Ah, that good ol' evil laugh. Always love it. Hey guys, FlamingScribblenaut here, and today we're gonna be doing something special. Seeing as how it's the week of Halloween, and I fucking *adore* this holiday to no end, I always like to have the perfect music for this time of year, as I do with every time of year. There are lots of songs that are widely regarded as Halloween classics, you have your Enter Sandman, your Thriller, your This Is Halloween, etc., etc., and those are all certainly great songs, especially for the holiday, but today, I'm going to be sharing some of my personal favorite Halloween tracks, the ones that always get me in that perfect Halloween mood. This is a personal list and it's not gonna go in any particular order, so just sit back, grab some candy and/or some pumpkin spice flavored something, and enjoy the music. Happy Halloween.
~~~
"Halloween" by AFI
(All Hallows EP, 1999)
~~~
"Cemeteries Of London" by Coldplay
(Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, 2008)
~~~
"Ride The Wings Of Pestilence" by From First To Last
(Dead Trees, 2015)
~~~ "Die And Rise" by Lacuna Coil (Broken Crown Halo, 2014)
Hey! This countdown is Part 2 of a 2-part special, so if you haven't read part 1 yet, here ya go.
And now, on with the Top 10!
10
I've stated this before, but A Thousand Suns is a very dark, at times even bleak record. The sadness and regret of that album's more emotional moments an be really touching, if not heartbreaking.
But sometimes, in even the darkest of places, just that faint glimmer of hope, that faint moment of clarity can lift you up and inspire you to keep moving forward.
#10. "Iridescent"
from A Thousand Suns
This is one of the greatest ballads of all time. Not exaggerating.
This song is purely and utterly breathtaking. Mike's breathtaking vocal performance, the grand, uplifting chorus, the spacey, almost ethereal production... it all just weaves together brilliantly into a massive spectacle of music. I could go on for hours talking about how beautiful every second of this song is.
Iridescent is a song of hope. About persevering and moving forward, even in the most hopeless of times. Sometimes, even just a glimmer of hope can get you through the darkest of times. That is Iridescent represents to me.
9
Some songs are so beautiful and amazing that you could go on for hours about them.
Others are so beautiful and amazing, you can barely find the words to describe them.
#9. "Shadow Of The Day"
from Minutes To Midnight
Shadow Of The Day is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. It's just so flawlessly crafted that I'm at a loss for words. I mean, I could list off things like Chester's vocals, the amazing electronic production, that guitar solo... all of them are amazing, but really, I don't think my words can fo it justice. You just have to hear it for yourself. It's really something special.
8
When I said Linkin Park knew how to end an album, I meant it.
#8. "The Little Things Give You Away"
from Minutes To Midnight
Linkin Park closed out their most diverse album with one of their most powerful songs.
In a lot of ways, The Little Things Give You Away feels like a spiritual predecessor to A Thousand Suns, with its bleak nature and heavily political undertones.
This song shows Linkin Park at their most musically proficient, as the music is really what makes this song. The slow strum of the acoustic guitars and the slow buildup of the production in the first half give way one of the most powerfully haunting songs of the band's history, the pained screaming and repetitions of "all you ever wanted was someone to truly look up to you" create such an intense mood and is one of the biggest emotional moments the band has pulled off. It's absolutely heart-wrenching just hearing the absolute pain and hopelessness of the song. It's a sad one, but well worth the listen.
7
Huh, the last 3 have all been slow songs. Let's change that, shall we?
#7. "The Catalyst"
from A Thousand Suns
Ooh yes, this song is awesome.
This song serves as the climax to A Thousand Suns, and what a hell of a climax it is. It's the most intense and powerful song on the album. This is more than a song, this is a battle cry. This is the soundtrack to an epic final battle for freedom.
The best part of this song is the chant. My god, that chant.
God bless us every one
We're a broken people living under loaded gun
And it can't be outfought, It can't be outdone
It can't be outmatched, it can't be outrun
God save us every one
Will we burn inside the fires of a thousand suns
For the sins of our hand, sins of our tongue
Sins of our father, sins of our young
Just look at that. That is great fucking songwriting.
The real emotional heft of the song comes in the bridge. That "lift me up, let me go" is fucking powerful, the best part of the song.
