March 25, 2003 - Meteora

Three weeks after my last release and almost two and a half years since "Hybrid Theory", Linkin Park released their second album "Meteora" on March 25, 2003. Guitarist Brad Delson also handled the bass duties on their awesome debut album, but on this album Linkin Park become a six-piece as Dave "Phoenix" Farrell joins as their full-time bassist. Linkin Park are still playing the same nu-metal style, combining Mike Shinoda'a rapping with Chester Bennington's one-of-a-kind singing/screaming, and this album would soar to #1 on the charts and even outsold their debut! That's really saying something, let's check it out!

The opening track is "Foreword" and it's a mere 13 seconds long. Some banging leads to the sound of breaking glass right as we move into the next track "Don't Stay" where Delson comes in with a solid guitar riff to keep the pace and Joe Hahn comes slamming in with some cool turntables. Chester sings a nice smooth verse with a couple nice yelling parts and things roll right into a similarly catchy chorus with some nice typical heavy guitars and bass. Mike doesn't rap at all on this one, but I don't miss him, Chester does a great job leading the way on this pretty cool, high energy opener. Track 3 is one of many very popular singles off this album and it's called "Somewhere I Belong". Rob Bourdon plays a nice light drum beat while Hahn adds some more quirky turntables, Delson starts off with a light guitar riff, but they nicely slam into a loud and heavy riff, then quiet things down again for the first verse. Mike takes the lead vocals with some decent rapping while Chester adds some nice backing vocals and they slam nicely into the heavy chorus where Chester holds some pretty epic long notes. It's easy to see why this was a succesful single, it's got a fast yet catchy verse and a simple, but heavy and catchy chorus as well. After another round Chester leads a solid new part with some more simple but heavy guitar by Delson, then it's back for a couple choruses to wrap up this single. Up next is "Lying From You" and we get a taste of the verse with some cool keyboards by Shinoda that mix well with Hahn's turntables, and then a taste of the chorus with a really great guitar riff that is groovy and also quite heavy! Mike raps the verse overtop the quiet but catchy beat and he adds some solid backing vocals in the heavy chorus while Chester screams some wonderfully long notes that sound so good! The two Singers combine really nicely this whole song and Chester's screams are so fucking good! Track 5 is "Hit The Floor" and once again they start off the song by giving us a taste of the verse and chorus before diving into the first full verse. It's another quietly epic main riff with some catchy guitar and some cool turntables, and it's yet another heavy but very catchy chorus riff that hits nice and hard and is impossible not to headbang to. Mike raps a very fast verse and sounds pretty good and he and Chester work off each other perfectly in the chorus with a back-and-forth between rapping and some fantastic screaming vocals by Chester. They don't stray far from this, but you don't need to when it's a short song under three minutes, it sounds great the whole way through! Up next is "Easier To Run" and the pace slows down significantly on this one with Delson playing a slow, light guitar riff in the verse and switching to a heavy, but still slow riff in the chorus. Chester sings a slow epic chorus that is pretty sad when the lyrics are about running away from your bad memories. Chester's verse is light but he still sounds so good, and Mike plays some pop-y keyboards and adds some backing rapping vocals. They stick to the main drag again, but it's a slow, epic ride the whole way through. Track 7 was another huge single titled "Faint" and it's driven by a high-pitched yet somehow catchy keyboard riff by Shinoda and a pretty catchy drumbeat by Bourdon. Delson of course gives us a taste of the heavy chorus to come before Mike fires off on a fast rapping verse and it's a very interesting mix. The chorus is heavy and catchy as usual and Chester sings a nice chorus that matches the mood perfectly. It's another no-brainer of a single for these guys, how could you motivate get into the catchy verse and headbanging chorus. Chester then screams a new part and he of course sounds phenomenal, spicing up an already pretty cool tune! The next track is "Figure.09" and it follows the same formula of giving us a taste of the lighter verse and the heavy chorus before they dive into the first verse. Mike raps a pretty cool verse and Chester sings a powerful chorus and together things sound pretty headbangingly good. Mike raps another cool part after the next round and Chester adds a few nice screams that blend in really nicely. Another pretty cool tune! Track 9 is another massively succesful single called "Breaking The Habit" and Hahn plays some catchy and cool turntables along with Delson's light but catchy guitar to make a very accessible and interesting main riff. Chester sings a nice verse that matches the mood perfectly and things roll right into a very similarly catchy chorus. After a couple rounds Chester yells a few lines and sounds pretty epic, then they fall right back into a final chorus to predictably wrap things up. Not one of their heavier (or better) songs, but it was a bona-fide single for sure! Up next is "From The Inside" and Shinoda plays some pretty epic keyboards that mix well with Delson's slow, heavy guitar riff and Hahn adds some cool turntables to complete this interesting main riff. Chester and Mike mix singing and rapping in the verse and it sounds pretty smooth, then they slam into the heavy chorus with Chester holding some nice long notes. After the next round Chester starts to scream very nicely overtop some super heavy guitars by Delson and this part sounds fantastic! They finish it off with a final chorus and this was yet another well above average tune! Track 11 is "Nobody's Listening" and it's got a very interesting main riff driven by some guitar and keyboards that sound very East Asian. Bourdon adds a catchy drum beat, Hahn has some more scratches and Mike begins to rap overtop and this is certainly an experiment for these guys, but it's interesting! Delson adds some simple, low guitar to the chorus and Chester sings a pretty catchy chorus, all with the East Asian vibes continuing in the background. They don't really stray from this and it does start to drag a bit by the end. It's a decent song, but a lesser one compared to the other great ones on this album. The next track is an instrumental called "Session" and it's a showcase for some cool drums by Bourdon and some lead turntables by Hahn. Shinoda adds some light piano as well and things start slow, but as the song goes on Hahn starts to get more and more crazy and by the end he's spinning and Scratching all kinds of fast and cool beats! The final song on the album is also it's most popular song by far (and that's saying something) and it's titled "Numb". Shinoda plays the iconic keyboard riff, Hahn adds some coop backing turntables, and then Delson comes slamming in with some slow, but nice and heavy guitar. The guitar quickly drops away for the quiet verse as Chester sings in a really nice high voice and Mike eventually joins in with some backing rapping. The chorus has the loud guitars again and Chester singing a great loud chorus that is just undeniably catchy and cool! This is nu-metal made-for-radio at it's finest as they roll through another round, then Chester belts out a great new verse before they seamlessly return to the chorus to jam it out a few times. Chester is the highlight of the whole song, his singing is just so solid!

That is the end of "Meteora" and I thought it was another pretty awesome album by Linkin Park! It's overflowing with catchy nu-metal beats and riffs and there's everything from several accessible but solid singles, to ballads and experimentation. I think it's a very complete album and the fact that I think it surpasses "Hybrid Theory" should really tell you how good it is! Have Linkin Park peaked? They couldn't possibly top this, could they?