Meaty album. Review on Meteora - Linkin Park

Linkin park back after quite sometime with a new album.its faster ,louder and better.the name of the album is called meteora.after their first album hybrid theory sent the charts spiraling it look like this album is already to that again.what makes us keep coming back to buy the records from this group as their popularity usually phases out by the second album.well I should say that its a totally new genere of rock that these guys have created.like I have mention in my review on hybrid theory the kind of music that the group have come up with has made it really hard to classify under any of the rock categories.

THE GROUP-

chester bennington-vocals

Rob Bourdon-drums

Brad Delson-guitars

Jospeh Hahn-records and sampling

phoenix-bass

mike shinoda-emcee,vocals,sampling

THE ALBUM-

when I bought the CD they happened to throw in a forty page booklet about the album which I soon got engrossed in during the car journey home.the entire album was written in four different places.they composed songs on their tour bus,at one of the goup member's house (mike shinoda),at NRG studios in california and soundtrack studios in new york.the entire album has thirteen songs.

1)FOREWORD-this is just the introduction to the album and lasts about 13 seconds.this was made at mike's house soon after the album was completed.

2)DONT STAY-the album starts of with a great and fast song ''dont stay''.in this song mike and brad's first guitar parts had a reggae feeling to it.but after numerous transformations of guitar variations the guitarist brad delson came out with the perfect record version which gives the song that right feeling.joseph hahn recorded the opening record scratching on the first take.no mistakes at all.just shows you how dedicated and professional these guys are.

3)SOMEWHERE I BELONG- the most popular song now within my group of friends.somewhere I belong has been on everybody's mp3 playlists even before the album was released onto the shelves at our stores in bangalore.the song ha originally started out with chester bennington playing the acoustic guitar.mike shinoda took the sample replayed it,added a few more affects and sliced it up into four pieces.thus the main main sample of the song was put together.the song had taken almost a year to finish and brad rewriting most of song around the sample while mike and chester wrote 30 versions of the ending chorus .they ended up recording the song one week after the album was finished.after all the hard work now e know why this song is so popular.

4)lYING FROM YOU-as you listen to the songs a little deeper you tend to make out that most of these songs are written on failed relationships where it talks about one of the people walking out of it.this one of the songs that tells you about the above observation very clearly.this song was composed on their tour bus while they were on the road.mike shinoda had come up with the intro sample and chorus music for this song during an overnight bus drive during the ozzfest.recording the guitars on the bus was really tough and it kept turning out to be really sloppy.but a few months down the line at the studio it was perfected and put together.

5)HIT THE FLOOR-this song is more about a person in confusion about situation around him/her.its a song which describes mostly a teenager who finds it difficult to trust other people including himself.this song came up when the entire band wanted to make a heavy song with a lot of hip hop.numerous song styles were tried out by mike and chester.but when chester brought the screaming hook into it they all felt it would work.

6)EASIER TO RUN-this song is about a person distress and inability to cope with situations where that person is under pressure and undergoes mental torture due to all of that.it just connects because of what the world is today.the competition,the fight for survival.the drummer rob bourdon played really well making the complex drumming patterns feel like butter.plus the sequence was recorded in just two takes.another highlight to their skill and experience for such a new group.this song was written by chester with no music and no beats but yet they all managed to fit the song into their style perfectly.

7)FAINT-this song was also composed on the bus by mike shinoda and brad.the song was recorded with no drums and no music.just a guitar.the original version was supposed to be at 70 beats per minute.but after a little experimenting the song was increased to about 135 beats per minute making the song faster ,more fun and better to listen to.

8)FIGURE.09- this song had originally had raps as its verses.later on the entire group decided to change it to singing verses.after sometime mike and brad swapped some of the verses with raps.thus making the song more interesting.would you believe it the rest of the band didnt hear the finished version until the album was done.

9)BREAKING THE HABIT-mike shinoda had been trying to write a song around this idea for about five years.a number of themes were tried for it.but nothing fit at all.while the making of the album mike decided to convert this song into an interlude with a digitally manipulated beat ,strings and the piano.but the rest of the group put their heads together and converted this interlude into a full song.

10)FROM THE INSIDE-the bass guitarist came up with the original guitar idea for this song in the tour bus. when it came to finishing the song the band ran into a bit of trouble.falling sick and unable to sing during the last week of scheduled recording the entire schedule had to be postponed.

11)NOBODY'S LISTENING-as I kept reading the booklet I soon found out that the band wanted to take their sampled sounds to the next level.this song includes a japanese flute.this created a different mood from the other songs on the CD.the singing had to be done in such a way that it connected perfectly with the flute and yes it was done flawlessly.

12)SESSION-this has been a trend in all the linkin park albums.they have a song where the musicians at the instruments have their spot in the limelight.this song is purely instrumental but let me remind you its rock not classical.

13)NUMB- the final song on the CD.just one week before the band reached NRG studios to start recording this song was created.built around the intro in the beginning the song came effortlessly.

MY THOUGHTS-well first of all it is linkin park.so far one of the greatest bands to ever be formed.on reading up on it I have found out that every member of the group has his opinion valued about the making of every song.thus there is a lot of unity within them.this has led to great music and to their succes.even the songs were written aby almost everybody in the group and just not one person all the time.from this I can safely say that it is the best rock group of all times and will stay like that for years to come.i only hope they dont turn out like most of the other groups where the groups split and go their own ways.