Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns

[e-µ-i]

This thread should've already been made. Post your thoughts on the upcoming album and The Catalyst, single that is already out, its video supposed to premiere 2 days from now.

Any LP fans out there? Shout-out to you

[Blur 26]

I've heard the new song and like it a lot! Very excited about the new cd.
Every Linkin Park album is original and different. Definitely like the direction they are going.

[number8]

I heard the new single and thought it sounds pretty awesome, quite synth-heavy. I know a lot of fans out there have been upset with the band though cause they've been heading into a whole different direction musically and their new material is unlike their original sounds. I personally welcome to new sounds though.

[e-µ-i]

I heard the new single and thought it sounds pretty awesome, quite synth-heavy. I know a lot of fans out there have been upset with the band though cause they've been heading into a whole different direction musically and their new material is unlike their original sounds. I personally welcome to new sounds though.
Yeah, I was quite upset with Minutes to Midnight, I simply can't accept that that's LP. But I like this direction they're going with on ATS.

[MR. DURANCE]

ooohhh... love lp.... but i havent heard anything about the new single... gonna have to investigate!

[hellnback]

i've followed linkin park since before they were linkin park. back when they were hybrid theory, before that they were obviously called something else. but still i've bought every cd and dvd they've put out and managed to get every one of the underground stuff as well. my brother's ex girlfriend was the one that got me into them. i've been hooked. i've enjoyed every album they've put out but it took me some time to get used to "minutes to midnight". now i can't stop listening to some of the songs. my favorites have to be "valentine's day" and "in pieces". i've heard the catalyst and i just can't get into that song. i know it's different and i will try and give the new album a chance...hopefully it'll win me over. but the catalyst i just can't get into the song. i've tried listening to it many times and i always seemt to stop listening to it about the halfway point. i have managed to listen to it all twice. i do enjoy the last half of it. maybe it's just to synth up for me and too repetitive. even if i can't get into this single, i'm hoping that at least the other songs are good. the last song i heard from them was "blackbirds" and i love that song. can't stop listening to it.

[e-µ-i]

i've followed linkin park since before they were linkin park. back when they were hybrid theory, before that they were obviously called something else. but still i've bought every cd and dvd they've put out and managed to get every one of the underground stuff as well. my brother's ex girlfriend was the one that got me into them. i've been hooked. i've enjoyed every album they've put out but it took me some time to get used to "minutes to midnight". now i can't stop listening to some of the songs. my favorites have to be "valentine's day" and "in pieces". i've heard the catalyst and i just can't get into that song. i know it's different and i will try and give the new album a chance...hopefully it'll win me over. but the catalyst i just can't get into the song. i've tried listening to it many times and i always seemt to stop listening to it about the halfway point. i have managed to listen to it all twice. i do enjoy the last half of it. maybe it's just to synth up for me and too repetitive. even if i can't get into this single, i'm hoping that at least the other songs are good. the last song i heard from them was "blackbirds" and i love that song. can't stop listening to it.
Yeah Blackbirds is great. I couldn't get into The Catalyst for a week or so, but now I'm literally addicted to it. I listen to it every day for about min 5 times. Btw, if you haven't, go on linkinpark.com, lptv section, and check the Blackout video. Now that is gonna be original LP all the way.

[Atomic girl]

Loved, Loved, Loved Hybrid Theory and Meteora CDs, but hated that they added so much (bad) language to Minutes to Midnight. They are still talented musicians, but I'd rather not hear profanities sung over and over again. I hope they will "clean" up this new CD, I would love to add to my collection. I have hope....

[hellnback]

Loved, Loved, Loved Hybrid Theory and Meteora CDs, but hated that they added so much (bad) language to Minutes to Midnight. They are still talented musicians, but I'd rather not hear profanities sung over and over again. I hope they will "clean" up this new CD, I would love to add to my collection. I have hope....

well then you probably won't like hearing this, there's plenty of f words thrown into this album. actually one particular song, a good one actually, that has the f word thrown in plenty of times.

i managed to get the album already. good thing i work at a store that doesn't care if their employees get their stuff early. we got a small shipment already and expecting a few more boxes by saturday or monday for tuesday's release.

sadly i will not be listening to this album a lot. maybe it'll grow on me. minutes to midnight grew on me but this album doesn't really have a lot of songs that make me wanna sing or rap along. minutes to midnight sounds like a better album than this one. none of the songs sound anything like linkin park. except for maybe two songs. possibly three. everything else made me sad and depressed. their was too much synth music and often came out sounding industrial or pop-like. much of the lyrics made me sad and felt way to emo. let me just tell you this is the album that sounds nothing like linkin park. except like i mentioned 2 or 3 songs.

here's what i thought about each of the songs.
first off LP is calling this album a concept album and it feautes 6 interludes placed between songs.

track 1 is called "the requiem" and it starts slow and moody with some piano. then you hear the chorus from "the catalyst" (god save us everyone...)as sung by what sounds like a little girl but it's actually mike shinoda by what i read. a haunting intro to the album. and trust me that is shinoda's voice when you hear it. it's 2minutes long.

track 2, "radiance" continues from where track 1 left off and is only about 58 seconds long. i looked up what the speach is from in this track. it's from robert oppenheimer, known as the father of the atomic bomb. its a speach he made after he detonated the first atomic bomb.

now for the first song of the album.

track 3, "burning in the skies" contains hardly anyguitars at all. all electronic music, lots of melodic piano playing. by what i could tell mike and chester take turns in here. unless its chester going from quiet to loud. the rare guitars come in at about the 2:44 mark. the song is only 4:13 long.

