LINKIN PARK are not AC/DC. But the death of an iconic singer like Bon Scott is tantamount to the loss of the charismatic Chester Bennington. Such a shock is never easy to overcome and it took LINKIN PARK 7 years to re-emerge from the cryogenic chamber. With a new singer... a female singer.

 

I've been listening to Dead Sara since 2012, when they burst onto the alternative airwaves with the explosive 'Weatherman'. It would be a stretch to say that they've become favorites of mine, but I play a few of their songs often, and I've never stopped listening to everything new the band releases. And although I really like Emily Armstrong's singing and presence, I was shocked when it became clear that LINKIN PARK were back together with the frontwoman of Dead Sara.

 

One more thing I will emphasize firmly – I never became a fan of LINKIN PARK, even in my deepest nu metal wanderings some 20 years ago. It was then that their debut ‘Hybrid Theory’ came out and caught me at a time when I was listening to a lot of Korn, Coal Chamber, Mushroomhead, Short of Breath, 40 Below Summer and other well-known or forgotten heroes of the wave that is quite despised by metal fans. But even at that time, there was something in the songs of the Californian kids that bothered me. Yes, there are edgy harsh chops, melodies, strong singing, a thick well produced sound, but something was missing. And somewhere then I realized what was it. In their otherwise angry songs, there was not a single rude word. Then I slapped myself on the forehead and laughed at the band – they were simply user and radio-friendly pop metal for minors and they didn’t want to lose the audience of 13-14 year olds. Somewhere along the way I lost interest in LINKIN PARK and in nu metal in general, excluding a few (still) favorite bands.

 

But enough with the retrospection. Since then I have aged 20 years and have quite furrowed the layers of my musical searches. I have long since learned to appreciate and like good pop or commercial songs and to enjoy well-written, recorded and produced pop music. That is exactly why I haven't stopped listening to the new LINKIN PARK for several days. From Zero is a hell of a strong mainstream modern album.

 

Let’s get to the point - how is Emily? The answer is - great! Emily Armstrong has a strong voice with a nice croaky hisp and LINKIN PARK were not looking for just a screamer with boobs, as not a few bands in the metal scene do (Arch Enemy and Jinjer are among the most annoying examples). Of course, Chester's over-emotional, chest-pounding voice is extremely distinctive and irreplaceable, and Ms. Armstrong simply doesn't try to imitate it. Yet she still adapts her vocals to the band behind whose microphone she is standing, and in many cases she neglects just pure, strong singing in favor of more thrust and shouting. And she does it damn well. And her duets with Mike Shinoda are completely homogeneous and full-blooded.

 

Let me first address the two songs that I can't process. 'Overflaw' is like any awful, greasy song on the radio, with unpleasantly modulated voices. Think of any popular "rapper" today and his latest hit - that's where this song falls for me. And 'Stained' is downright pop slop. This is the music that is trendy today and that makes me happy to hear good commercial music, on the rare occasions I encounter it. And maybe my statement means two things – first, that contemporary popular music is shit and second, that I’m an old fart. I believe in both.

 

Anyway. The very first song that marked the return of LINKIN PARK – ‘The Emptiness Machine’, I liked it so much that I wondered if I was hungover or in some kind of romantic stupor. But no, that’s exactly how I want corporate rock to sound. With a nice lead melody. With nice singing. And it gets into your head irresponsibly and spins there, even when you don’t want to hum it in your brain. Bravo and thank you! It was absolutely the same with the second single – ‘Heavy Is the Crown’. Does it sound like ‘Bleed It Out’ from their third album ‘Minutes to Midnight’? Yes. So what? And at the end the song even sounds angry, as Emily screams before she jumps back into the chorus. I even dreamed about the tune this morning just before I woke up, and it kept rolling around in my head until I put on some music. The third track the band pumped up just before the release of ‘From Zero’ was ‘Two Faced’, which is like a pleasant wreck between LINKIN PARK and Guano Apes. And the gentle pop tune ‘Good Things Go’ is a gorgeous finale to LINKIN PARK’s shortest album.

‘And I say I hate you when I don’t / Push you when you get too close / It’s hard to laugh when I’m the joke’ – a prime example of the lyrics that made the band a favorite of the more emotional ones of the teenagers out there.

 

LINKIN PARK are back and I’m not going to analyze the name of the album, which member has left the band, what’s new in there, how the fans are perceiving it – the media and social platforms keep us busy enough with that. However, the result is a nice pop rock/metal commercial release and I like it. Will Emily Armstrong become LINKIN PARK's Brian Johnson? Most likely not. But she will clearly be their William Duvall.