The revolution is over. Waiting for the end while burning in the fire of a thousand suns.(review for album A Thousand Suns by Linkin Park)

“By now, you've probably listened to Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns somewhere between 20 and 50 times (just like Mike Shinoda told you to!), and you've probably formed a pretty solid opinion on the album. Either you think it's a brave, ballsy reinvention of the band's sound, or you hate it because, dude, where are the guitars?!?”

I first listened to this album the day it was released: September 14^th and while the songs were playing I was invaded by a terrible feeling of disappointment. Most of you may say, “of course you were disappointed, you expected that Linkin Park would launch the same mix of hip-hop/metal you were used to”. The answer is no. Since the hybrid MTM was launched, I knew they will get another turn. I knew they have changed a lot and they want to do something else. But every old Linkin Park fan, including myself expected to something else new but good. And special, and different. ATS is not good. Neither different or special. ATS is one of the worst albums I’ve listened in the last years. ATS is commercial.

Linkin Park marked my whole existence as a teenager. I started listening to them when I was 13.  Of course that since then, my taste in music has changed a lot and now I’ve got many other rock-metal bands to listen but Linkin Park converted me to this genre of music. They were my favorite band for such a long time and even now they have a special drawer in my soul.Those guys really did something original, they were a hybrid of rap/rock/nu-metal which went great and could give you an amazing feeling every time you were listening to their albums. They had an identity in the music culture, they had a personality. You could say “yes, this is Linkin Park, this is their style, sound, imprint”. Everything became confusing since MTM came out. MTM is a divided album as I written in it’s review. It’s a hybrid in the real sense of the word. It isn’t unitary and while listening to it, you realize that Linkin Park are in a personality crisis and have divided thoughts and feelings. It sounds like they don’t know where to head at. Since then,  I’ve been waiting for the new album because I guessed that this album will show the way they’ve changed and their new direction.  Everything got clear after ATS was released. These guys have radically changed. Now, I can’t say LInkin Park as a band has a style or personality anymore. Now Linkin Park is a total mess. In their live shows, they play a mix of old and new songs and this thing makes you wonder “where is Linkin Park? Which is their REAL style? Who are them in fact?”. What is clear is that they’ve got a new direction and entered in a new era of making their music. They adopted this pop-electronic-rap genre which is a mix of sounds that doesn’t tell too much. They really are a hybrid. No imprint left. I pointed this out because all the bands who remained known as great bands in the music history have their own personality, style and signature in music. If they changed, they didn’t change radically, they improved their style (see: Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Rolling Stones). Linkin Park is continuously changing. By changing all the time, a band cannot put an imprint on the music history and remain written there. By changing all the time a band can end up in confusion and also confuse it’s fans.

I didn’t listen ATS “between 20 and 50 times”, but I listened to it a lot. With/without headphones, paying attention to the lyrics, sound, message. Unfortunately, that was a waste of time because my opinion remained just like the first. I wrote this review long time after the album came out because I wanted to let the feelings dissolve and combine and I tried to understand the album but it seems there’s not much to understand.

Compared to MTM, ATS is unitary and homogenous. But the fact it has 15 songs outsmarted many people as 5 of them are just so called “interludes” (The Requiem, The Radiance, Empty Spaces, Jornada del Muerto, Fallout) and one of them is a speech of Martin Luther King (Wisdom, Justice and Love). So there are only 9 full songs that remain. I didn’t fully understood the role of these interludes, I guess they wanted to create some bridges and links between the songs or point some feelings out but I’m still not sure what’s their real meaning.

The third track- Burning in the skies is a slow song with very short guitar riff at the end.  It sounds like the demo of the song New divide with Chester singing “ I’m losing what I don’t deserve” while in New Divide he was saying “I get what I deserve”. It has nothing special, maybe just some metaphoric words like “ In the end we were made to be apart/Like separate chambers of the human heart” and “swimming in the smoke of bridges I have burned”. The sound is commercial, good to be played on the radio.

When they come for me- a protest of Mike Shinoda against all the critics, reviewers and disappointed fans. It’s hip hop, electronic with random drums. The attitude is good, it’s a way of saying that they really don’t care what fans, reviewers and other people think, they’re on their own and they want to make their own music as they like without caring about critics. In the music history, there are very few bands which followed only their own vision without being influenced by mainstream. Amazing way of thinking but very bad way of expression. This song has nothing more than a crazy sound with that “shut up motherfucker” inserted in the worst way. It’s incredible the way these guys could express their revolution and hard feelings in their past albums without having that “parental advisory, explicit content” sticker on the CD cover. Now they got it and they got it bad because they really don’t know how and where to swear. They aren’t  convincing anymore.  And the verse “ I’m not a robot/ I’m not a monkey/  I won’t dance even the beat is funky” is really silly. Uninspired.

