Linkin Park // Burn It Down

I get worried when a band say their new album sounds like a mixture of their old albums. Often it ends up that they’ve run out ideas or are playing it safe and trying to regain popularity after a new sound resulted in a decline in sales. Linkin Park are planning on mixing their old nu metal style with their newfound electronic sounds on fifth album “Living Things”, so will they fall into this deadly trap?

We won’t know until the album drops on June 26, but things seem quite promising with the release of lead single “Burn It Down”. It’s nothing groundbreaking, mixing earlier sounds with a synth groove reminiscent of “A Thousand Suns” and a big pop chorus  that wouldn’t be out of place on “Minutes To Midnight” - but it does it well. With a hard hitting industrial beat and a stellar verse from Mike Shinoda, the band have taken the good parts from their earlier material and added a slight pop appeal to survive in today’s musical climate.

I’m not sure what to expect from “Living Things”. I’m not one of those fans who complains that they should go back to the way they used to be, because I find it boring when a band sticks to the same formula time and time again. In fact despite a few duller moments I found “A Thousand Suns” a very good album, albeit one I got tired of a little too quickly. However if the whole album was like this I probably would find myself a little bored.

It’s great that Linkin Park are mixing their previous styles, I just hope they’re not retracing their steps with this album. I’d love something as good as “Numb” or “Faint” on here, but instead of trying to recreate old sounds hopefully the band have created something great in a more natural way. Besides, some things were better left in 2003.