Reviews (page 10 of 13)
They have a formula. It works but by the end of the album it gets a bit annoying. The DJ is a bit dated but honestly it's some good high-energy moping.
Recognizing the historical place for this genre, it's not for me.
Was a great album. Very motivating. Classic songs
I’d never listened to the full album but was familiar with the hits. Still not a fan, it’s a little too vanilla, but I can appreciate the artistry and skill of the band.
This came out when I was 15 and it is absolutely perfect for a 15 year old. Listening to it as an adult, it feels very emotionally and musically repetitive.
very late 90s earl 00's male voice style. Fine but not particularly original vs other similar artists of the time. a bit of RATM lite with synth. A soupcon of Moist. a Hint of Duran Duran in 'With you'. I found Crawling and Runaway repetitive and screamy, skipped about 3/4 through. Honestly most of this album is Repetitive screamy. I don't mind screamy, I can tolerate Diamanda Galas. I mind screamy when it's the same scream over and over again. Get off my lawn! Overall Meh
3.4
Some quintessential Linkin Park tracks carry this album. Some dated sounding production but paired with tremendous vocal performances. A lot of the instrumentation has it's strong points but has a tendency to sound pretty generic. The rap sections tend to kill the momentum of some of these tracks as well. Favorite tracks: Least favorite tracks: One Step Closer, Crawling, In The End. By Myself, Cure for the Itch.
It’s aged well
Good vocals. Hits still hit
It seems like everybody I hung out with in the late 90s and early 00s LOVED Linkin Park. I like the continual use of 2 vocalists with very different voices. I like how they span - and maybe helped define - multiple genres. The only down-side - and this is entirely my own down-side - I don't actually LIKE most of those genres. In particular, I ABHOR when a male vocalist screams into a mic in every. single. song. So +5 for genre setting. -2 for just not doing it for me. Balance it out with 3 stars.
If you would have asked me how many songs I've heard from these guys, my answer would be, not many. Now that I've listened, I realize I have heard a lot of their stuff. The name Chester Bennington, well I can tell you he was very good friends with Chris Cornell and after realizing the connection, I got pretty pissed off. Chester spoke at Chris's funeral and sang Hallelujah. He got to witness the destruction of suicide and the impact on all the lives around him. 2-3 months later, he does the same. Fucken bullshit. Fuck both you guys. I know of a pretty good bassist who took your route. I'm pissed and I'm angry right now, gogdamnit. Rant over. Musically, I thought these guys rocked out and recognized many of their songs. Paper Cut was a great opener and One Step Closer is a song that would be a great workout tune. You can hear and feel the angst, tension and anger in his singing. I was thinking a little like Rage, but Rage was angry at the system and our fucked up government leaders. Chester is angry at himself and his fucked up relationships. Big difference. Back to the music, I enjoyed most of the album and songs. Crawling, Runaway and In The End were all very good. Something about My December stuck with me and may be my 2nd favorite after One Step Closer. I was really hoping High Voltage was a AC/DC cover. Anyway, solid album. Happy to be introduced to a band I knew was there, but did not give the proper time and listen. Have to say the circumstances and connection to one of my favorite singers has left me pretty worked up. 1st song after album ended was Bombtrack by Rage. Cornell, Soundgarden and AIC all followed. Good listening when album ended too. I'm going with 3.5. I'd listen again, but just can't get to a 4 on the scoreboard
I've heard this album many times but honestly I felt I needed a refresher because I could only remember a few tracks. Listening again I can see why. I feel like they hadn't quite found their sound yet what with this being Linkin Park's first major album and all. There are gems and nuggets that sound like the monster they become though and those are all of the big hits. I think this album's biggest issue is it's nu-metal edge. I'm glad they shifted away from this sound because I think it served them better. There were a few more tracks this time around that I appreciate more than I did in high school but it's still not Meteora or Minutes to Midnight. Not just yet. 3
3.5 A few surprises for me with this one. First, holy cow, I did not realize this album came out in 2000. If you asked me, I probably would have told you like 2005/2006. I remember this album being huge when I was younger - like, this was the stuff on the playground that kids who were inevitably going to either join the military or drop out and become a teen dad (or both) listened to. Second surprise was how much of this I actually recognized. Looking at the tracklist, the only song title that stood out to me was In The End, but when I actually gave a listen, about half the songs in the front half had me like “Oh yeahhhh I remember this one”. Granted, a lot of these sound kind of the same so that also may very well have been a factor. Third surprise… I did not realize Linkin Park was a rap metal band. Like, yes, I knew they played hard rock and incorporated rap on some tracks, but as far this album goes, this is straight up rap metal, similar to groups like Papa Roach and Limp Bizkit, and as a result, this album very much feels like an early 2000s time capsule. Not to say that’s necessarily a bad thing though - I would still very much put this above anything by their aforementioned contemporary groups. As someone who’s never been particularly invested in Linkin Park, I can see what drove people to this - there’s a fun, angsty energy all-around that was great to work out to at the gym. But they eventually weaned off a bit from this sound, right? The two other songs I’m familiar with by the group are Numb and What I’ve Done (the latter probably being my favorite of theirs), and I would definitely classify those as hard/borderline alternative rock more so than rap metal. I digress, this didn’t expand my fandom of the band by much, but I had a good time. 3.5 may be a little high, but it hit me with a weird high of nostalgia that’s hard to come by, so we’ll go with it. RIP Chester
Oh wow take me back to middle school! This is a bit much for me right now and I didn't listen to it often enough to be nostalgic but it's certainly not bad! It's just not my go-to genre.
Judge me if you want but this goes hard. Brings back a lot of nostalgia for making fun of Crawling but you know what it's a fun song.
Standout Tracks: Crawling, In the End
Album 2 of 1001 Favorite song(s): In the End This album is designed for a specific type of person and I'm surprised with how many people hate it that it still went 12x Platinum. I was 7 when this album came out and wasn't for me at the time. But as I have grown older and appreciated metal more over time I can see why it was popular but I probably won't go back to it save for the occasional meme that uses "Crawling" or "In the End". There are songs to appreciate but...in the end...there is other metal I would rather listen to.
Tough first album to listen to in this project. Sounds very 2000s, which would make it quite a trendsetter I suppose. I liked it, but I don't think I can tell nu metal bands apart just yet.
A good album which carries memories for me from a very specific period of time but, while there are a few very good songs, I do find Linkin Park’s style gets repetitive.
The epitome of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. Enjoy the same formula 11 times. Saving grace was the instrumental one. Loved that one
I can see why 13 year olds loved this
Nu-metal, rap-metal. I would like thus if u was younger but it just comes across as ranting kids with guitars and turntables. It is melodic at times and I remember the hits.
Bonus point for "In the End", "Crawling" and partly "One Step Closer", the rest really can't catch me and would be a 2.
Not really a fan of the band. This album was pretty innovative for the time and I did like the songs. But they were really just a one trick pony.
Very “emo” quite depressing lyrics which are harsh to listen to in retrospect of Chester's suicide. A successful blend of heavy rock, rap, electronica and acceleration rock. Two singers range from rap to rock screaming with accessible singing in between. Guitar riffs are thick and beefy. Neither too hardcore, ugly or industrial. Like Faith No More, but higher ratio of good songs. Pretty good - a 3.5 stars. I also throughly enjoyed the Jay-Z collaboration mini album.
Not really a fan of these music, but it's fun trying it out.
i'm not the biggest nu-metal fan, so this album wasn't something i would choose for myself, but I can see the appeal it held in the 2000s. some of the tracks seemed to blend together for me, but my personal favorite was "cure for the itch."
Solid album.
Well, it was better than Justified. I wouldn't listen to it again, but I didn't hate it. It reminds me of when I was listening to bands that were playing at the Family Values tour, back when I was in middle school. But like then, I prefer the other bands to Linkin Park, and their albums to this album.