A Thousand Suns is my favorite album of all time, and The Catalyst is my favorite song on that album. It sums up all the themes of the album perfectly, and is the perfect climax to a perfect album.
6
I've never seen the Michael Bay Transformers movies. I hear they're the worst thing in the world, but they don't look all that bad. Maybe I'll check them out one day out of morbid curiosity.
I mean, how bad can a movie franchise be when it gives us a song as amazing as this?
#6. "New Divide"
from Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen soundtrack
New Divide is pure, concentrated musical adrenaline. It sounds utterly massive and sweeping and urgent, the perfect epic song. Seriously, that instrumental breakdown in the middle... chills, man. Chills.
Remember like 10 seconds ago I said The Catalyst sounds like the soundtrack to an epic final battle? Yeah, multiply that by twenty. New Divide is the perfect pick to soundtrack a movie about an intergalactic war with robots and lasers and destiny and stuff.
Yeah, it's a soundtrack song to a cheesy movie, but it's a damn good soundtrack song to a cheesy movie.
5
OK, now's when we get into the really good stuff. The next five songs on this list rank up there with my favorite songs of all time. Not kidding.
To start off, we have one of the best songs of the past 5 years. Not kidding.
#5. "A Line In The Sand"
from The Hunting Party
A Line In The Sand is my favorite song of 2014 and yet another example of Linkin Park closing out an album in spectacular fashion.
The song starts off with a very tense, atmospheric electronic build while Mike delivers and incredibly haunting little sung poem, and I may add that this song is his best performance to date, before the guitars and drums kick in and the song explodes into a ferocious wave of anger and just hits you like a ton of bricks and it is glorious.
I've stated before that The Hunting Party is Linkin Park's heaviest album, and A Line In The Sand is the perfect example of that. It's every single member of the band at their best, pulling together a truly jaw-dropping song.
4
Remixes are a tricky art, especially remixes of things that were already great to begin with.
Reanimation is one of those rare occasion where the remixes not only lived up to the original, but even improved on them.
In fact, I would argue Reanimation is much better than Hybrid Theory and is one of the band's absolute best album.
You might think, "but Michael, it's a remix album, why would you consider it one of their best if you don't do so with the original?"
This is why.
#4. "1stp Klosr" feat. Jonathan Davis
from Reanimation
This is the prime example of a remix that surpasses the original in every way.
Don't get me wrong, I like the original One Step Closer a lot, but it pales in comparison next to this incredible remix.
This is a song that is mostly buildup. Most of the song is spent building up and atmosphere, creating tension, immersing you in the dark, heavy intensity of the song, as the electronic effects, churning guitars, and Johnathan Davis's haunting guest verse just create this massive wall of sound, building the anger and the intensity before the ending where it all just explodes.
The last minute and a half of this song is one of my favorite musical moment of all time. It's so intense and thunderous and powerful that it just overtakes you. It's every bit and angry and hard-hitting as the original was taken to the highest level possible.
That is what remixes are capable of, and that is what this remix does and does expertly.
It's simply massive.
3
Yeah... this band really knows how to hit the emotions.
#3. "Breaking The Habit"
from Meteora
Breaking The Habit easily the most raw and personal song Linkin Park has put out, as well as the darkest.
It speaks on the struggles of addiction and self-harm (both of which are shown in the incredible music video) even to the point of depression, and... it just captures it. The pain, the struggle, the wish to get out even if you can't... and that perfect display of emotion comes from Chester himself.
This song is a very close track to him personally (he's stated it's his favorite song that band's every recorded), and his performance on the track shows it. It's raw, pained, screaming... it's very striking and makes the song truly powerful. It's one of the two LP songs that has ever actively made me cry.
Believe me, it's fucking powerful.
2
This is the big one.
This is the song that first got me into music. As a young teen, I knew very little about music outside the pop charts, and I didn't have very developed tastes or eye for quality.
It's safe to say if it wasn't for this song, I wouldn't have ever come to appreciate just what a beautiful medium music is. Just how much it can do, what it can do.
Yes, this song, upon first listen so thoroughly blew me away that much. If it wasn't for this song, I don't know how different my life would be.
It was just that incredible.