Robot boy- slow song with very good piano intro.  And nothing else. The title reminds me of Tim Burton’s character,  and the lyrics seem to be a protest against the violence in the world and against the lack of love and affection that we all suffer from. The idea is good and I think this song could become much better if they worked more on it. I think I can call it “good”.

Waiting for the end- very good hip hop part at the beginning, even the lyrics tend to be better but the slow solo part of Chester that comes after is so slow and boring that can be a very good cure for insomniacs. The end is somewhat faster and interesting but…no guitars again.

Blackout-  some guitars and tendency to a harsh metal sound. The lyrics don’t express much but we can hear Chester shouting somehow. It sounds like a demo with raw and distorted sounds. But the final feeling resulted is rather frustration than revolution. One of the “good” songs on this album.

Wretches and kings-  maybe “the best” song on the album, but also sounding like a demo. We can get some revolution and so called “life” listening to it.

Iridescent- slow, very slow and very… emo. “ Do you feel cold and lost in desperation” what’s that? Of course it becomes pretty optimistic telling you to “remember all the sadness and frustration and oh let it go” and a small guitar riff comes as a bonus at the end but… this song is one of the most commercial songs I’ve ever heard. And every time Chester sings “remember all” with a harsh vocal I burst into laughing. It really doesn’t work in such a slow song. It worked before… in nu metal. It worked damn great.

The catalyst- the first single that came out, the first thing we all heard, the first thing that disappointed. A protest against war with religious background “God save us everyone”. It sounded to me ike a following of “Hands held high” which had that “amen amen”. The catalyst has “God save us” so now we see that these guys have become more than afflicted by the wars and disasters in the world. They have become religious even in music. That’s not bad but the repetition of God save us and “we’re a broken people living under loaded gun” becomes boring throughout the whole length of the song. Most people rated “the catalyst” as the best song on the album. I can’t say that. I just can say that it sounds more vivid than many others on ATS. And of course, it’s good for the morning radio.

The messenger- a song I simply can’t listen to. It’s like a following of the make love not war flower power motto. It’s disappointing. Chester singing alone with a slight keyboards background reminds me of a pop-star girlie singing a song about love and kindness on MTV. It’s like a kick  between the eyes. It hurts.

What I can say in conclusion is that those guys created an album which seems to be a protest against world’s violence and lack of empathy. It seems that they were very marked by the disasters that struck America  in the past years and now they’re singing for peace. This thing is obviously shown by the songs The catalyst, Robot boy, Iridescent and the speech of Martin Luther King inserted in the album. Nothing bad in this decision but It would have been damn good if they’d choose a more non-commercial way to express this. When they came out and in the first years of their evolution as a band, Linkin Park’s music could be listened only to the rock and metal radio. I was a little bit shocked when I first heard them on the morning radio with “shadow of the day” some time ago…now all the songs on ATS can be  played on the radio. The only thing I can get from this is that Linkin Park has become a commercial band and now they’re in the pop music mainstream. I’m sure they wanted to do something great and outstanding but all they could do is to release another bunch of pop-electronic songs which will easily loose in the huge pile of easy songs.That’s disappointing and sad. They lost most of their old fans and gained some brand new listeners, who never heard or never liked their first albums. Even one of my friends, keen on pop and electronic music who never liked Linkin Park before said “these guys sound pretty good” after listening to ATS. Linkin Park new era of slow soft music begun. What will they create next? A symphony? Nevermind. The revolution is over and here ends the evolution of a very promising band. Burning in the fire of a thousand suns, as the guys themselves declare.

Iron Maiden la Cluj: We're blood brothers!

