I may have come off in my last review of a Linkin Park song that I maybe did not like their style of music. I would like to reiterate that I enjoy their style of nu-metal, and just disliked how the reanimation mix was approached stylistically. I would like to state that Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington were and are one of the most vocally distinct duos in the past 20 ish years. The main issue I have with their earlier albums (Hybrid Theory, Meteora, Minutes to Midnight) is that they, in simple terms, sound the same. Listening through A Thousand Suns was a breath of fresh air to me, and I would like to talk about one specific song…

Waiting for the End by Linkin Park may just be one of my favourite songs Linkin Park has ever produced. Earlier works have Chester putting a lot of his pent-up emotions behind screams of anguish, while the later works have him put them into pained lyrics. Waiting for the End is my pick for the best of both worlds. Linkin Park utilizes their signature rap-rock style and even a bit of their geometric production courtesy of Mike Shinoda. Building upon a guitar riff not dissimilar from radio waves, once that Runaway-Esque piano arrives the song delves into a topic, mostly foreign to mainstream Linkin Park, of hope for the future. Linkin Park, and more specifically Chester himself, use a lot of personal feelings to build lyrics and vocal styles, as mentioned previously, yet Waiting for the End (and other tracks off of A Thousand Suns) had Chester start using a softer and less abrasive vocal style. He still hit the similar high and low tones found on tracks from Hybrid Theory, but this style is still distinct to music post Minutes to Midnight.

So I’ve discussed the differences, yet there is still something that prevents me from saying that this is just selling out. Rather, I enjoy Waiting for the End for its familiarity with their previous works. Chester may have adopted a different vocal style, yet the rest of the production and instrumentals I find nostalgic. Mike Shinoda does what he does best with his rap-rock bars. The balance between the old and familiar with the new and fresh sold this song for me. The layered guitar and piano, the punchy drums, and even the dj scratch near the end tell me that they remixed their style just enough to hook attentive listeners on a blossoming approach of Linkin Park during the 2010s. Even on a larger scale, A Thousand Suns serves as an excellent guidepost between the old and new Linkin Park.

8.5/10

I guess we will all be waiting for the end tonight, except for New Zealanders and some Russians who got a head start (shout out to any followers in the Eastern Hemisphere). Here’s to a better year than the last two!