I don't think I've seen an album or a band divide people so much as this but I neither like or hate it. It's just generic. I listened to a song with 1.5 billion listens in Spotify and marvelled that not only have I not heard it before but that there was nothing distinguishable about it. Indeed as others have said this is carefully constructed to appeal. And appeal is does, to a huge army of listeners in this genre.
I was reluctant to listen to this but I actually enjoyed some songs. I think you need to have been a very specific age when this came out, it was one of the first albums I bought. Everyone listened to this when I was in school, and it it was a bit of an equaliser for those that liked hip hop and those who preferred guitar music. Unfortunately, without the nostalgia factor, the call and response rapping sounds very corny, and the lyrics are like an angsty teen brat who hates their parents for no reason. It’s now quite laughable that there’s no swearing in the album, just shouting things like “go away” and “shut up”, along with threats of running away. It was a nice trip down nu-metal memory lane but a strange choice for this list.
Heti projektin ensimmäiseksi albumiksi valikoitui teini-Geon vakkariluukutuslevy. Satunnaisia Hybrid Theoryn kappaleita on tullut kuunneltua tässä vuosien mittaan, mutta edellisestä läpikuuntelusta oli varmasti 10+ vuotta. En tiedä kuinka paljon menee nostalgian piikkiin ja kuinka paljon Chester Benningtonin kuolema vaikuttaa, mutta jotenkin katkeransuloinen kuuntelukokemus. Kyllä tämä on luettava niihin "tärkeiden nuorisolaisuuslevyjen" joukkoon jotka ainakin just sillä hetkellä muuttivat maailmaa.
I've always liked this album, not as much as Meteora but it's good some good tracks. However it does sound very over produced in today's ears.
At first I didn’t like it. And then I realised I wasn’t meant to like it, I was meant to *feel* it. “Feel” meaning get angry and throw my arms around in intrinsic, uncoordinated fashions on the “Dance floor” at the local bar’s “Nu-Metal Mondays”.
Very much a product of its time.
This is a pretty basic pop album that pretends to be something edgy. Overall, the hooks are catchy, the instrumentals are ok, the vocal delivery is impressive... I was asking myself what is it that I don't like about this music? And I think that it sounds insincere, overproduced, written track by track using a template. All of the songs blend together, they seem like they are all sketches/variations of the same song that actually worked out really well - In the End (it still bangs after all these years). It was a great gateway album into music for a lot of angsty teenagers back in the early 2000s. But it doesn't really work outside of that context. It's a 2, but I'm going to bump it to 3 due to all the nostalgia.
Well, it would be an exaggeration to suggest that I enjoyed this. Numetal is not my bag, baby. Saying that, one has to accept that it was a thing once, and these guys picked up that thing and ran with it. It pretty much has to be considered the epitome of the genre, selling more than anything else numetal before or since. One could observe (and in my other reviews, I have) that the early 2000s was where music died. Linkin Park is almost proof positive of this. Highly compressed and loud, this is music designed for radio play, or low-bitrate playback on headphones. It came just a tiny little bit too late for Napster, but just in time for the Cambridge Soundworks 2.1 PC satellite speakers and sub (unless you are born after 2005, you know exactly what I'm talking about) combo. And this music is made for that. Because it lacks dynamic range, because it's just loud, it gets tiring fast. I completely accept that a couple of tracks here and there are actually pretty good to listen to, but I tell you what - writing this review on my phone, I've played a couple of seconds of a few tracks to try and pick out the ones I enjoyed when I was listening this morning on my stereo... And my phone speaker loses nothing of this music. It's bonkers to me how everything is squished into the middle. I guess my distaste for numetal, my dismay at the loudness and the "early 2000s" clause are gonna have to brush up against the zenith of genre and peak popularity and do what the producer did, and squeeze everything to the middle.
Slaps but just linkin park
Interesting album. It's not quite depressing, and not very angry, but you can feel the lead singer's pain.
have heard before. is good but not for me
Nu-Metal Lite™
Although a little harder than I usually like this was well done.
Too much screamy stuff for my liking. But some decent playing hidden in between. My son likes it.
Kind of surprised at my overall enjoyment of this. Never heard it, know the band exists, possibly a couple of singles somewhere along the line, but no familiarity. Not bad. A bit of a pastiche of various styles, sort of unique, yet derivative.
Ich dachte das album wäre schlimmer. linkin park generell spricht teenager an, vor allem mit den sehr einfachen lyrics. bisschen über produziert aber insgesamt nicht so schlimm wie erwartet. 2.5/5
Stands the test of time, great performances. A great mix of genres and production. Attention to detail. Better than the bands during that time for sure. 5/5
3.5
Ah Hybrid Theory. The CD i loved to spin when i was 10-11 alongside Sum 41's All Killer No Filler. Unfortunately only one of those albums remains in my library. Hybrid theory was a really fun album to bring a young listener into new genres that may not have had play for a young person in the early 2000s. Chester Bennington's voice has a great rasp for ripping through angst-filled lyrics and Mike Shinoda's backing vocals brings a different element and emotional tone to each song. The melodic tunes are still fun for a spin, but Nu-Metal's struggles of being very open and heavy on the effects of their instruments stops this work from being more valuable and long-lasting. I recommend this album being blended into a headbanger's mix. Linkin Park builds up the tracks well and allow Chester great space for shredding out painful lyrics. The instrumentals and diversity of sound is lacking, but if you LOVE this sound--Hybrid Theory does not disappoint. I still enjoy Papercut and One Step Closer, In The End has been unfortunately meme'd to death, and a few tracks that try moving away from headbanging into strings and keys struggle to find a home for the core sound of Nu Metal.
A “classic” of the nu metal/ rap rock genres, an era of music that was generally regrettable. I will admit I owned and blasted this at various points of my teenage years, and it certainly is packed with hook ridden tracks. The lyrics are comical and overly aggro and just plain bad in most cases. The “rapping” is also pretty pitiful. I’ll throw this a bone for nostalgia’s sake.
Top 3 Songs: 1 - One Step Closer (2) 2 - By Myself (7) 3 - Papercut (1)
Linkin Park had two highlights, each of appropriate magnitude. First, Crawling is the relaxed sibling of In the End. If the transition between the two was managed, you would have a restrained thirty-minute version of angst: the album. Alas. Second, the guitar tone reminder of certain eras of old favorite Skillet. That band also tried to rip off NIN, but ended up... where they are today. Linkin Park avoided that pitfall, at least, and are an easy choice over several contemporaries.
Actually kinda fun. Quite nostalgic. Chester vocals are best Linkin Park vocals.
Good solid nu-metal album that takes a few times to really appreciate it I think
This was in my regular rotation in high school. I fully expected to listen and write a review stating that this album was the exception to the rule that nu-metal sucks. I don't know if it didn't age well or if I just didn't know better back then. Probably a bit of both. I always knew it was a bit over-the-top in the emo/angst department, but this was more extreme than I remembered. It's kind of embarrassing that this album was put out by people old enough to know better, but honestly, good for them for commanding the adolescent market. I come away from this conflicted. It feels like the album is simultaneously ground-breaking and derivative, if that makes sense. Anyway, I wanted to give a better score, but that feels dishonest. Best track: Pushing Me Away
The perfect album for angsty teenagers. 4 The genre these guys spawned has a special place in my heart. But "In the End" was always overrated. 3
If I’m being fair this album is a 3 it’s not bad and just because it was a big part of my youth doesn’t make it good. Scratch the itch sucked
More of a Meteora type of guy
My brother really loved this album.
It's quite dated for sure, and I probably won't listen to it anytime soon as I've already lost my teen angst, but I can't deny I'm a little into it. 3.5
Men will literally record Hybrid Theory before going to therapy.
