I was eager to hear A Thousand Suns, Linkin Park's latest studio album. With an apparent desire to achieve a "cutting edge sound" that "defines itself as an individual record separate from anything else that's out there".
They haven't achieved cutting edge, or even an indefinable album. I don't hold that against the album though; each song is a little different and definitely nothing like the band has ever done before. There are some very catchy songs, The Catalyst, When They Come for Me and Blackout are among my favourite.
Saying that, I do prefer the older-sounding Linkin Park. If this new side to the band is refined and explored more fully then yeah, sign me up, but this album is dwarfed in comparison to the band's older material. Some of the annoyances I have with it are the over-use of speech excerpts and instrumental shorts between songs.
Going to slap a big virtual "in my opinion" sticker to this post, your mileage will obviously vary.
