M Joel

I gaven't used PSP, but I'm very happy with my PSCS2 program to go with anything else. Well, unless it's a later version of CS, that is, :-P

As I said, it has it's emo-ish moments.

Apparently the Mayan tribe from long ago were stargazers, and supposedly they have predicted many things on their future calander that have ended up coming true, and yeah . . . their calander ends on december 21st, 2012, and no one knows why. Of course everyone is assuming the worlds ends on that date. Kinda sad if it's true, only five more years of Linkin Park listening.

I don't know which version I have, but everything sounds a bit . . .empty, or flat to my ears. Still good, though. Read my review in the rate MTM thread if you wanna know what I thought, but if what I heard wasn't even the best version (As I suspected, if you read my review), then I will like it evern more, I am sure!!!

I know, I'm messin' with ya.

I am 50/50 in this one. It's a grower, no denying that . . . Wake is great ambience stuff, I dig that sort of thing anyway, so I wasn't dissapointed. Given Up is a nice song, love the lyrics, and Chester is more powerfull than ever. People who say the powerfull vocals are missing from this album must not have any ears! Leave Out All The Rest - nice easy listening entry. Not bad, not great, but I like listening to it. Bleed It Out - I don't really like this much. Maybe it will grow on me, but yeah . . . I liked Mike's Rapping in past entries because it was a mixture of all the elements, but when he raps alone like this, it feels too much out of place considering all the other songs' styles on this album. Shadow Of The Day - Well, no one can deny Chester has a wonderfull voice, and really, I do love the instruments that come in over time. Yeah . . . I WAS going to say I didn't really like this one, but I was giving this the second spin, and yeah . . . I was wrong. It's much better once my expectations are liften and I can just enjoy it for what it is. Wow, what a great song! Really! What I've Done - Well, duh. One of LP's best song ever, in my opinion. It's up there with "Somewhere I belong", "P5hng me a*wy" and "Numb" in my book of great LP songs. Hands Held High - This is VERY different, at least to me. Once again, Mike rapping without much going on behind him just isn't my type of music. I'm not a Fort Minor fan, so of course I'm not gonna go for this as much as others would, but I do want to compliment whoever wrote these lyrics, because they say alot about a personal world view, it just isn't my thing. This one will probably grow on me as well, but as of now, even the second listen doesn't redeem it for me. No More Sorrow - Nice and beefy track. Pretty good, as well. I like it even better upon second spin. Valentine's Day - Hmm... I really don't know, I . . . . just don't know, guys. What are you thinking here? I mean . . . the lyrics and name of the track alone make me worry, but the tune doesn't really do much for me, either. Sorry. I feel like putting on the "I must be emo" song to snap you guys back into your senses when I hear this. Just my opinion. In Between - Okay, first, let me say I DO think Mike can sing well, so don't claim I just dislike Mike Shinoda, that isn't it, but . . . heh . . . it just happened to work out this time around that all three Mike solo songs on this album are among my least favorites. Nothing against Mike, I just don't like how they were executed, he isn't a bad singer himself. In Pieces - Starts out a bit shakey, but quickly picks itself up from potential boring thanks to Chester's vocals. Soon after that, the rest of the band comes in-- not fully, mind you, but they ARE there-- and then . . . ahh, then, Brad Delson gets to prove all of the people who have critiscised him wrong! FUCK, yeah! Anyway, good solid song, and Delson saves it from being a least favorite LP song of mine. Little Things - Okay, the savior of this album for me. Starts off VERY slow and pretty uninteresting, but soon picks up. Once again, Chesters vocals are the only thing here at the start that are good in my mind. The instruments are not playing anything worth noting. But then, all of a sudden, the pace changes, and now I am reminded of an early Beatles song with kind of vocal flourishes Bennington is doing, and that is a good thing in my mind, by the way. Now, the next phase in the closest thing to epic LP has ever done yet: Delson comes in with an absolutely fucking beautiful guitar melody that chokes me up whenever I hear it. Not only that, but then Chester begins to bring everything he has and adds another layer to it, bringing even more emotion and power to the song. But wait, there is STILL more! The rest pf the band decides to wake up and contribute, so now what happens is the potentionally most boring track on the record evolves into probably the most beautiful song this band has EVER, I mean EVER recorded. Everything comes to an end with (what sounds like) Chester and Mike singing together in silence, and it brings this chapter of LP history to a soaring, emotional close . . . My take: Is this like our old friends from the Nu-Metal days? No. Does it have to be? Of course not, but I would have enjoyed a bit more variety than I was given with this record, especiall since the LP guys seem to be so proud of it, but hey, it isn't a terrible album by any means, and I plan to support the band by buying it when it is officially released. Who knows? Maybe the production will sound much better on the pro-pressed edition? Either way, the album is satisfactory, but not great. The songs that I DO like are pretty much amazing, though, so while about half of the album is pretty poor in my view, the songs that are well done are so well done that I am forced to forgive the other shortcomings this album has. If you don't want a band to change their sound or approach to music ever, then you want the impossible, so all we can really do is support Linkin Park and congradulate them in their efforts to try something new, even if we don't like all of the changes made. Ironically, it seems after overviewing my little review here that my biggest problem with the album is with the songs that still have traces of old LP in them, so it could be possible that when their next CD comes out and they are even more evolved, that I will love every second of it, because the changes made are very daring, and aren't that bad at all in my mind. Well, I've taken up too much space here already, so I will leave you premies who haven't downloaded the album yet to decide for yourself what frame of mind to be in when you give this record the first spin. My advice would be to listen to it more than once before making a final verdict, and simply accept that these guys aren't the college kids they were when they began, and wanted to break out of the box so many music critics have put them in over the years. I don't thik any of us can fault them for that. --M.

What I've Done already IS a single . . .

I would say "Given Up", but I always get annoyed when I listen to songs on the radio, and then the sound drops out, or another word is put in place of the "potty word".

Yeah, but the country of America seems to be the big factor in this end-of-the-world buisness at the moment in alot of folkes' minds. Speaking of which, anyone look into the 2012 theory? It interests me, and . . . .*gulp* scares me a little. :'( Damn, I feel like turning on some AEnima by Tool right about now. "Flush it all away . . . "

I guess it's between Meteora and half of MTM. Collision Course and the other half of MTM are my least favorites EVER, and, let's see . . . HT and LIT even it out with their middle position on my list. If we're talking just studio albums, then the order is most likely: 1. Meteora/50% MTM 2. HT 3. 50% MTM that's it for me.

Somewhere I Belong, Lying From You, and QWERTY (new song name???)

It was "Numb". I saw the music video, and fell in love with the tune, then I bought the cd, and found out the rest of their songs were heavy, so they got me into metal music as well.

If you're serious, then I strongly dissagree. LP needs to get heavier if they want to survive. The rap/rock mix is an old hat, LP needs to stay fresh and original, and if taking on a heavier sound is what it takes, then I'm behind it all the way. Also, just because I love heavy music.

ummm . . . I would accept that they are actually working on the album, and be patient. I'd rather wait until they are sure to release another great cd rather than want them to rush themselves and half-ass it.