Scream for me Transylvania!
Bestial.Teribil.Fantastic. Nu am cuvinte suficiente pentru a descrie nebunia care s-a dezlantuit la Cluj in data de gratie 15 august 2010. Un concert de zile mari care a zguduit inima Transilvaniei si la propriu si la figurat.
Nu mi-a venit sa cred cand am auzit că Iron Maiden vin pentru a 3-a oară în România. Îi văzusem și la Bucuresti în 2008 cu ocazia turneului Somewhere Back In Time într-un concert de-a dreptul incendiar si chiar nu mă așteptam să-i revăd atât de curând și cu ocazia lansării noului album The final frontier.
Nu mai fusesem niciodată la Cluj înainte de acest concert. Un oraș foarte fain cu oameni faini, împânzit de afișe cu Iron Maiden la vederea cărora îmi creștea marcat gradul de nerăbdare. Când am ajuns înainte de concert, pe la ora 18:00 în zona Polus Center și am văzut scena și publicul deja adunat acolo aproape că am luat-o razna.
Deși a fost prima cântare de o asemenea anvergură care a avut loc la Cluj, ardelenii s-au priceput de minune să organizeze totul până la cele mai mici detalii. Nu este deloc ușor să controlezi accesul a peste 30.000 de oameni într-o zonă de spectacol dar asta nu i-a împiedicat pe clujeni să facă totul ca la carte. Zonă pietonală bine delimitată de circulația rutieră în drumul către Polus, brățări personalizate „Iron Maiden Cluj Napoca 2010” , parcare pentru cei cu bilete în zona VIP, microbuze care te duceau fix lângă tribună care a fost poziționată foarte bine, lateral stânga, la 30 metri de scenă, poliție peste tot; pe scurt, ordine și disciplină. Însă cel mai mult m-a impresionat faptul că lângă zona VIP a fost amplasată o alta tribună cu „Locuri speciale pentru oameni speciali” pentru persoanele cu dizabilități locomotorii. Nu am mai văzut asta la niciun concert la care am participat. Felicitări organizatorilor!
În deschidere,la ora 19:00 Cargo a încălzit publicul cu piese ca: Ziua Vrajitoarelor, Dacă ploaia s-ar opri, Calare pe motoare, Nu pot trai fara tine și Aproape de voi. reusind să destindă atmosfera. Rockerii de la peluză erau deja în plină agitație iar publicul cânta și dialoga cu trupa. Nu sunt fan Cargo dar recunosc că au avut un recital frumos înainte de intrarea balaurilor.
Ora fatidică 20:45. Se dezlănțuie iadul în acordurile piesei Transylvania și regii heavy-metalului năvălesc pe scenă anunțând un show de zile mari. Transylvania nu s-a lăsat auzită integral iar imediat după Intro a început The wicker man urmat de Ghosts of the navigator, ambele de pe albumul Brave New World. Prestația lui Bruce a fost de excepție ca de obicei. Mi-a amintit de concertul de la București când a alergat ca un titirez pe toata scena,a vorbit cu publicul și a făcut glumițe pe tot parcursul concertului. Aceste lucruri nu au lipsit nici la Cluj, dovadă că Iron Maiden sunt o trupă care se respectă și își respectă mai ales fanii cărora Bruce le-a mulțumit pentru prezența la show.
Au cântat atât piesele vechi pe care publicul le știa deja pe dinafară, cât și piese de pe albumele recente. Nu a lipsit nici El Dorado de ultimul album. Solo-urile lungi de chitară au electrizat mulțimea de rockeri iar Nicko McBrain a fost într-o formă de zile mari la tobe.
No more lies, Dance of Death, Wrathchild, Brave New World, Wildest Dreams au fost hit-uri cu care Iron Maiden a încântat publicul. Special pentru fani au cântat Blood Brothers, Bruce spunând în introducere cât de importanți sunt fanii pentru ei și faptul că ne consideră pe toți frați de sânge. „We’re blood brothers” am strigat cu toții la refren însă mulțimea s-a agitat cel mai tare la Fear of the Dark care nu a lipsit nici din acest show. ”Fear of the dark Transylvania, hahahahaha” a spus Bruce misterios înainte ca tobele să se dezlănțuie. La Number of the Beast deja cânta toată lumea și cu toții eram într-o nebunie maximă. A fost prima piesă din cele trei pe care le-au cântat la bis iar când am auzit “Woe to you oh earth and sea”am ridicat cu toții mâinile și am țipat. La bis au mai cântat Hallowed be thy names (una din piesele mele de suflet) și au încheiat cu Running Free.
Nici Eddie n-a lipsit. Mascota și-a făcut triumfal apariția în timpul piesei Iron Maiden iar Janick Gers a început să lovească în el cu chitara, lucru care a fost teribil de amuzant. Luminile și decorul au fost la înălțime deși nu de aceeași amplitudine ca cele de la București dar jocurile de lumini au fost superbe și foarte bine realizate. Dar Iron Maiden nu au nevoie de decor și prezentare pentru a face o prestație de neuitat. Iron Maiden sunt niște maeștri care știu să facă show oricum și oriunde.
Scream for me Transylvania, Scream for me Cluj, Scream for me Romania au fost cuvinte de încurajare pentru public care s-au auzit pe tot parcursul concertului. Implicarea trupei a fost maximă iar a publicului a fost la superlativ.
A fost primul concert pe care l-am vazut dintr-o tribună VIP dar erau momente când aș fi dat orice să ajung în primul rând alături de rockerii dezlănțuiți, cum a fost în 2008 la București. Însă a fost un concert fabulous al unei trupe fabuloase, un concert la care m-am simțit de-a dreptul crazy și so damn alive, un concert care a arătat Transilvaniei ce înseamnă heavy metal-ul cu adevărat. Up the Irons!

