Linkin Park: Ranking The Albums
When Linkin Park first came on the scene in 2000, they were dismissed by metal purists for being too ‘pop’. But, deep down, everyone is a sucker for a good tune. Over the years, Linkin Park have become so synonymous with the rock and metal scene that they have been embraced by everyone; and we all felt the loss of Chester Bennington deeply in 2017. Here, we embrace the tricky task of ranking Linkin Park’s stellar discography. Yes, ‘Hybrid Theory’ is the superstar - but there may be some decisions along the way that surprise you!
In a similar way to how ‘The Hunting Party’ was a reaction to criticism that Linkin Park had gone soft, ‘Minutes to Midnight’ feels very much like a reaction to them being pigeon-holed into the narrow category of ‘nu metal’ with ‘Hybrid Theory’ and ‘Meteora’.
One of the most striking things about ‘Minutes to Midnight’ is that Linkin Park suddenly sound like a ‘normal’ band. ie. guitars, drums, bass and vocals, playing rock songs in a practice space.
Nothing wrong with this, per se.
However, we fell in love with Linkin Park for the added electronic elements, the slick production, the glorious interplay of rapping and singing. On ‘Minutes to Midnight’, these elements were either lower in the mix or absent altogether, leaving the record feel more like a demo from a more traditional meat-and-potatoes rock band.
The singles ‘Leave Out All The Rest’ and ‘What I’ve Done’ could admittedly have fitted on ‘Meteora’. But once we get into the middle of the album, with ‘Valentine’s Day’, ‘In Between’ and ‘In Pieces’, Linkin Park sound bereft of ideas, lacking in energy and frustratingly ploddy.
Album closer ‘The Little Things Give You Away’ works better, because it is a fantastic, less formulaic song, even if it does occupy territory more reminiscent of Snow Patrol or Coldplay.
Elsewhere, ‘Bleed It Out’ is fun, and ‘Given Up’ is a fantastic showcase for the power of Chester’s scream. But overall, this is Linkin Park’s most skippable and underwhelming album.
Standout tracks: ‘The Little Things Give You Away’, ‘What I’ve Done’
Everything about ‘The Hunting Party’ says REACTION. A reaction to fans saying they’d lost their heaviness. A reaction to critics saying they’d become self-indulgent. A reaction to their own yearning to make more organic, wild and noisy music.
They hinted at it with ‘Victimized’ on the previous album ‘Living Things’, and stretched the idea over a full album.
For the most part, it is an enjoyable, chaotic ride - and it definitely isn’t an album for casual fans of ‘In The End’ or ‘Numb’. ‘The Hunting Party’ starts with electronically distorted screams and retains its heaviness for most of the record, especially with the hardcore punk of ‘War’ and the fantastic riffs of ‘Rebellion’.
In fact, the main criticism of the album is that it could have gone further with the intensity. If Linkin Park were really making a statement with this record, it could have gone even heavier and focused, and they could have dispensed with ‘Drawbar’, ‘Final Masquerade’ and ‘Until It’s Gone’ (admittedly a great song) which dilute the overall brutality. Still, it is hard not to have respect for Linkin Park making a purposeful step away from commercial viability with this one.
Standout tracks: ‘All For Nothing', ‘A Line in the Sand’
It is impossible to listen to ‘One More Light’ without thinking about the tragedy that happened only a few weeks after the album was released. Each lyric on this record takes on a different, more devastating flavour, knowing that Chester was battling demons so strong that he felt the only way out was to end his own life.
Lyrics such as “I’m dancing with my demons. I’m hanging off the edge” (Nobody Can Save Me); “If my armor breaks, I'll fuse it back together” (Battle Symphony); “You say that I'm paranoid, but I'm pretty sure the world is out to get me” (Heavy); “In the kitchen, one more chair than you need” (One More Light) - they are almost unbearably hard to hear and read.
If these were a cry for help, was there anything more that could have been done?
Linkin Park received a lot of initial criticism for ‘One More Light’, for dispensing with the heaviness and embracing pop and R’n’B throughout. Admittedly, there is little to distinguish them from the mainstream pop of the day (even Taylor Swift comes to mind) - but there is an enduring quality to the songwriting throughout that makes ‘One More Light’ worthy of revisiting - just make sure you bring the tissues for the immaculate title track.
Standout tracks: ‘One More Light’, ‘Heavy’, ‘Nobody Can Save Me’
A lot has been made, understandably, of Linkin Park returning with a new singer - and a female singer, at that. Their comeback in 2024 was one of the biggest music stories of the year, and the stakes were incredibly high.
Massive congratulations to the band for producing something that was genuinely worthy of the Linkin Park name, with enough nods to their signature sound to be familiar but without being a note-for-note retread of their past (with the exception of ‘Two Faced’ - could it be any more similar to ‘One Step Closer’…?).
From the moment that Emily Armstrong’s voice comes enters on the second verse of ‘The Emptiness Machine’, it was clear she was the perfect choice to fill Chester’s shoes. Throughout the album, she demonstrates a genuinely brilliant singing voice, as well as brutal screams (‘Heavy Is The Crown’, which could have come straight from 'Hybrid Theory’ and ‘Casualty’, which sounds like an outtake from ‘The Hunting Party’).