Hmmmm, probably a weak 3 for me. In The End is easily a 5 and there’s a few others that I enjoyed, but others were… painful.
Not my type of music, but I have to say, I can see how if you do like this kind of thing, it would be pretty good. Just a great execution of a form that doesn't do it for me
Powerful blend of rock and hiphop/rap. I can see why this would have a grip on angsty teens at the turn of the millennia, but it’s not the type of music I turn to when I’m pissed off. Still, objectively good music.
This record was enjoyable, even though I’m not a big fan of the rapping. Great heavy guitar work.
Raw and lively and very tight production. Lyrically complex but musically a bit too uniform.
Ok - the Coldplay of metal. Almost every song on this album has been a hit, and objectively over the years they are well written songs. The packaged stylings of the era sounds terribly dated, yes, but a good song is a good song. I never really liked this band to be honest, and they were terribly overplayed back in the day, so I cannot bring myself to put this album on rotation willingly, but it's objectively a strong showing and it's never boring.
I definitely like a couple songs here. May need more listens. Honestly a tough choice between 3 or 4. Rounding down for protocol.
I was too old and lacking angst when this album came out for it to really speak to me. I was fine with the hits, In the End is a good song but didn't grab me enough to want to check out more. Listening through now I find the album to be a solid, middle of the road effort but the pseudo-deep lyrics don't bring any punch. Each song is much like the next, any one is fine to listen to on its own, but piled on top of each other the lack of substance is hard to ignore. That said I recognize this album as a bit of a pivot point in music and don't object to its presence on this list. A straight mediocre 2.5 but rounding up for the surprise gem Cure for the Itch.
Linkin Park were always a bit to clinical and ordered for my liking - I went to a gig which has Jay-Z and Linkin Park as co headliners... and by far and away the best act of the day was Enter Shikari. Before LP came on to the stage, little stands were put on top of the monitor speakers so that the band members could look cool by putting a foot up on the speakers, without being unsafe. This album was fairly safe, but still enjoyable. Just missing that bit of chaos or risk.
Linkin Park has a uniquely shifting reputation as both a widely beloved and derided band. Some time ago I decided to listen to find out what it was really like for myself. What I found was better than I expected, worse than I hoped. It certainly has more merit and earnest emotion than the typical nu-metal band, but it also suffers many of the same flaws. Ultimately, I still consider it worth listening to if you haven’t heard it, not only for it’s tastefully short length and since it’s such a defining album of it’s era. On a similar note, I find it disappointing that this is one of the albums that has been cut from the revisions of this 1001 albums book since it is a much more essential album than so many of the other post 2000s picks. It’s also another example of the way emo and it’s adjacent genres are ignored
Helt bra men själva låtarna är inte super spännande och känns inte super speciella bortsett den första, Crawling och In the End.
Wel vet, en In the End blijft een banger. Wel een beetje heftig om te luisteren na een lange dag werken.
Wake me up (wake me up inside) can't wake up (wake me up inside) save mee
"Papercut", "Cure for the Itch", "In the End", "Pushing Me Away" - całuski. Plus "A Place for My Head" za tekst.
Was okay
Takes me back to my mid twenties. But not as good as I remember.
Seminal Linkin Park debut. Nu metal - hip hop rock.
Ei ikinä oo ollu kuppi teetä, mut ymmärrän hypen. Pätevä kokonaisuus
Classic and influential. unfortunately repetitive listening now
Great album, lots of good songs
Staple of my youth but couldn’t get into it. I prefer Reanimation?
Oh, good! In all honesty, I've heard this band's name for years yet somehow never got around to listening to any of their music. I didn't even know what genre or style of music they tend to play. I'm glad this came up. This group is definitely strong and talented as writers and performers. Sound is very tight and well-orchestrated, and I like the blend of styles I hear. Hard rock, rap, post-punk, etc. It could very easily tip into sounding like just too many ingredients but they manage to show enough restraint to avoid that. Nicely done.
Kyllähän tämä on hyvä. Jyrää alusta loppuun tasasen lujaa. Crawlingista kunnon youtube-nostalgiat.
Well this was a lot better than I thought it would be. I already knew the singles but the rest wasn’t as droning as I feared it would be. Not sure I’ll return to it much but it wasn’t a bad listen at all
I mean I know it is a formative album and "In The End" is an all time classic song. But I just can't get into Nu Metal. I don't know what I want to give it, but the aforementioned song is making me lean towards bumping it up to a 3 star.
Hate to say it but I kind of enjoyed this
7/12 I liked more songs than i thought i would. It is a little too nu metal for me, but happy that i listened and enjoyed some songs.
Hit: In the End
I am not one for Nu Metal and the general vibes of Linkin Park, that being said this album is fairly iconic and it is warranted. The unique blend of dark lyrics and themes with unique instrumentation makes it a stand out and among the bands biggest outings. It will be interesting to see the staying power of this album as time progresses, but for its main audience of devotees, it is clear it will become that mainstay.
I still have a vivid memory of “Crawling” playing over the morning announcements on day in 7th grade and everyone freaking out.
Highlights: One Step Closer, Crawling, In The End 3,5/5
In the End dobre, reszta po prostu głośna. 3.5/5
A solid and fun album. Not something I would listen to repeatedly but decent.
Listen - I was the prime audience for this album when it came out and I soaked it up. I can only reflect on it through that lens. But listening to this album over 20 years later certainly hits differently. It is still a banger for me, but knowing where Chester was ultimately at and issues of mental health in teens…it’s more desperate. Not a ground breaking record for music, but a groundbreaking record for me that opened the door for me to appreciation of metal.
I'd do 3.5 if I could.
Has clear highlights that you keep waiting for during the listen, which makes the other moments a bit less enjoyable. Still a classic.
In The End belongs on any and every workout playlist. It's in the middle tier of greatest debut albums of all time.
Þetta er svo furðulegt. Hvernig getur band farið svona í taugarnar á manni og svo 23 árum seinna er það orðið allt í lagi. En ekki meira en allt í lagi. Metalgítarinn mætti svo alveg slaka á.
good songs really good, and for what it is it's fine, the remixes with Jay Z are pretty great
Full of classics but couldn’t get past the Chester Bellow
Nu-metal was never my thing, though I understand the influence this album held for the genre, and for music in general at that time. Chester was a voice for the misunderstood, angry youth, and as such was beloved by many. The lyrics here strike me as borderline juvenile, and the music, while powerful, belongs to the early '00's. An important album, but just an okay listen for me.
Despite never listening to this entire album before, I was certainly familiar with a lot of the songs. Some of the songs are still alright. I am still confused at what Linkin Park wants to be as a band. Metal, Rock, trying to rap, Pop, Angst, Emo, Vamp?, something else entirely. While I do not believe any of these songs were in a Transformers movie, Linkin Park will always remind me of those movies. In fact this album is a lot like a Transformers movie: First, the idea of seems great. Second, it can be entertaining if you aren't watching or listening for substance, plot, continuity, tone, execution, or effort. Third, if you just want explosions and loud noises while nothing makes sense and causes confusions by the choices then the album is alright. I have no desire to revisit this album, but it was short and I didn't skip any songs.
A bit hard edge formy morning commute. Not bad just not Christmas week good
Yeah, nah. Didn't really get into this one. Fave track Cure for the Itch.
Probably the most tolerable of the nu-metal bands. I didn't hate it. Fave track - "In the End", I guess? Or "Crawling" for the "this orange will not peel" meme. 🍊
High school weightlifting ruined this album for me. It pushed me close the edge and now I am gonna break. I am not angry enough for this anymore.