Publicata si pe Metalhead: http://www.metalhead.ro/stiri/Iron_Maiden_la_Cluj_Were_Blood_Brothers-aid-89016-l-1

Placebo reloaded in Bucharest 21 Iunie 2009

Din cauza marii grozăvii care se cheama sesiune, nu sunt capabilă să scriu cronica acestui concert dar nu mă lasă inima să nu postez aici câteva mărturii ale grozavei cântări cu care maeştrii de la Placebo ne-au încântat ochii şi urechile timp de o oră şi 45 de minute.


Mulţimea transpirată şi agitată de la gazon B aşteptând declanşarea exploziei.














Mai era ceva până la ora 21:00 ...
Soare peste soare, încep să cânte exilaţii, pardon... Expatriate, tipii care au cântat în deschidere. Incolor, inodor, insipid. Plictisitor...


















Uof doamne... ce plictiseală... Habar n-am ce căuta puştiulică ăsta aici dar oricum era scos complet din alt film. Căsca încontinuu rezoând cu plictiseala mea de expatriaţii ăia care nu mai terminau.


















Şi o mostră de Expatriate care provin tocmai din Sidney Australia după cum au specificat. Mda.... go back go away go back boooooriiiiing

Băieţii rai de la sunete...


















 şi băieţii nebuni de la montaj...

Şi gata... intră băieţii meseriaşi în acţiune. Show în toată regula, sunet high quality , lumini , toată chestiunea bine pusă la punct. Prima piesă.. Kitty Litter de pe noul album Battle for the sun.



















" Coming up on Infra Red
There is no running that can hide you....'cause I can see in the dark "


















Efect de-a dreptul hipnotic. See you at the bitter end...

The end of the story... foarte tare concertul. Prestaţie ca la carte. No comment.

Caught somewhere in time... Iron Maiden

Live after death- Somewhere back in time world tour
4 August 2008. Bucuresti. Stadionul Cotroceni. Ora 15:45. O mare de tricouri negre, plete si tinte se ingramadeste in fata portilor de fier ale stadionului. Nu mai e de glumit,vine Maiden. Dar fara sa iei situatia in deradere nu poti rezista. Sunt in jur de 35 de grade la umbra si singura noastra speranta era ca la un moment dat o batranica amabila va arunca un lighean cu apa de la balcon. Gardienii se holbeaza nonsalant la noi mancandu-si tacticos sandwich-urile si gandindu-se probabil la cat de tampit trebuie sa fii sa vii imbracat complet in negru pe canicula asta, mai ales ca aveau de gand sa ne tina 2 ore afara din cauza unor probleme (lipsa barei de separare dintre gazoanele A si B). Gardienii sucks spun fanii Maiden, singura lor parte buna a fost ca ne-au dat apa care insa nu a ajuns decat la cei din fata. Halal organizare... Nu m-a tinut in picioare decat gandul ca in sfarsit imi voi vedea visul cu ochii mai ales daca mi-o da vreun sfant sansa sa ajung in fata scenei.
La 17:45, dupa ce si-au baut englezii ceaiul... navalirea! Dupa ce au curs 20 de litri de apa pe mine am luat-o la fuga catre scena cat m-aut tinut bocancii. Mi-am ratat si jetonul dar n-a contat pentru ca am ajuns in randul doi.


