I’ve been a Linkin Park fan almost from the beginning. The first time I saw their music video for “One Step Closer” on MTV I was blown away. As a kid who wasn’t allowed to listen to rap or rock if it had cursing in it, LP filled that gap and acted like a bridge between the two worlds. Chester Bennington’s screamo and Mike Shinoda’s rhymes became the soundtrack to my morning routine throughout high school. Although I continued to collect their albums in college, I fell off with them when I got into K-Pop and then I completely stopped listening when Chester passed away.
Now all these years later, LP is back with a new album, From Zero, and a new lead singer, Emily Armstrong. I was highly skeptical. I believe that enough time has passed since Chester’s death that continuing with the band isn’t disrespectful to his memory. At the same time, I felt that it would never be the same LP that I knew and loved without him.
Ultimately, I decided that I owed it to myself as a long-time fan to check the album out before I make any assumptions or jump to conclusions. I was pleasantly surprised with the results! Here, I’m going to briefly discuss one track that represents my favorite, least favorite, and stand-out songs.
Top Favorite
The From Zero song that ended up being my favorite is “Overflow” (Track 7). The lyrics paint a picture of despair.
From a personal level, it could be about a person’s bad mental state. “We’re going down…/It’s all the same to me” sounds like something a depressed person would say. The days all blend into one another, everything sucks. A lot of people are stressed out, suffering from financial insecurity, and struggling with societal problems like sexism, racism, and homophobia. No matter how much they try to stay positive, the negatives continue to add up. Eventually, the negative side will tip the scales. “End the world and push the button” is like saying that God should just nuke the planet and start over again. Bring the flood, as some older folks like to say.
From a political level, it could be interpreted as a reference to the transition from the former administration to the current one: “Turnin’ from a white sky to a black hole/Turnin’ from the sunlight to a shadow.” Things weren’t perfect before, but they were a lot better than they’ve been since you-know-who took office. Watching everything go down the toilet, the insane switch up from hopeful progression to doom-and-gloom regression was jarring.
The song’s mood reflects the lyrics. The music has a slow, trippy atmosphere. Most of the instruments don’t kick in hard until the chorus. Mike carries the vocals through the verses. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of Mike’s singing. It’s not a talent issue. He has a good voice. I just think he does his best work when he’s rapping.
That said, “Overflow” is one of those times when his singing voice fits the song extremely well. He sing-raps, seamlessly dipping in and out of the two modes. Meanwhile, Emily does the pre-chorus in a soft tone and growls through the chorus. The two harmonize perfectly together as well. I dig it.
Honorable Mention: “Two Faced” (Track 8).
Least Favorite
“Casualty” (Track 6) was my least favorite song on the album. From what I gather, it’s a song about betrayal and gaslighting. The narrator is in a relationship with someone they trusted and loved, to the point where they were blind to their partner’s toxic behavior (“I got too complacent/Bleached in the eyes”). But now their eyes are open. They’re not going to let their partner turn things around on them and make them take the blame for everything (“Closing the doors up while I’m/Fed to the dogs”). They’re taking their power back. People always forget that you shouldn’t piss off someone who knows where the bodies are buried (“I know all the secrets you keep/I/I won’t be/I won’t be your casualty”).
I knew this song was going to be a lot because in the aftermath of the previous track, Mike tells Emily, “Get your screaming pants on.” And scream is exactly what she does, from beginning to end. It fits the tone and the lyrics, but I don’t care for it. Emily’s screamo is fairly strong, but she definitely hits the limits of it here. Her voice starts to wear thin. Mike’s raps, on the other hand, are angry and sharp.
The bottom line here is that my tolerance for that amount of screaming isn’t remotely as high as it was when I was a teenager. I can’t take it. I’m sorry, I’m not that rock and roll.
Honorable Mention: “IGYEIH” (Track 10).
Stand-Out Track
I keep going back to “Over Each Other” (Track 5). It’s about a couple who has reached the stage in their relationship where things are falling apart and the end is nigh. The narrator, one half of the couple, describes how things started and how they got to this point. What it boils down to is that they can’t resolve their situation because they’re both so busy trying to tell their side of things that they can’t (or won’t) hear each other. It’s a vicious cycle.
Over the course of the song, the punctuating line in the chorus evolves from “All we are is talking/Over each other” to “I’m so tired of talking/Over each other” to “We don’t have to be talking/Over each other.” I think this shows the progression of the relationship’s erosion. With the last iteration, the narrator has drawn a line in the sand. If they can’t figure out how to stop this destructive behavior, they can stop talking altogether, just go their separate ways.
“Over Each Other” stands out for me because it’s like Emily’s true introduction. It’s one of those LP songs like “Breaking The Habit” or “In Pieces” where the screamo and rap are set aside for a moment to let the lead singer sing above a mid-tempo, pop-like melody. Emily carries the song by herself and delivers beautiful vocals. You can really feel the pain and emotion in the words.
Honorable Mention: “The Emptiness Machine” (Track 2).
Verdict
So, where does that leave me as a modern LP fan? I don’t know. I’m still on the fence.
From Zero is a near-perfect album. All of the songs are strong and well-produced. Even the two songs that I don’t particularly like aren’t bad, just not to my personal taste. More importantly, the album feels like the Linkin Park of old. The music sounds exactly how I would expect a Linkin Park album to sound, even all these years later. They’ve matured and evolved, yes, but they haven’t changed. There’s comfort in that. I still know what I’m getting with them.
I love that they chose a woman lead singer this time. It’s a ballsy move given the fact that both rock and rap tend to look down on women. This fits LP’s image, as they’ve always seemed future-facing or a step ahead in a lot of ways. It’s also a genius move because it makes it feel less like they’re replacing Chester. It’s like comparing apples to oranges. Emily’s voice is reminiscent enough of Chester’s voice that she can credibly sing their old material and seamlessly blend into the new stuff, but she also brings her own flair to it. That’s a difficult balance to strike.
And yet, there are apparently some issues surrounding Emily floating around. I’m not sure how I feel about those allegations or her response to them. I’m not sure how I feel about her as a person yet. The whole situation almost feels like a set-up, like someone purposely dug up dirt to discredit the female lead singer. Wouldn’t be the first time.
In any case, I don’t like being in the position of possibly having to separate the artist from the music when it comes to one of my favorite bands. Only time will tell how this shakes out.
Album Cover Credit: By Linkin Park, LLC under exclusive license to Warner Records Inc. – Prostudiomasters, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77810930