Reminds me of the 2000's, Linkin Park everywhere. Wasn't much into at the time and the record feels like of a time, with what feels like a fair bit of filler. Chester's voice is the highlight of every track. 6/10
Muss ich drei Sterne geben für. Hätte ich nicht gedacht, besser als erwartet.
Somewhat repetitive, but has enough little details a la the synth accents in ‘Points of Authority’ to show that some artistic effort did go into this LP. It’s definitely aged much better than other products of its time and still presents a decent listen.
Buen disco, pero es muy heavy para mi gusto.
3.75
Entertaining, if rarely surprising, and follows the usual themes of feeling like an outsider, misunderstood and mistrustful of conformity. Of course, to get this huge, you have to play the record industry game a bit and so the rebelliousness pose starts to feel insincere. And boy is this album made with radio friendly play in mind - the production isn't spiky or punky at all but polished like a shiny new pin, but this does keep it fresh and satisfying. And it is of course difficult to listen to without thoughts of Bennington's passing. Who knows what that poor man was really going through, despite the honesty and rawness of his lyrics? Was there more that could have been done to help him reach some peace or did he need to continue re-living his trauma on stage and on record? One hopes his art and self expression did more help than harm - if not him personally then perhaps, maybe, amongst Linkin Park's fans.
was a bit pounding for my day ... but I recall several songs. Not my cup of tea unless i was feeling rebellious...probably prefer other albums/artists for that. But lovely to be reminded of some of the songs and connect it to the band Linkin Park!
Holy cow so many Spotify streams! I had no idea how wildly popular this album was. Fun listen.
As with most heavy metal, a little goes a long way for me. They are pretty darn good though.
Decent album. I could see people either loving or hating this one. For me, it was decent. Good instrumentation, but the voices of the singers were annoying from time to time. Might just be a me thing though.
first time listening to linkin park and it wasn’t bad, nice i’m not a huge fan of them (as stated before) but this isn’t a bad album, i think they do a good job of staying consistent nd keeping the listener listening don’t think i’ll come back to it cause it reminds me of a high school bully i had but aside that it’s solid yeah
CRAWLING IN MY SKEEEEEN THESE WOUNDS, THEY WILL NOT HEeeAL Album overall: 6/10
Disclaimer: No, I was not swayed or paid by my Linkin-Park-stan boyfriend to say any of this. Truly is the epitome of "sounds like nothing else I've ever heard before," and it's a sound that can't be replicated by anyone else. It's not necessarily a sound that's really for me, but massive respect to Linkin Park for paving the way for such a creative combo of rap and rock. This sums up the year 2000 pretty well (sure, I wasn't alive yet, but just take my word for it).
this is my first time in a while visiting this one. i can totally see why people really like it, and i really liked a lot of it too - its hooks are really full, the instrumentation knows exactly what it wants to be, and some of the lyrics would be really crushing if they weren't absolutely meme'd to death (i told gannon this - in the end would have absolutely CRUSHED ME if i was a teen going through it in 2000) there are a lot of iconic tracks on this one - one step closer, crawling, by myself, in the end. it's a cultural staple for good reason, and it's a lot more artful in its anger than contemporary tracks like break stuff (fuck you, fred durst). it falls into some of the trappings that i hear with a lot of late 90s/early 2000s music - "we have computers! let's use the computers!" leads to some unnecessary sounds and effects throughout this one, especially on cure for the itch. unfortunately for hybrid theory, it will be forever cemented in the time period it came out in, so it will always be slightly corny, because rap rock is almost always at least slightly corny. sorry. some of the tracks are kind of same-y, too, like in the end and pushing me away, because the genre as a whole kind of limits itself. you rap, and you rock, and you yell, and you angst. it works well here, though, because linkin park is one of the two most insightful and creative groups of people to touch this genre (again, fuck you, fred durst. you suck) ((the other group is system of a down, by the way. all love to serj)). i think the reason i never fully got into linkin park when most people did (teenage years) is that when i'm angry, i listen to sad tracks - phoebe, sufjan, etc. so, i never really fully got the appeal of music like this, this more angry self-reflection. but, again, i can see why other people are really passionate about linkin park, because their work has the potential to really resonate. it falls in well with the other standards i usually find myself judging albums with - it's cohesive, it knows what it is, and it has memorable tracks and moments that i'll take away. while i don't personally see it as an "album i HAD to listen to before i died" or anything like that, i'm glad i revisited it through a critical lens, because i feel like i get it a lot more than the last time i listened.
Even though I classify this as angry white guy music it really does kind of slap. Growing up listening to it in my dads car likely plays a role.
Listening to this makes me think of what Nirvana might have sounded like if they let rap/hip-hop influence their style. Overall, I think the lyrics are pretty powerful even if I don't love the delivery.
very heavy, in the end, crawling good songs too much screaming in it for me
I feel like I should like this more than I do. On the face it checks a lot of boxes that matches at lot of my favourite music. Heavy epic guitars, lots of texture, melodic soaring choruses. Sadly it just feels too one dimensional and paced. Too teenage angsty with the songs blending into each other. 'MOM, KNOCK BEFORE YOU COME INTO MY ROOM! They don't understand me...'
Linkin Park's sound is very well-polished, but I found this album relentless and exhausting. Maybe that's the point; I just wish it let off the gas for a little bit. I hate to say it, but I think Limp Bizkit are a better nu metal band - at least they knew how to have fun and injected some variety into their albums.
p good.
Best Song: In The End. Exactly the right amount of angst, with a chorus that just asks to be sung in chorus. Worst Song: Papercut. Pretty rough start to the album. Really makes me realize how much their music can be classified as "rap rock". Don't know how I never made that connection before. It feels obvious now. Overall: When I saw this come up I was excited because I thought I love Linkin Park. After listening to it, I realize I actually just kind of like Linkin Park. That approachable "edginess" and angst was really evocative to me when I was listening to this in my teens, but now I can see the parts that are a bit shallow, or a bit cheesy. Not to say that I think current Me has the accurate read on the quality of this album, but I think it needs to be appreciated by someone at a very particular phase in their life. This would be Holden Caulfield's favourite album.
More 3 1/2 stars. I really wanted to give this 4 or higher as there are some powerful songs on here. I am being honest, this album is overwrought with Nu-Metal plating and pre-emo histrionics which dampen the obvious fury rather than enhance it.
I ended up kinda liking it. Reminds me of prog metal at times, like Dream Theater. But more edgy, like Slipknot or Rage Against the Machine. Also had some strong pop punk elements? Like MCR? I don’t like rap at all, but it’s at least cooler when paired with heavy metal guitar
A textbook in how to turn teenage angst into the musical equivalent of fast food. (6/10) FT: One Step Closer, In The End
It's ok. Probably won't listen again. Singer's voice is a bit annoying.
A staple in the early 2000's nu-metal/rap genre. Fun and energetic, but I wouldn't consider it high art and find it comes across as dorky/angsty for the most part. I'm sure this is heavily nostalgic to some; however, it personally feels more like a guilty pleasure in 2022 than a classic album (although I will say it's impressive for a debut). There are undoubtedly some great tracks on here, but it just is not my style overall. It's cool that they have two vocalists with distinctive styles; however, that doesn't prevent most songs sounding exactly the same. I actually ended up recognizing more track than I expected ('Papercut', 'Crawling', and 'One Step Closer'), and I will forever love 'In The End' which, even when looking through an unbiased lens, is still the best song on here IMO. It should have been the closer to the album as 'Pushing Me Away' did not feel like a conclusion at all. In short, this one is a bit hard to rank, but I wouldn't call it greater than average. 2.5/5. NOTE: Lots of "but" and "however" in this review which shows how conflicted I am with this one.