track 4, "empty spaces" is exactly that. 18 seconds of crickets shirping and the sounds of bombs exploding. on to the next.

track 5, "when they come for me". 4:56 long. this song sound more like a fort minor song and it's mike rapping over a hard beat. this is one song i enjoyed. mike does throw out plenty of f bombs through out the song by the way. by the way this entire album has a apocalyptic feel to it and this song doesn't quiet fit into that mood. but i like. all rap by the way. lots of drums and a somewhat industrial sound with the synth sounds. this is one song i will listen to alot in the car.

track 6, "robot boy". 4:29 long. more piano from the start. not a fun song. nothing to enjoy actually. to somber of a tone. when the lyrics kick in, it sounds nice but the song just isn't one i'll sing to.

track 7, "jornado del muerto" is another interlude and is 1:35 long. it's pracically a reprise of robot boy's chorus but it's sung in spanish. it starts slow then builts up into more loud synth until it eventually fades out and then goes into LP's next single

track 8, "waiting for the end". 3:52 long. oh man i couldn't stand it. mike raps then chester starts singing a very emo song. very emo. as i sat there listening my mouth just dropped to the floor. i couldn't believe what i was listening to. what are they thinking?! LP you better get back on track. you don't wanna lose me as a fan.

track 9, "blackout". 4:39 long. starts of with some gloomy industrial sound, kinda like NIN. then it gets good with chester singing/rapping. sounds like classic old LP with chester screaming it out. but its the music i cant quiet get used to, maybe i will at some point. but chester makes this one good. i'll listen to this alot probably. chester does throw out the f-bomb in here as he screams. there's a point in this song where it goes all crazy with scratches and stuff and then it just goes quiet and slow. mike starts singing again and chester joins in alongside mike to close the song. the music picks up as mike sings and i wish it had ended with all that crazy scratching.

track 10, "wretches and kings". 4:15 long. i love this song. mike raps and chester sings through this song. if you preordered the album from lp's site you probably already got this song. but it's strong and it makes me feel like beating up someone. they sampled a public enemy beat and borrowed some lyrics. this is one song to rock with.

track 11, "wisdom, justice, and love". 1:39 long. another interlude. enough already. a martin luthor king speach where his voice goes from normal to sounding like something evil, demonic, robotic.

track 12, "iredescent" about 5 minutes long. a ballad. slow. singable actually. chester sings this one. slow sad and it picks up along the way. a little like "somewhere i belong" but not quite. it put me in peaceful mood actually. i'll probably like this one given enough listens.

track 13, another interlude? wth? "fallout". 1:23 long. slow humming soung effects. mike singing lyrics from "burning in the skies" in a robotic synth voice. this leads right into their single "the catalyst".

track 14, "the catalyst" 5:40 long. ok it's gaining my respect, not alot though. i still feel it's too synth and repetitive. it starts slow and picks up quickly. it's allright, ok i guess.

then the final track
track 15, "the messenger" 3:02 long. chester tries his best in this acoustic guitar song. but it just doesn't come out right. made me cringe. heavy on emo. but it does have a message in it. you can also tell that chester didn't use the voice filter in this song. it's sung raw. if you've heard chester sing live, then this is how he sounds here. i am not going to be hearing this song in my car at all. no way...no how.

i looked up info to see what else is out there. if you get it at best buy or off of napster you will get the nobrain remix of "the catalyst"

off of itunes you get track 16: "a thousand suns the full experiance:
17: the catalyst music video
18: blackbirds (the song)

the japanese release contains "new divide" as a bonus song.

and the special edition of the cd contains the dvd of the making of the album.

[e-µ-i]

^Good description, we have a couple of differences tho. I enjoy The Catalyst as well as Robot Boy, which have lots of depth when you carefully listen to it.

On most of the songs, they start with a great beat but than emo-like sounds kick in and it's definitely not welcome. But, if you're bummed, just listen to the album from start to finish and you'll enjoy all of it. It's really composed as a whole, and not song-by-song approach. In one word - surreal. Not what I want LP to sound like, nor what I enjoy listening, but surreal and different from anything else for sure.

Oh, and don't skip the interludes. Especially Jornada Del Muerto, it's great.

[rajman]

Haven't heard all the songs. I like Linkin Park, definitely one of my favourite bands. I only heard of Linkin Park like 5 years ago believe it or not

[Atomic girl]

Thanks for the warning about the language. They are too good of musicians to have to resort to bad language to sell their music. Mike and Chester's voices are wonderful together.

[rajman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyPf0Xq5M2o - this is the best lyric video i have ever seen

[number8]

Listening to the CD for the first time. So far so strange

[e-µ-i]

Listening to the CD for the first time. So far so strange
It was extremely strange and kind of disappointing the first couple of times I listened to it.
But today I listened to it 1.5 times and it's...mesmerizing. Incredible album. I > love < every song on the record, and those that are serving as interludes just magnify the impact of the lyrics overall, gives me time to grow the whole philosophy behind the term of a thousand suns in my head.

[Lucky Luke]

I love Linkin Park... but I gotta be honest - I hated this album when I first heard it, with a couple of exceptions. But over the past year its really grown on me, and now I love it and listen to it regularly. All bands need to try something new and go in a different direction, and this is the perfect example for LP. Just wish some of the fans would see that like I eventually did.

Favourite songs are The Catalyst (again, iffy at first but now I love it), Waiting for the End, Burning in the Skies and Iridescent (man this song is amazing).