Mai devreme decat ne asteptam, pe la 19:30 a aparut Lauren Harris incadrata de fundalul "Calm before the storm" al albumului pe care l-a promovat. S-a descurcat admirabil in ciuda criticilor aparute pe net cum ca a ajuns celebra datorita lui Steve Harris, tatal ei, chitarist la Maiden. Un inceput OK, fara batai de cap, sound in regula, piese nici stralucite dar nici mediocre, dintre care cea mai reusita mi s-a parut "Steal your fire". In fine, Lauren mai stie sa si cante dar si sa se miste pe scena.
Au urmat cei de la Trooper de care,spre rusinea mea auzeam pentru prima data. Cu o vestimentatie de motociclisti si un sound care voia sa semene cand a Metallica si Maiden, cand a Norther si Pantera au cam facut uz de vechile formule Iris " Salutare prieteni", "Ce faceti prieteni", " Va multumim prieteni". In fine, show dupa care nu m-am dat in vant, incepusem sa ma plictisesc de ei pana la ultima piesa cand am facut de-a dreptul un soc auditiv din cauza "chitaiturilor" solistului vocal. Oi fi eu ignoranta, poate nu stiu sa apreciez cum trebuie o muzica dar urechile mele au avut mult de suferit in urma ultimului impact cu Trooper.Oricum, trupa avea ceva fani care se zbenguiau la peluza, a fost OK macar pentru ei dar eu am ramas cu impresia ca rock-ul romanesc mai are mult de munca pana sa ajunga la dimensiunea marilor "gods of rock" de afara.
Concluzia deschiderii: in regula, plictisitor pe alocuri, multa foiala in tribune, coada la suc si la bere, muzica de calitate medie pana cand...
Totul a palit, s-a prabusit, s-a uitat la ora 9 punct, in primele acorduri ale piesei Access High urmate de inconfundabila voce a lui Bruce. Intr-un decor egiptean, incadrat de mumii si pisici negre cu ochii rosii balaurii navalesc pe scena. Tot stadionul sare in aer, nimic nu mai conteaza, a explodat Maiden. Cu 4 chitaristi si un Bruce extrem de agitat, Iron Maiden a venit in Romania cu forte proaspete si o forma de zile mari. A fost un adevarat Live after death cu decorul schimbat aproape la fiecare piesa, jocuri de lumini si muzica de mare clasa. Au cantat urmatoarele Hit-uri:
Intro. Transylvania/Churchill's Speech
Aces High
2 Minutes to Midnight
Revelations
The Trooper
Wasted Years
The Number of The Beast
Can I Play with Madness
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Powerslave
Heaven Can Wait
Run to the Hills
Fear of The Dark
Iron Maiden

La bis:
Moonchild
The Clarvoyant
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Bruce a aparut imbracat in soldat fluturand steagul britanic la Trooper, cu o masca de razboinic african la Powerslave dar cea mai spectaculoasa piesa a fost Rime of the ancient mariner (dupa Samuel Taylor Colleridge) intr-un decor plin de ceata si Bruce intr-o mantie neagra defiland in fata noastra.
Explozia a fost insa Number of the Beast cu "flacarile iadului" iesind din scena si publicul de la peluza sarind in ritmul tobelor si cantand piesa impreuna cu Maiden de la inceput pana la final.
Nici Eddie, mascota trupei nu s-a lasat asteptat,intai a aparut imbracat in mumie imensa scotand scantei pe ochi apoi a facut o scurta plimbare pe scena cu un pistol in mana.
Stadionul a fost plin de fani adevarati si Bruce a observat asta cand, la un moment dat s-a oprit sa asculte aclamatiile noastre. Toti strigau "Maiden rulz si We love you Bruce!". Show-ul a fost genial, un teatru desavarsit datorita decorului si povestioarelor prin care Bruce anunta fiecare piesa. S-a vazut clar ca oamenii astia adora sa cante si isi traiesc piesele pana la capat Iron Maiden ne-a prins de-a dreptul "Somewhere in time" si incheierea cu "Hallowed be thy names" a fost spectaculoasa, finalizata cu artificiile de rigoare.
Singura parte mai putin buna a fost sonorizarea, un pic cam stridenta ceea ce pe mine si pe fani nu ne-a deranjat absolut deloc pentru ca urlam in delir fiecare vers impreuna cu Bruce dar erau langa mine cativa care pareau de-a dreptul din alt film, chiar nu intelegeau ce se intampla.
Oricum a fost un show de zile mari care si-a meritat banii, chinul asteptarii setea si prizonieratul in fata portilor. Toata zona Cotroceni, inclusiv businessmann-ii de la Mariott pe care i-a avertizat razand Bruce ca "The fucking show will last for 2 hours a avut parte de o explozie de sunet si lumini. I'm still caught somewhere in time si sper ca Maiden sa revina cat de curand. UP THE IRONS!!!

