat
The song gets other elements that elevates its energy
But it's also another song that mantains its structure from the beginning until the end
The biggest problem of this song is that, it turns a little repetitive
The song is leaded by its chorus
This has a good and a bad side
the good side is that the chorus gets even more catchy, so you always has it in your mind
The bad side, is that this gets the song even more repetitive
so when it comes the end, you kind of get tired of the song. And this is never good thing
"Invisible" is the first song of the album that the vocals are sang by Mike Shinoda
Throughout the verses, the vocals are accompained by a keyboard at the background, and a simple beat
In the pre-chorus, this beat changes to something closer to a "marching band beat"
This is interesting because it generates a higher expactation towards the chorus
In the chorus, the structure is similar to what was showed on the previous songs
Despite having a vocal harmony at the background,
the chorus basically incorporates more electronics elements raising up its energy
This is already turning to something pretty constant in this album
Then we arrived in the illustrious "Heavy"
The song that gave shivers to the Linkin Park's devotees
Well at this point, you probably already heard this song
but speaking a little bit about the structure of the song
It's a song that starts with a very calm electronic beat
And this beat, slowly is substituted by real drums
Another song that uses a lot of of reverb, that gives a sound closer of The Chainsmokers than Linkin Park
the feature of this song is Kiiara
and sincerely, I think that fit better to the song than Chester
Maybe because I got used to listen Chester singing songs like "Papercut" or "One Step Closer"
but the song is so Pop, that the sonority of her voice pleasured more than his voice
especially because her vocal line got a cool highlight
with a few interesting harmonies that fit this song very well
In ""Sorry For Now" we have the second song where Mike got the main vocals
Probably the most intersting of this song
would be to see how Linkin Park sounds in an alternative universe where Mike sings the melody and Chester raps
Yes, Chester raps in this track
It's a song full of electronic elements, maybe the song with more elements of this type
but even with that, it mantains the smooth atmosphere of the album
This song starts with a strong electronic beat being played together with synths at the background
It also has a pre-chorus where the emphasis is on Chester's voice that is accompained by a clean piano
During the chorus we have a small choir located at the background of ths song
While Chester sings verses about its internal conflicts, it has well written verses
It's a pretty interesting song on the lyrical point of view
but as a whole, it didn't got my attention
the self-titled song is probably the most beautiful song of the album
It's a song where the sound effects are used in a very intelligent way
They were placed in order to create a cool ambience, giving total freedom to Chester's voice to lead the song
As a whole is pretty melancholy, and has an acoustic guitar solo that accentuates even more this sensation
This solo is short and simple
But it uses very well the characteristics of the delay and reverb effects
and with that, it transmits perfectly the atmosphere that song has
Although is not a heavy song in the sound point of view
Lyrically is very heavy, it has pretty cool lyrics
And it's probably one of the few songs of the album that you can fell the essence of the "old" Linkin Park
"Sharp Edges" ends the album in a very different way
It's a song with a sonority that is far from the other songs
It's totally based on acoustic guitar and voice
and it has a kind of Folk/Country/ "Mumford Sons" sound
It's a song that has this style from the beginning to the end, and where it stands out Chester's voice
Moreover, it has the merit of the inclusion of few elements such as a electronic beat and a vocal harmony
in a very gradual and coherent way
and this is pretty cool because improves the ambience of the song
an interesting choice to end the album
The fact that Linkin Park is a band that brings new elements to its main sonority is not news to anyone
This already happened in "Minutes to Midnight"
It happened in "A Thousand Suns"
and they decided to go back to a sonority closer to the original in the last album: "The Hunting Party"
The problem is not a sound with new elements
It's not because of the very pop songs
This already happened before. Try to listen "Leave All The Rest" and tell me if that is not Pop
The thing is that the change never was so abrupt
The album "One More Light" doesn't sound as Linkin Park. You almost don't fell the band's essence there
Maybe if this album was released in a paralel project, with other name, wouldn't bring so much weirdness
But when you see the name "Linkin Park", definitely it's not this sound that you expect to listen
Moreover, the songs don't justify this whole change
Differently from what I said of Paramore
This change doesn't sound so good here
because Paramore did a gradual change
You could see more or less the way that band was taking
Here not. The last Linkin Park album was very visceral, very raw, very similar with the first albuns of the band
And when you listen to that and than goes to "One More Light" is a pretty strong shock
and It's not a good shock, sounds weird, out of context
Moreover the songs of this album sound very "plastic". They have basically the same script:
It starts with a light verse, then goes to the chorus where a beat enters raising up the energy
and goes like this until the end the of song
Almost all songs follow this script, and this becomes predictable, kind of bland
so the songs maintains itself in a tepid climate, and you don't get excited with them
Among these songs the one that I could highlight are:
"Good Goodbye", for being one of the few moments that has rap on the album
which is a remarkable characteristic of Linkin Park
Despite of not being extraordinary, the guests worked very well, and the raps were pretty good in this song
"Talking To Myself", for being one of the few moments where the guitar has a little space on the album
And also for bring an atmosphere that is a little more excited than the others
"One More Light", probably the best composition of the album
It's a song that doesn't has much details, but in its simplicity, it transmits a great melody and atmosphere
and for last "Sharp Edges"
For being a song that brings something different with its folk climate focusing on acoustic guitar and voice

LINKIN PARK: One More Light - Album (Review/Reaction)

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