Everyone needs some guilty pleasure music in their lives, sometimes I just want to listen to something catchy and simple no matter how silly it sounds or how cheesy the lyrics are. In my case, that spot is reserved for Linkin Park, a band as polarizing as it is successful.
Their last two albums have shown a steady decline in electronic instrumentation towards heavy guitars and a more "classical LP" sound mixing hip hop, clean and harsh vocals and more formulaic songwriting. "The Hunting Party" makes away with most of their electronic elements for a big part of the album, and is probably their most guitar heavy album since 2003's "Meteora", something older fans may appreciate, but at the same time, and like the band clarified, this new release sounds more "middle aged guys writing angry music" and not so much like the "teenage nu metal" of their first two albums.
"The Hunting Party" doesn't slow down a bit until past the first half with the song "Until It's Gone", which should have probably been removed for the sake of the album as it's probably their most formulaic and cliche song (the chorus basically repeats "'cause you don't know what you have until it's gone"). The second half of the album is more varied, featuring two ballads and one instrumental track featuring a discrete appearance by Tom Morello on guitar, one of the four guest collaborators on the album. The slower tracks, like the aforementioned "Until It's Gone" are more basic and contrast with the riffs and dynamic drumming of the heaviest tracks.
Unlike the last LP albums were most of the attention was put on the vocals, on "The Hunting Party" the guitars and drums are the stars, while the drumming is basic by today standards (and so is the guitar) at times it sounds like their most instrumentally adventurous record, and that's something LP really has to work on. Going back to the vocals, both Mike and Chester are hit-or-miss here, Chester is on top of his game when it comes to screaming but the rest of his melodies sound tired and recycled, Mike's rapping sounds more basic and monotonous than ever, and Rakim totally outshines him on lead single "Guilty All The Same", compared to the rest of the record.
It's good that despite being one of the most commercially successful bands out there they still want to try new things and while this album may not be perfect it's a good stepping stone if they want to continue on this road for their next release.
Rating: enjoyable
For fans of: pop rock with hardcore/punk elements, nu metal
Accessibility: high
Highlights: "Guilty All The Same", "Rebellion", "Mark The Graves"