I like this album a lot, but it’s probably mostly a time capsule piece for me. Fun re-listen, but doesn’t hold up with other albums on this list
The first issue is that I'm definitely going to fuck a goat for a bit. The second issue is that a white rose will cause a few scratches on my heart. The third issue is the way the music is hunting my mind, hurting me in ways you can't imagine. The fourth issue is that a llama is jealous of the goat. The fifth issue is one I can't tell you.
The distant future, the year 2000. The thinking man's Limp Bizkit.
The best of the bad nu-metal bunch.
some of their best hits plus a lot of songs that follow the theme of their style 3.5
Not my thing, the hard rock/rap mash up and the relentlessly angsty lyrics, but I don't really get the hate either, they are obviously executing pretty flawlessly on exactly what they’re aiming at and a lot of people understandably like it a lot.
3/5. I can see the influence the band gave to future rock/rap bands but it’s not a genre I enjoy.
Some good songs but didn’t love it
Not really my type right now, something I would’ve enjoyed more in the past. Still a good album for when you feel down, and you can easily rock to it. I would not listen to it everyday.
Somewhat predictable, the album jumps back and forth from slow to fast back to slow and continues this pattern for almost every song. It definitely has some charm and a lot of nostalgia value for myself personally. Very melodic and Linkin Park finds a great mesh of rap and rock.
Am I gonna give a higher rating to linkin park than the Beatles? You’re goddamn right I am! You may ask yourself, why are they so angry? Or, why must this anger be manifested in mixed metaphors and silly phrases? We’ll just remember how articulate you were as a teen when your parents grounded you just for having an opinion; your teachers slammed you just because you didn’t wanna be a pawn in their game of doing homework and shit,man. If I heard this when I was in high school I would’ve been like, Man these guys know me! Instead I first heard them as a young adult and thought they were pretty stupid.
It's not really my thing, but I really get the attraction. For a 2000 album which mixes alternative rock, metal, rap, it has a raw energy that's really good. However, it also sounds a lot like a middle schooler album to me, so I couldn't really get into it that much.
Some iconic songs on this album. Crawling was great. In the end all time banger. A lot of screaming on this record and im not a fan of it the whole time. I think this has some good songs but as a whole this album does not stand out to me. Rip chester 6/10
In the end and cure for the itch my 2 favorite tracks
oh hell yeah
Some good tracks on there but all in all not enough varaiation.
Tough one to rate here. This album has been a staple of rock radio for the past 20 years because it is at times legitimately fun to listen to - it has really energy and sounds a million times better than Limp Bizkit or any other garbage like that. It is however pretty dated and corny: the rock stuff works, but whenever they try and rap it’s SO bad and it’s so obvious how out of their element these guys are. 3 stars I guess. I wish I had the heart to rate it lower, but it reminds me of my childhood.
3.5/5. RIP Chester.
It isn’t bad. It helps to be an angsty teen when you listen
ok
Listened to it 100s of.times in elementary/ middle school so it probably shaped me at least a little, but now it mostly reminds me of when I was dumb(er) and uncool(er). So....3???
Heureusement que c'était pas plus long
A great album that turns out to be a classic of my generation. I don't think it aged that well and I'm not sure it will stand the test of time. Who knows?
This album is very nostalgic for me, but lets be honest, its not great. 3/5 for the memories
Some great hits but my metal has not aged well
Ágætis aldamótarokk þarna. Ég er nokkuð viss um að þetta hefði verið on constantly hjá dóttur minni ef hún hefði ekki verið 4ra ára þegar þetta kom út.
6/10. Kinda fun to listen to, but I can't take it seriously after having seen it edited over club penguin game play.
Some measure of nostalgia keeps me from really disliking this. Still, it’s pretty much in the school of soft-loud-soft-loud. 6/10
I have a lot of ambivalence here. While I liked the singles a lot when this album dropped, I've grown very tired of them. I find them to be way too teen angst heavy to be enjoyable. Speaking objectively though One Step Closer does have a nice groove. I just wish it didn't have the "shut up when I'm talking to you" part that makes me cringe so hard that I think my teeth will shatter. On the positive side a lot of the deeper cuts are pretty enjoyable. Papercut is a solid opener. Almost all of the non-singles are decent the exception being Cure For The Itch. I didn't need that. Overall it's not a bad listen. I just don't know how much I will ever really go back to it. I prefer Meteora if I feel like listening to this band, which honestly isn't all that much.
I can't call myself the biggest fan of Linkin Park, but this certainly has some hard-hitting tracks. "Paper Cut" and the infamous "Crawling" are probably my faves off of this.
I bought this album back in 2000 when I was 12, this was probably the peak of nu metal. Sadly I kept listening to this genre for way to long into my teenage years. Listening back as a 34 year old man, this music really does nothing for me. Agree it should be on the list and an extra star for nostalgic reasons. But happy to keep Nu metal in the late 90’s early 00’s where it belongs.
Fuck... I guess I kind of enjoyed this. It's not good, but it's pretty catchy. Definitely some guilty pleasure shit. Real time capsule from my early 20s. Not anything I ever listened to then but you really couldn't avoid these guys - their music was everywhere.
It doesn’t get much more 2000 than Linkin Park’s “Hybrid Theory.” It is certainly a hybrid. A mixture of rap and rock. Of shredding and scratching. Of cringe and catharsis. Mike Shinoda’s rapping is often the weakest part, Chester Bennington’s screaming is often the strongest part, but occasionally it all works, or all falls apart. “One Step Closer” was a hit, but it is an example of the cringe overwhelming the rest. Their sound first fully clicks on “Crawling,” and works again on “In The End.”
My least hated nu metal/rap rock album on this list?
Reminds me of playing Tony hawk in the basement
A respectably cool blend of rapping singing and shouting but way too emo for me.
I remember this album's popularity. Understanding the whisper, rap, emotional scream that complimented the youthful angst coming out of the 90's. Soft Korn. It presents a higher production quality, which made it more accessible and wider distribution than some of the harder underground acts of the time.
The nostalgia is strong with this one. It's hard to listen to Crawling and not be taken back to those intensely angsty teenage years, which is exactly what Linkin Park is made for. The nu metal style sounds a bit dated now and the album tracks are hit and miss, but the singles still hold up well. I personally think Meteora is a stronger album, but I'll give Hybrid Theory 3.5 stars.
I could get into some of it, but other parts were a bit too shouty for me
I was all in for nu-metal back in the day. Particularly Papa Roach who i think i saw 3 times in a single year when I should have been studying for my university finals. Linkin Park though..... not much fun, and listening back my feelings are tainted by the untimely death of the frontman too. A bit too serious, not enough fun.
pretty good rock-rap.
I heard of Linkin Park and have heard some singles. They have never really grabbed my fancy. This album didn't really either. I will admit that there is some similarity in sound to some other bands from the 90s with that kind of hard rap-rock style that I could enjoy. Discovering this now just didn't really win me over.
I hate Linkin Park. Like, hate them. But I don't think this is a 1. Even though the lyrics are unthinkably brainless - and the melodies and hooks are so predictable it's actually impressive - Bennington's vocals are extremely impressive, and at the end of the day they wrote some fucking earworms. This is, however, terrible music to listen to when you're angry at the world (which is what it's meant for) because the lyrics make you feel like such a loser idiot that it makes you hate yourself as well. Whatever. There are worse ways to spend an afternoon. Actually, screw this. God this band works me up. 1 star. Edit: yowch, sorry about that. Clearly this is not a 1 star album. I still maintain that this is the worst possible iteration of Nu Metal that exists, and listening to this music actively rots the white matter of your brain away. But, it is quite fun and easy to listen to. 2 stars.