‘From Zero’ is a lean, direct and tight record that easily stands shoulder to shoulder with their best work.
Standout tracks: ‘The Emptiness Machine’, ‘Over Each Other’, ‘Good Things Go’
With ‘Meteora’, Linkin Park created a collection of songs that, for the most part, match ‘Hybrid Theory’ for quality. However, aside from the faster pace of ‘Breaking the Habit’, which creates energy through synths and pace rather than loud guitars, ‘Meteora’ doesn’t bring especially new to the table. It’s certainly a good record, but nowhere near as cutting-edge and innovative as its predecessor.
‘Session’ is this album’s ‘Cure For The Itch’, in penultimate position again. ‘Numb’, whilst excellent, has strong echoes of ‘In The End’. And ‘Hit The Floor’ is a more processed retread / hybrid of ‘Papercut’ and ‘Place For My Head’, using all of the hallmarks of nu-metal that were starting to get a bit tired in 2003.
That said, ‘Meteora’ is still a fantastic record, showcasing Chester’s superb singing / screaming (‘Easier To Run’ is possibly the best example of his versatility), Mike’s ever-reliable raps and a masterful combination of heavy guitars, punchy drums and cutting-edge electronica.
Standout tracks: ‘Breaking the Habit’, ‘Numb’, ‘Faint’
After the experimentation of ‘A Thousand Suns’, Linkin Park had simultaneously opened up an exciting future and alienated some of their long-term fans. They were most likely very aware of this, given that the follow-up, ‘Living Things’, was arguably a combination of everything that had come before. The space, warped synths and prog-rock flavours from ‘A Thousand Suns’ crept into ‘Roads Untravelled’, ‘Skin to Bone’ and ‘Tinfoil’. ‘I’ll Be Gone’ has echoes of ‘Somewhere I Belong’, with a new-found majesty, while ‘Powerless’ gives ‘Numb’ a run for its money.
The quality isn’t perfect all the way through, unfortunately. ‘Victimized’ comes across as somewhat jarring, and would have fitted much better on ‘The Hunting Party’. Similarly, there is a good song hidden somewhere in ‘Until It Breaks’, but it doesn’t quite work.
Some of Linkin Park’s best ever songs feature on ‘Living Things’, including the wonderful ‘Castle of Glass’ and opener ‘Lost in the Echo’. ‘Living Things’ is often overlooked, and it is certainly not held with the same career-defining reverance as ‘Meteora’, but it is well worth revisiting as a summary of all elements of what make Linkin Park great.
Standout tracks: ‘Castle of Glass’, ‘Roads Untravelled’, ‘Lost in the Echo’
“‘A Thousand Suns’ in SECOND place, above ‘Meteora’…??!!”
I can hear the war cries and battle drums now.
Honestly, if you dismissed this album when it first came out, give it another spin. A lot of people were quick to jump on the bandwagon of “Where have the guitars gone?”; whereas, in fact, what Linkin Park managed with ‘A Thousand Suns’ was to create something utterly unique, compelling and emotionally affecting.
This is less of a collection of songs and more of a fully realised album. Not so much a ‘concept’ record, as there isn’t a cleary identifiable narrative or story behind it - but an album in the sense that it flows brilliantly as a complete body of work, including ambient soundscapes, vocal samples, unconventional instrumentation, programmed beats and plenty of melodrama.
The lead single, ‘The Catalyst’, gets the blood pumping in a way that recalls The Prodigy or Pendulum (albeit through a Linkin Park filter). ‘Iridescent’ is a power ballad with group vocals (“Do you feel cold and lost in desperation?”) that stir the most powerful emotions; and ‘When They Come For Me’ has an Eastern-flavoured vocal melody stacked on layer upon layer of percussion and synths. This was musical alchemy at its most inspiring - almost like Nine Inch Nails’ ‘The Fragile’ but with all the mysanthrophy flipped upside down to optimism.
Soundout tracks: ‘Iridescent’, ‘The Catalyst’, ‘Robot Boy’
It had to be, really, didn’t it?. When your debut album is one of the greatest rock records of all time, it would take a mammoth effort to knock it from the Number 1 spot.
Linkin Park seemed to come from nowhere, and were fully realised from day one. This, of course, led to a lot of scepticism in the rock and metal world. Surely they were a manufactured band - ‘The Backstreet Boys with guitars’ etc etc. In reality, they were just really REALLY good. As they have proven time and again over the years, Linkin Park have an incredible work ethic as a band, and they share a singular vision which is based on perfectionism and high quality.
Yes, the songs are formulaic.
Yes, you know that the quieter, rapped verses from Mike Shinoda are going to be followed soon by a heavy, melodic chorus sung / screamed brilliantly by Chester Bennington.
Yes, every song is a similar length.
But it doesn’t matter when the quality is this high. No-one in the metal world had ever produced something as polished, pop-flavoured and, well, brilliant, as Hybrid Theory - which is why it flew to the top of every chart in 2000. It was unashamably nu metal; but where so many other records from the late 90s / early 2000s have faded to embarrassing, dated obscurity, ‘Hybrid Theory’ has endured and is beloved by a whole new generation of rock and metal fans.
Standout tracks: ‘Forgotten’, ‘With You’, ‘In The End’, ‘One Step Closer’
