Heraclitus – a Greek philosopher from the 6th century BC – once said something to the effect of: "You cannot step into the same river twice." With all due respect: He doesn’t know a damn thing, that Mr. Heraclitus! You can step into the same damn river at least three times!
That’s roughly what my inner thought world looked like when my buddy marked the daily greeting of the groundhog with his "Hey-I-have-something-for-you-again" routine.
Yes, it’s that time again: Linkin Park has released a new album, and I’m the poor soul who once again sets off to explore the potential shallows of a once-great band.
However, the rating above already hints at a rather surprising outcome:
Yes, it’s really true. With "Hunting Party," Linkin Park has actually managed to positively surprise me after all the failures and miseries. What happened? There are one or two reasons that I personally would not have expected:
For example, the instruments finally have some worthy appearances again and partially reproduce that typical "Linkin Park" sound. My buddy even said about some songs: "It sounds like they’ve been locked in the basement for years… and now they’re free again and bringing out everything they weren’t allowed to do before." I don’t quite see it that way, but it is really refreshing to hear the old noise-makers again. Songs like "Keys to the Kingdom," "All for Nothing," and "Wastelands" were genuinely surprising at times and even managed to bring a nostalgically tinged smile to my lips.
Speaking of noise-makers: Chester and Mike (both vocals) have also found their roots again at times, meaning: Beautiful vocal interludes, hard rap phrases, and brutal screams can be found on "The Hunting Party" and dock right back at the point where the guys stood before "A Thousand Suns." In the aforementioned songs, the range in which the guys know how to sing becomes truly tangible. The usual variety is paired with the nice feeling of "Good to see you again!" I like it!
Doesn’t sound so bad, does it?
In itself, no, not really. But unfortunately, "The Hunting Party" also has a few serious flaws…
Because despite the great joy of reunion with some beloved "Linkin Park traditions," the legacy of the last terrible albums still hangs heavily. The partially unbearable poppy and cheesy interchangeable character of other songs will likely be indelibly associated with this band. It seems that Linkin Park – despite great efforts and some successful surprises – have found their fixed line and will now consistently continue it.
One could say that everything that was already bothersome about the last albums still exists, but is somewhat mitigated by the above positive aspects. Linkin Park thus delivers the morphine for the broken leg right along with it.
So, that’s roughly how the pleasure with "The Hunting Party" unfolds: First, you are positively surprised and invited for an emotional beer, before getting a kick in the face, only to be comforted again. The impressions even switched back and forth so quickly that I couldn’t keep up with my own evaluation. Especially the beginning was quite mixed.
In the end, however, it was genuinely nice to hear something "old and new" from the guys. However, it also firmly stands for me that the era of "Linkin Park" came to an end after the "Meteora" album. Everything that came after is, in my eyes, a long journey that took many unnecessary detours and completely lost sight of what had made the actual path.
It would be nice if "The Hunting Party" were the last thing released under the once-great name. It’s time to draw a line after a small success. Definitively.
This article was automatically translated by AI.