I like plenty of stuff that is related to nu metal (RATM, Faith No More, Helmet, Deftones) but I've never been able to get into nu metal itself. Far too polished and angsty for me, even when I was an angsty teenager Pretty much the only thing I enjoy about Linkin Park is how much their music was used in Halo 3 and Runescape videos around 2006 and 2007, so there's some nostalgia in a way. For nearly 20 years now, Crawling has always reminded me of a tutorial video for the Stronghold of Security, so it's my favourite because of that At least it's only 37 minutes and doesn't completely rip the arse out of it like most nu metal 2.5 Highlights: Crawling
Edgy middle schooler music. Some good songs that somehow are relatable despite the delivery.
Ooooo a shot of junior high nostalgia straight to the vein, when everyone in my upper middle class school suddenly was a angst ridden misunderstood youth that could only be deciphered by listening to this album on repeat. I don't mind the album, in the end is certainly a sing along, however it does not hold up over the long term, and I did not enjoy it quite like i did in my youth. Still better then Christina.
A strong bout of nostalgia gets this an extra star. Turn of the millennium nu metal hasn’t aged well
Felt like some dude was screaming at me for 37 minutes.
This is not for me, this genre of rock never really interested me beyond having some knowledge of the occasional singles that played on the radio. In my opinion I’m honestly not sure I would call this an essential album and I don’t think I will ever listen to it again.
It’s ok for what it is. It’s not one of the 1001 albums I needed to hear. Some perfectly fine radio singles that appeal to angsty teens and a bunch of other songs that sound just like them, only worse. 3/10
really not my style, but i can see why people like it, there are some elements i can appreciate
So aggressive!
The musicianship on this album is really basic, and it's pretty highly produced which I'm not into. In parts it sounds like Deftones, NiN, Filter, and other bands from the era but is less interesting than any of them.
I respect Linkin Park more than I used to, but it doesn't mean I have to like all of their songs
This is such a hard rate. Some notes: - I checked how long until this album was over more than any other I've listened to - The album is extremely funny and self indulgent - I like the fact that I can hear influences to/from other artists that I like more - very of its era (affectionate and derogatory) This probably gets a 4 on the ironic scale, 1 on the "would I ever listen to this." Giving it a 2 but really defies being rated at all.
There are some pretty cool sonic ideas here but the lyrics are so painfully juvenile. The songs are sad and angsty but indescript and general in a way that feels pandering. Compare to MCRs "remember when you broke your foot from jumping out the second floor" from I'm Not Okay - personal, dramatic and intriguing. That's how you do angst. Instead, the lyrics here boil down to some variant of "I'm full of fear / but you don't care" and other such nonsense
I've always liked their hits but man I thought they'd be a little better and more diverse in their sounds than this. It's clear that Crawling and In The End were fleshed out the most, and the rest is perfect background music for sci-fi music videos of humanoids with cables for veins or something. They do deserve credit for that consistency I suppose. Might give Meteora a full listen again cus I did have that CD as a kid and I'm hopeful it's an improvement.
The first album isn’t always the best one. 2.5 stars.
This is so early 2000s (derogatory)
fav songs: papercut one step closer in the end cure for the itch aggressive, polished, nostalgia 30/100
This isn’t as unpleasant as I thought it was going to be. Oh wait, yes it is, it’s another one of those records where the music is a solid and fun but the vocals are irritating. Is there a karaoke version of Linkin Park that I could listen to? I might enjoy that. lol the end of this track where he’s going “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” is making me laugh. YES PLEASE DO THAT
I made it two minutes before I decided I can't do it; this was my best friends favorite album when we were in 1st grade 25 years ago and I still can't imagine this as being for anything other than six year olds even all this time later.
For so much going on in all the songs, somehow it was still boring. I was talking to my son about this album and trying to figure out why it was not clicking with me, and he mentioned that it was just very formulaic. I think that's what it was for me. Also, they seemed to take themselves way too seriously. Just not a fan.
I get the appeal, but it’s not for me. I just can’t take this music seriously.
What a teenage boy thinks protest music sounds like. I tried to keep an open mind, but it just isn't my taste.
I didn't mind this and I would probably like it more if I listened to it again. I liked In The End first time hearing it. 2 stars
ok for what it is, but not timeless at all.
Ehhh it was fine. Honestly I expected to dislike it, and althought I didn't particularly enjoy it, I also didn't really dislike it like I thought I would. I think I'm going with two stars though; I need to like it a bit more to hit three.
I bit to heavy for my liking
Too intense for me. In the End and Crawling are classics of course.
I'm really not a fan of this style of music so I was fearing the worst. Having said that, it's really not as bad as I expected. Instrumentally, it was quite good, but the angsty vocals started to grate after a while. I can imagine for some people listening to it can be quite cathartic but it doesn't really do much for me.
Domme plaat. Thema's van het album is natuurlijk wel aangrijpend maar als je alles zo simpel en direct vertelt zonder extra laag maakt het allemaal bijzonder plat. Crawling in my skin, these wounds they will not heal kak waar je niks mee kan. Zo recht toe recht aan, daarom is was het misschien populair bij pubers. Veder zit niks interessants of iets eigens in qua muziek. Mike Shinoda brave rap boy voor wat contrast, maffe dj met de scratches en elektronische drums maakt het gedateerd maar ook nostalgisch. Er is geen complexiteit te vinden op dit album, zoveel middelmaat op een album is een bijzondere prestatie. Strakke productie en vol met hooks maakt zetten zet vol in op emotioneel effect wat bij velen erg aanslaat. Daarbij heeft Bennington heeft een heel aardige stem en doet het precies wat het moet doen. Wat dat betreft missie geslaagd maar niet voor mij.
Not for me, but can appreciate what they've done on this album. Just can't listen to the whole thing, gives me a headache. One Step Closer is a good rage song and of course In The End is quite cool.
Linkin Park’s incessantly angry rap-rock has never worked for me. Crawling and In the End are ok but most of this is forgettable
Better than I remember eh
Starts off ok but but gets very tedious after 4 or 5 tracks.
I have definitely outgrown rap metal. This album is fine. Chester had a great voice. But this genre has really aged poorly over time.
I know a lot of this stuff is dated but this is really really dated in retrospect. It has a good intro but the middle is really muddy saved by 2 good songs and then a fun song towards the end. Papercut, crawling, In the end and cure for the itch. I understand Chester Bennington was amazing and this is a masterclass but even so I have heard others from this era that sound better honestly. The anthrax public enemy collab. This is just more palatable rage against the machine and maybe that’s a bit nuance and nit picky cause it sounds samey throughout but it was never super bad it just wasn’t very good I won’t remember any deep cuts and I think that’s sad. Almost every song starts the same too it’s a debut and will eventually lead to? I’m actually not sure does linkin park have a magnum opus I thought it was this one. I don’t hate linkin park I just don’t really like this album. They are 100% a better singles band. I get nothing from actually listening to the record other than more of the same. I think the album ends well last 3 songs were pretty good. I hate this cause I wish I was more into it but before I die. I could have stuck to the singles. Nirva-ain’t. Limp bizkit core Side note: how many rip offs of other bands are we going to get on here.
Every song sounds the same, intolerable.
Respect these guys but realistically there's not much happening here
Oh, boy… I don’t like this. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now. It’s like everything I didn’t like about the second half of the 90s chopped up into a soup with no regard for compatibility or flavor profile and it’s still also very bland. If a pair of JNCO jeans became sentient and made music it would sound like this. I do think I finally understand why people who listened to this were so angry, I’m angry. This is making me angry. I’m an angry teenager with labret piercing and my parents are dumb. They don’t understand. Nobody understands. It’s kind of funny though. I’ll be nice and give it a 2.5 for the effort… oh, the effort. I’m not rounding up.
Absolutely not for me. There were times I thought it was getting good and then the singer would start bellowing again. So sorry. I added “One Step Closer” to my playlist.
