Linkin Park Selects Emily Armstrong From Rock Band Dead Sara as New Singer

[The Deadman]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

So pretty much... screw what the family thinks, right?

The family isn't part of the band. If the music industry made decisions based on what the family members of a deceased singer wanted to do, we'd have no music industry.

[ZariusTwo]

[Barkworm]

I‘ve listened to the album a couple of times by now. Parts of it are really cool and have a nostalgic vibe, only some of the harsher vocals sound a bit forced to me (especially on ‘casualty‘). Overall, really cool but it also makes me miss Chester Bennington as a vocalist even more.

[IMJ]

It's not a bad album and their re-invention with a female vocalist is cool but the album itself is all basically generic-fare "Linkin Park Music", which in some ways is a good thing, but in others makes for an immemorable record.

[Andrew NDB]

I mean, I used to like Linkin Park and I still don't dislike them, but I don't consider them too dissimilar from, say, Nickelback (who I also don't really dislike). As in, it's all pretty OK but... all kind of sameish?

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I mean, I used to like Linkin Park and I still don't dislike them, but I don't consider them too dissimilar from, say, Nickelback (who I also don't really dislike). As in, it's all pretty OK but... all kind of sameish?

Eh that's debatable. They definitely did try new things while staying true to their genre across their catalog. Every band has their signature sort of sound and when people complain about it "all sounding the same" I think of Steven Spielberg and how nobody complains that he opens all of his movies almost the same way, same vibe, same "show a shoe on the ground mystery".

But then look at Pearl Jam. A band that strayed so far from their expected sound that they've basically become some strange folk music band and looking back at it we find that is actually their sound as opposed to anything we heard on Ten or Vs.... and it shows too because they have some albums that straight up suck.

So, yeah Linkin Park has their earmark sound, but this new one sounded quite derivative and formulaic. Almost as if they wrote it that way on purposes to help usher in the new singer.

[Barkworm]

Originally Posted by IMJ

But then look at Pearl Jam. A band that strayed so far from their expected sound that they've basically become some strange folk music band and looking back at it we find that is actually their sound as opposed to anything we heard on Ten or Vs.... and it shows too because they have some albums that straight up suck.

Oh, those guys… They have not released an album I didn‘t find horrible in almost 20 years. It is sad because I used to be a big fan but it‘s like you said: The bad albums represent them better than the good stuff they‘ve made. Sure, their hardcore fans will accurately claim that they are an amazing live band but I‘m not paying a 150 bucks to see them perform a three hour set half full of stinkers from their last four terrible albums.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Barkworm

Oh, those guys… They have not released an album I didn‘t find horrible in almost 20 years. It is sad because I used to be a big fan but it‘s like you said: The bad albums represent them better than the good stuff they‘ve made. Sure, their hardcore fans will accurately claim that they are an amazing live band but I‘m not paying a 150 bucks to see them perform a three hour set half full of stinkers from their last four terrible albums.

I was really excited about the newest one from the two tracks I heard on the radio - I went out of my way to pick up the Blu-Ray audio copy for the fidelity and the mix. I will say that the production and sound quality is amazing, but it has two or three decent tracks and more garbage on the rest.

But for me it's basically Ten, Vs., Yield and Avocado. That's it - four all-the-way-through solid albums across a catalog of 12 studio albums.

[Barkworm]

I love Vitalogy and Riot Act too and enjoyed a lot of No Code and Binaural as well. But since we both agree on the Avocado album being great, the last good album is from 2006.

I saw them in 2012 and in addition to the horrible venue they played in, a lot of the setlist was awful as well.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Barkworm

I love Vitalogy and Riot Act too and enjoyed a lot of No Code and Binaural as well. But since we both agree on the Avocado album being great, the last good album is from 2006.

I saw them in 2012 and in addition to the horrible venue they played in, a lot of the setlist was awful as well.

I couldn't truly absorb No Code when it was released - that was their first rumblings of turning into some kind of folk band. But I saw them at the United Center during their Avocado tour and they played Present Tense and that alone sort of drew me into that album more than I had been in the past....