The James Logan Courier

By Kimmai Nguyen, Courier Staff Writer

Nu-metal band Linkin Park debuted A Thousand Suns, their new album, this September. Diehard fans had high expectations for this comeback album, but their hopes for a crazed album fell short. Despite the hype generated by The Catalyst LP's live release at the 2010 VMA’s, this CD isn’t as good as their previous three.

The new album has fifteen tracks, five of which are intros and preludes. Some intros were unnecessary, like "Jornada Del Muerto". The intros seemed to simply be thrown in, weren’t cohesive and failed to give beautiful transitions to the next song. Although many tracks didn’t flow with their intros, the band did an outstanding job introducing the song "Iridescent" with the intro track "Wisdom, Justice, and Love".

In addition, the album also has new and inviting tracks, such as "When They Come For Me", which evokes Eastern musical influence incorporated in the drumming.

Meanwhile, "Waiting for the End" expresses some of the efforts put forth in their new album, starting off with Mike Shinoda’s hip-hop core. It then allows the band to display their intricate music style with Chester Bennington’s soulful voice.

Linkin Park still hits listeners with impressive lyrics, such as those in "Burning in the Skies", with lines like: “We held our breath when the clouds began to form / But you were lost in the beating for the storm.”

Although A Thousand Suns isn’t as legendary as 2003’s Meteora, Linkin Park has still managed to create a unique and original album.

Linkin Park will jumpstart their A Thousand Suns World Tour in 2011.