Like a lot of nu metal, it's objectively terrible at metal, but this one happens to be pretty good at boy band pop (and also not great at hip-hop). 2.0/5.0: Disappointing
I’m sure if I was in high school 25 years ago I would have appreciated this but listening to it now was not fun. Only enjoyed the most popular song
the fact that i forgot to comment was pissingme off so im here putting in a comment. from what i remember i was just sick of the same punk genre just too loud and not enjoyable to listen to 2/5
Not really into this
I've never been a fan of Linkin Park and while I can see the appeal listening to a whole album was tedious. This said they at least have a very distinctive and influential sound, and In the End is a genre-defining song. Won't listen again though. 5/10
not for me
OMG, forgot how shit this was, barely not a 1 star, due to the mediocre one hit wonder
Linkin park was very popular when I was in middle school with guys who thought they were *very* cool and edgy. The whole album has that vibe of a wanna be transgressive 12 year old. In the End is a banger but the rest doesn’t do it for me
That whole whispering/screaming combo is just off putting. In the End was obviously the best of the group but it's just a little much for me.
3 for isaiah, joel is giving it a 1!!! minna gave it a 3, 3.5 if that was an option. michaela gave this one a 2, initially said 5
Meh.
painful
Nu-metal. Sure. In 2026, this sounds like something AI would put together as the soundtrack for one of Iran's Trump-dissing Lego videos.
I tried REALLY hard to be open minded about this record. When Linkin Park came out they seemed incredibly lame compared to bands using the same framework. And - they still are incredibly lame compared to bands like Deftones, etc. The first song actually starts out fine, and then the rapping starts and it just falls off a cliff. Bad flow. Hokey lyrics. I think there is something about swing-y rhythms combined with hard rock that just doesn't work. The loose rhythmic feel you need for rap vocals is totally at odds with the hard edges of this kind of aggressive hard rock. The bigger issue I have with LP is they are so aggressively inauthentic. There is nothing here that sounds real at all. The DJ feels fake, the rapping feels fake, the Extremely Angsty choruses feel fake..... it's just Lee Press-On Nails: the Album. **Linkin Park Songwriting Committee Meeting**: "Hey I hear rock bands are adding DJ's to sound more hip! What do you think, fellas?" "If we sing REALLY earnestly about how upset we are, the pre-teens will eat this shit up!" "Just make sure not to specify too much what you're upset about. They won't be able to put themselves in your shoes!" Do not want. It's terrible on most levels but it isn't unlistenable. I'll give it a very generous - TWO STARS
The first four songs of the album were just noise to me. "Crawling" at least had some music that was more ballad like, and I could understand some of the lyrics as it didn't have that heavy, repetitive drum and bass sound. "Runaway" and "In The End" were better too. I've written it before, I'm just not angry enough to appreciate this genre. The songs were just so depressing and angry sounding that they just don't really appeal to me. And when the screaming started...what the heck? Most remembered song was, "My December" as it was played a lot when it was first released.
Music for disaffected teenagers. It's like Disney rebooted rage against the machine with a pg12 rating. White boy rapping, prepubescent crooning segues into metal voice - lite. The guitars have had the living shit processed out of them. The result is a few catchy riffs buried in a sea of upper mid range mediocrity which quickly tires the ears and becomes uncomfortable. Come back when your balls drop, boys.
- Tekst - Gitar - Han ELENDIGE rapperen + Chester Bennington sine catchy refreng. Crawling står igjen som beste låt, mest fordi rapperen knapt e med. De få sekundan han rappe e dog helt jævlig.
Begynner jo bra med mye energi, men etterhvert blir alle låtene like og den aggressive og paranoide synginga blir bare slitsom.
I didn't really like this. I appreciate the 'radio friendly-ness' of the singles but overall this is just pretty everything I dislike about the numetal wave of the late 90s. Weird sucky emo lyrics, zero vocal range, weird turntablism, really NOT into the 'rapping' they've mixed in... just not my thing.
2000s were a weird time. Any time else and nu-metal never would have been popular.
Way too much screaming for me
Listened to before? Partially, because in the end, it's inescapable... Context? Linkin Park's debut, and the album that launched them into the mainstream. I do not like Linkin Park. They are overproduced as hell. I find them boring. The lyricism is raw, and I respect that, but it's also quite stale. They're Evanescence for people who think drinking Monster is an aesthetic and edgy personality trait. Not that Evanescence isn't sort of that already, I guess. I'm gonna go into this with a positive mindset, though. I have a lot of friends who like them, and those friends are all great artists, so I'm sure they have some taste... Aaaaaand my primary comment is: what is that sound at the end of Points of Authority? It sounds like a cartoon duck going da da da da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da as a parody of a Linkin Park song, rather than an actual part of a Linkin Park song. Anyway, yeah: I'll start with the positive. They use dual vocals very well. In the End is also a pretty great song, with that piano and all, and the sheer desperation in his voice. It's also very honest, which I have a lot of respect for. And now the negative. I played guitar in a music collective with this annoying guy once. He was a great guitarist when it came to playing these downtuned nu-metal riffs. He had one of those bluetooth guitars for some weird reason. And he owned, like, ten Korn shirts. We were planning on doing a bunch of covers of 2000s songs at a local bar. In rehearsal, we were trying to decide which songs to play. I'm a huge Rage Against the Machine fan, so I jokingly go, "Oh, they're a 2000s band, right? Because Battle of Los Angeles came out 1999 and then there was that covers album?" He proceeds to turn around, give me the nastiest look known to man, and recount RATM's entire timeline to me. Mind you, I was literally wearing an Evil Empire shirt. Not a good start. There was also a time when I was literally turning the gain up on my amp, and he comes over and goes "oh, the volume knob is here." This happened half a dozen times throughout those rehearsals, to a point where my friend and I say "volume knob" instead of "mansplaining." Which, mind you, there was another guitarist there, and he never did anything like that to him. Felt oddly misogynistic... Anyway, you can probably guess that this guy loved Linkin Park. He loved loved loved turning up his amp to the nth degree and showing off that he could play such-and-such riff in drop-z or something while creating a one-man wall-of-sound effect. He's the only stereotypical Linkin Park fan I've ever met, though. All the other ones I know are my friends, who are obnoxious, sure, but they're very sensitive people. They're artistic and self-aware. They like the band because they can place these really personal issues over the backdrop of a killer riff. I can see both people in this album: the obnoxious and the sensitive. I don't think you can write these lyrics without going through some genuine pain. But, at the same time, you're still assaulting peoples' eardrums with a storm of down-tuned guitars and the most compressed vocals known to man. I don't think an artist's fans should reflect too strongly on the artist themselves, but I think it does reflect on what the outward draw of their art is. Here, it seems to be drama. The big, loud riffs. The lyricism that's so on-the-nose it's got it's finger up its nostril and through its own brain. The rapping and screaming twisting together to reach peak banger-dom. That drama may make songs like In The End undeniable bangers, but it takes away much of its artistic merit. I really just don't feel like they have anything interesting or new to say about their subject matter. I'm glad that they're putting their struggles into art, but as art under scrutiny of critique, it doesn't hold up. Why would I listen to somebody just...saying things, when I could listen to somebody reframing their struggles through a unique lens that speaks to me as a person, rather than a one-size-fits-all narrative? I certainly do get the appeal. It's a compulsion to head-bang to this thing. The vocals really are desperate, and I can imagine having a long day and screaming along. Maybe sitting in the backseat of a car, blasting this through a pair of old headphones. Ultimately, this album sounds like a heroic way to die. I wish there was something more poetic in here. I wish that all the life hadn't been sucked out of the compressed vocals and canned riffs. These guys are obviously talented and have the cathartic edge to make something great, but instead they vacuum-sealed this thing in some plastic wrap and broad appeal.
Just not my kind of music so I have trouble rating it. I’ve just never like nü-metal
Kinda mid, in the end goated the rest a bit heavy for me. Come back to this album later
Every song sounds almost exactly the same as the one before it.