Revision for Minutes To Midnight from Linkin Park

All people said that M2M was such a different album and I agree. It’s totally unusual from all the points of view. But almost all the fans I talked to were criticizing it really bad and they said they’re not LP fans anymore just because of M2M. Some other people said it’s much better, that they liked it more. About me, I can say I was absolutely disappointed when I listened to it for the first time, second time, third time…. But why? Why should we argue these guys so much about this album? Why should we blame them for some things that they are supposed to have done? It’s not fair. I’m starting to analyze M2M in my own point of view and see why to argue and why not.
Throughout the career of a music band many things can occur. When they first appeared on the stage in 1999 with the genial Hybrid Theory E. P. Linkin Park was in a total chaos. Very insecure, they couldn’t trust themselves and that E. P. followed by the extraordinary Hybrid Theory in 2000 is a deep analyze of a person who is simply losing the equilibrium of life, faith, truth and gets into incredible pain, confusing and chaos. Nothing seems to be real; they are totally lost into the dark, they can’t see the things as they are so they are and every contact with the real world causes unbearable pain. So, LP are crawling back into their papercut blown by the wind of forgiveness. It’s all black and has no hope. It’s all hybrid. Hybrid Theory.
We loved it. We also loved “Reanimation” came after. A very “worked” album and filled with classic instrumental adds. And what followed was “Meteora”. The best of them all I consider. Trying to find their forgotten origins, LP are digging into the memory, trying to find out the place where they belong and spread the pain that’s inside. The pain which has to be torn away, guys, let’s go back to reality that’s what they seem to say. They tried to reach another side of the space, something like another sense of salvation. And they did. They reached Meteora. And made us reach it too. They’ve done such a great job then.
These albums above are all unitary. They have an entire story told in 12 songs and if you get united the lyrics of all songs in their succession you can get a new reality and the description of band’s inner world. There’s a very big link between the words of the lyrics and the instrumental part is also unitary.
Minutes to Midnight has a story too. Maybe it has a longer story than the others but I can’ see it too well. It doesn’t seem to be a clear link between the songs. They look like different parts of the same story but there aren’t linkage elements to put them together. They are “In Between” and their words seem to be written in dedication to different events and political reasons throughout a very long time. The story has been lost behind the surface. There are different messages that songs transmit and if you try to unite them, you don’t get big deal. This album can’t be “felt” as much as you can feel Hybrid and Meteora.
On the first hand, it’s not unitary; the lyrics aren’t too deep and expressive. There are commemorative songs, political songs and even love songs. That seems really weird for a band like LP was before to play this kind of songs. On the other hand some songs are very “light” and commercial, the instrumental part is very soft and simple, you don’t need 3 guitars to play something like “Valentine’s day”.
But I say again. Many things can happen. These guys are crossing a changing period in their life. They want something different and feel something different. It’s telling me that they are searching a path to get out of the chaos they were in before and try to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. M2M shows the light, it’s there faraway but nobody can get it. It may be a time of total confusion for LP. They still don’t know what they want and where they need to go to. They look in different directions searching the right way. But they don’t want to look for it like before. They don’t want any of that pain and bleeding which was in Hybrid. The message is not to crawl, just “bleed it out” and “forgive what I’ve done”. But the way is very long. They didn’t get “salvation” with this album. They are broken in pieces somewhere “in between”. This album is totally confusing the lines. They’ve changed is the only thing that seems real, they still don’t know how to manage this changes. Maybe the next album will show us that light. These guys still have something to say. A lot to say. You never get out of the chaos too easy and too soon. But it seems that they’re getting out. So I wish they’d get out.
I’m still a bit disappointed but it doesn’t matter. When you are a real fan, you should accept all that your soul band is playing even if it’s good or bad. For those to criticize the message is “Hold it guys! Listen to it deeper. Can’t you see that LP is trying to fid the way out? Just sit down and listen to…” For those who love M2M just because it’s softer and who declare themselves LP fans without knowing or feeling the other albums the message is “Hold it guys! You are fake. If you don’t feel the others before, you’ll never be a LP fan.” For those about to rock Linkin Park forever “ Hold on guys…. We salute you!”



Alexandra Dolfi 17-12-2007