Linkin Park returns with their latest chapter, From Zero, and alongside the talented Emily Armstrong, the band is set to reinvigorate the rock scene with a sound that blends rage, vulnerability, and the weight of a new era.
Score: ✪✪✪✪ Label: Warner Release Date: November 15, 2024 Buy: Amazon
After seven years of mourning and transformation, Linkin Park finds a new voice and a new path. The arrival of Emily Armstrong to the band — a bold choice after the death of legendary co-frontman Chester Bennington — is like a refreshing storm, and her first album with the group, From Zero, reflects this rebirth with gripping intensity.
With a raw and fierce voice, the Dead Sara frontwoman doesn’t just fill a void; she brings a primal, unfiltered energy to the vocals that, in a way, reveres Chester’s legacy without attempting to replace him. On the driving lead single, “The Emptiness Machine”, Emily and Mike Shinoda trade verses that become a collective cry, invoking a universal longing for belonging: “I only wanted to be part of something!”. A chant sure to resonate in arenas and stages worldwide, especially with the band’s global tour planned for next year.
The inclusion of a woman in the lineup is not just a change of the front person, but a clear message that Linkin Park is not trying to “replace” the irreplaceable Bennington. Instead, they are renewing their essence, without compromising the weight and complexity of the sound that made them one of the greatest nu-metal bands in history. However, Emily’s choice sparked controversy, especially when her name became linked to a cause that divided opinions: her support for Danny Masterson, convicted of abuse, led to harsh criticism. In response, Emily, who has always tried to see the good in people, openly expressed her position and regret: “I don’t condone abuse or violence against women, and I empathize with the victims.”
Musically, From Zero is a direct journey into the heart of modern rock. On the track “Casualty”, Emily pours her rage and pain over devastating riffs, while Shinoda, as always, provides a smooth contrast with his rap that balances the album’s ferocity. On “Heavy is the Crown”, Linkin Park embraces the metaphor of war to speak on the weight of leadership and fame, with a striking melody that has already made waves, being used as the theme song for the 2024 League of Legends World Championship.
The album is not only about power; it also knows how to be melodic and introspective. “Over Each Other” brings an eighties sensibility, a power ballad where Emily sings with a poignant melancholy. It’s a portrait of a band constantly searching for balance between the sounds that defined them and the need for evolution.
In terms of composition, Linkin Park doesn’t lose itself in excessive experimentation, maintaining the familiarity of their classic riffs and progressions. There are moments of fury, like in “Cut the Bridge”, and moments of nostalgia, like in the smooth melody of “Good Things Go”, where Emily and Mike find space to soften the pressure.
There’s nothing revolutionary here, but what From Zero offers is the reinvention of a band that has never stopped being relevant, even when it seemed their glory days were behind them. This is Linkin Park at its most human, most reflective, but still irreversibly explosive.
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