It’s a good album, but it’s not my genre of music, so I didn’t really like it as much as I might like other albums
i’m not gonna lie, this sounded like that one snl skit of pete davidson and timothee chalamet where they’re rappers
Massive dose of nostalgia here. I guess they were influential - but I'm pretty sure other bands were doing the same sort of stuff even earlier like korn limp biscuit, Incubus. Don't get me wrong. There are some absolute bangers on this album that still go hard to this day. But overall when I listen to this album I just can't get into it. It just doesn't seem to have the depth I'm looking for even though they have some killer riffs. I think it might be the rap rock element - just feels a little overplayed, but maybe if I hadn't done this album review at the time that would have been something completely different. Any case okay album but I won't be listening to at anytime soon although some of the tracks I definitely will have on my playlist
Sounds like a bad rip off of Rage Against The Machine. Trying to be punk/rock/pop and not really working in my opinion.
I don't like this stuff
5-star album by a top tier piece of shit person.
If i were 14 id have loved this
Even at 14 i knew this was shite Most of the songs sound the same Just not my vibe!
RATING: 5.5/10 Highlight: Papercut Lowlight: Runaway
Possibly the best of the rap metal era?
It's blah,it's trying to do a bit of everything and being successful at none.
It doesn't do much for me, but also doesn't annoy me. Kind of generic and uninteresting faux-metal.
Eh
my best friend in the world is a huge linkin park fan. and while these guys are great to headbang to. im sorry i just dont care. This is gonna sound wrong but its just too simple simple drum loop, basic chords, the vocals are the same in every song even if the words are different. "eh"
I wasn't sure if I was gonna kinda like this because of nostalgia or particularly hate it. The latter was definitely true, but I don't think it's that is is actually bad. Runaway good.
I just don't think I've ever been angsty enough for this to have been my jam. If you like a singer screaming at you, then this may be for you, but it's not for me.
Listened to this album twice. I know people love this band but I can't get into it. Cure for the Itch is interesting. I could hear pieces of Moby, DJ Shadow and The Avalanches. Favorite songs: Cure for the Itch, In the End
There is a reason why Linkin Park is associated with Michael Bay movies.
Muchísimo respeto para Linkin Park, pero nunca fue tanto de mi agrado jeje
So much yelling. Gets really repetitive but the Nostalgia Hits are still really good.
First time listening to this in full and I've got to say, I didn't dig it as much as I thought I might. On the scale of my enjoyment of Nu Metal bands on this list, Linkin Park would currently sit comfortably above Limp Bizkit but with some distance behind Slipknot's 'All Hope Is Gone'. 2* feels harsh but I can't justify the third I'm afraid, sorry LP! Favourites : With You Crawling In the End
Not my fave, I like a few songs sparingly or when in major pump up mode
The rap/nu metal genre was one that thankfully came and went quickly. This is a product of that era and checks all the boxes. I remembered the song "In the End" because my tween son had this album and played it a lot, probably when he was playing "Call of Duty.". It's an OK song but the rest is the same angsty overwrought,, overproduced dreck that was, I guess, all the rage in 2000-2001.
Think I had this on cd as a kid, but I can't say I have an ounce of nostalgia for it. Linkin Park and their myriad even shittier rap-rock disciples were really trying to keep rock relevant in the early 2000s by forcing this overwrought kind of nü metally garbage. Overproduced within an inch of its life. A couple ok songs but a lot was genuinely difficult to sit through. By Myself, for example, is nails on a chalkboard to me. Perfect for a Halo session at a tween sleepover in the early naughts, but best left there - has truly aged like milk.
Obviously know a couple of songs because they are popular, so it was interesting to see if the rest was maybe better than those because they never caught my fancy...but alas no. I can see why people like this, but I do not. I Tried to listen to it objectively but just felt like every song sounded like the next. About 12 songs too long. 2 stars
Soulless studio rock. The hits keep it from being a 1. I liked them in middle school
As soon as I heard the opening notes, I knew I would not like this album. I don't know what gear is involved, but I hate that guitar sound. Kind of exciting and energizing, if you want this, but I don't.
This seems like the perfect album for a subset of 14-year-old boys who will ever after try to argue how meaningful and awesome it is. I'm glad I don't know any of those people.
It's unclear how much of this is millennial nostalgia, but I liked this a lot more than expected. It's still very embarrassing, but not a bad hang. 2.5 stars, rounding down.
My ‘theory' is that I have a, sort of, ‘hybrid’ opinion about this... I don’t like this right now, but I can appreciate it, from a distance. Huge apologies to all fans of screaming. I hope the lead singer had some throat soother or something. I like ‘cure for the itch’, though - sounds like Aphex Twin.
I’m sure it’s awesome to listen to while building Gundam models but it’s not for me.
No me gusta el grupo
This sucked to listen to. I really don’t understand their new found popularity. Not worth getting to into it to dump on these guys, but I think the main issue is the rapper guy absolutely sucks at rapping. Production is dated, lyrics are cringe, you name it. But hey, there was an attempt to be heavy, so the floor for that is 2 stars.
Está bueno tal vez no es mucho de mi estilo.
Not my thing
Sorry I listened to like three song and I don’t want anymore but giving them a 2 instead of 1 bc In The End is the most iconic music video
r/iam14andthisisdeep anthems. Some nostalgia in here but not great overall, even the mix/master sounds muddy and bad.
I think I liked it a lot more when I was a teen. Not really my thing at this point in life.
Loved Linkin Park as a kid. As an adult, I’ll be real, nostalgia bias can only take this so far. Eww I feel like I’m betraying 10 year old me :(
Mall metal. Blech!
Ehh.. right away I feel like it isn’t my style. A little too emo and heavy for me honestly. Skipped like every song lowkey. Not for me but I do see the artistry in it..
I know they've got a huge following but Linkin Park has never clicked for me. Even as a kid, I found them to be kinda mopey and boring. Totally swagless!
This should be on here, no question, but I just don't like the style that much. This is one of the most palatable versions of the nu metal variation of quiet-loud-quiet but its just not my bag.
My college boyfriend loved Linkin Park and I could never get into it. It's like Punk that's been scrubbed clean. It's always been cheesy and I've never connected with it. It's made for angsty pre-teen boys and I am not nor ever was one so it's not for me! 2 for the catchiness of like... one of the songs. Otherwise it's just bleh. Give me metal over this anyday.
This was the rare album where I liked the later tracks more than the earlier ones, but only relatively. Yesterday wasn't a great day for me, so maybe I wasn't as open as I could have been, but I don't see returning to this.
Music to drive fast to, or to crank up and scream along with when you're pissed off.
Jeg prøver at holde mig openminded men jeg synes simpelthen det her er for corny. Samme sang 12 gange og den er ikke ret god
Pretty heavy
It's ok.
If you don't listen to the lyrics it's fine. If you do, it's mind numbing. It's like a 6th grader wrote it.
It’s funny, this would have been junior year in high school for me but this was not even close to my radar back then. But of course I heard most of them anyways. Cheesy AF lyrics man … I don’t know about this one.
pretty much just born at the wrong time for this
I was 21 when this album came out, and for the most part I completely missed it. I'm familiar with the 2 singles, and I did enjoy them, but as for the rest of the album? It felt a little like the same song over and over again. Reminded me a lot of Korn too.
I absolutely understand why this was huge. It's not for me though.
Did not finish lol. Just sounds like the worst room you could possibly be in at a club
It's rap music for people who hate funk and black people
Not my cup of tea
I know I'm supposed to like the dead guy's music, but I'm on a streak of dishonoring suicide victims this year
Annoying and frankly unsexy
I am not going to listen Linkin Park. I've never liked.