#2. "Numb"
from Meteora
Even ignoring my very close personal connection to it, I can say that Numb is still an incredible song.
It's one of the most real and striking displays of true anger and feelings of being utterly trapped that I've ever heard. It's production is outstanding, that opening synth line, the pianos, guitars, drums... all weaves together into a grand and powerful instrumental, and Chester's incredible vocal delivery just ties it all together.
The best part of this song is the bridge. It's short, but it's one of the band's greatest moments. Just that massive scream of;
And I know
I may end up failing too
but I know
you were just like me with someone dissapointed in you
;is one of the most striking moments and one of the best pieces of songwriting and emotion I've heard in a song... ever.
It's all just so masterfully put together, I, to this day, admire this song. For being one of the most striking and real displays of angst and musical capabilities I've ever heard, and for being the reason I developed such a true, undying passion for music.
If it wasn't for this song, I wouldn't be nearly the same person I am today. And for that, Linkin Park, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.
1
I am, to this day, absolutely floored by this song. Most songs tend to not hit me as hard or with repeated listens, but this song is not one of those songs.
Every I hear this song, I am just as if not more blown away by how purely, strikingly beautiful this song is. It is, no doubt, one of the greatest pieces of music I have ever heard.
I highly respect Linkin Park as musicians, and this song is a big reason why.
There is only one word that can properly sum up this song for me:
Masterpiece.
#1. "Krwlng"
from Reanimation
Remember when I said only two Linkin Park songs have made me cry? This is the other one.
This song has brought me to tears through its sheer, utter beauty. It's truly breathtaking.
The way this song progresses, starting off slow and it just builds and builds, every verse and chorus perfectly placed and hits you right in the heart with just the sheer soaring power and beauty of everything... it's almost otherworldly. This song sends chills down my spine and brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it.
Krwlng is unlike any other song I've ever heard. It's a true testament to what the art of music is capable of. It's one of the greatest musical compositions of the 21st century, it's my second favorite song of all time, and it is Linkin Park's magnum opus.
That's my list. Happy Birthday to Hybrid Theory, Happy Linkin Park day to all of you, and I'll see you all next time.
You know, since I suffered massive burnout and kind of quit the reviewing game altogether for a bit there, and now that I'm fully ready and motivated to jump back into it all, I wanted to return with something big, something a bit special.
Because along with marking my return to music reviewing, today is a special day. A very special day. Today marks the anniversary of a very special album, or at least very important in my eyes. Today is the 15th anniversary of a little album called Hybrid Theory, which marked the beginning of the musical journey of one of the most important bands in my life, Linkin Park.
Linkin Park have been a massive influence on my life. Not only have they been behind some of my favorite songs and albums of all time, period, and consistently impressed me with their incredible genre-bending, songwriting, and musicianship, but they were one of the bands that first ever got me into and made truly love music. If it wasn't for this band, I don't know what the hell I'd be doing or where I'd be right now.
And as we are on the precipice of the band's 15th anniversary, I feel it's time to pay tribute to a band whose music has inspired and shaped me so much by going through their discography and picking out their top 20 absolute best works.
Why top 20? Because they just have so many great songs. Hell, even with 20, I still had to make some really painful cuts.
So what the hell are we waiting for? These are the Top 20 best Linkin Park songs!
20
Let's start this off with a bang, shall we?
#20. "Guilty All The Same" feat. Rakim
from The Hunting Party
Guilty All The Same proved to be one of the greatest highlights from The Hunting Party by simply being one of the group's absolute heaviest songs. The power in this song lies mostly in the instrumentation, Brad Delson and Mike Shinoda's thunderous, crunching guitarwork, Rob Bourdon's fast-paced and glorious drumming, and that minute-long instrumental opening that just provides the perfect buildup to the perfect payoff.
Chester's performance here is commendable. The pure raw, vitriolic anger brought out in both his singing and his singing is impressive, as he provides a perfectly precise and powerful strike on all who have wronged him. It's one of his best performances in the band's history.
That's to say nothing of Rakim's verse. Bringing a hip-hop legend into a guest verse can be tricky, but Rakim's presence makes the song all the better, as his verse is absolute fire. Many had problems with it, but for me, it's one of the best parts of the song.
Guilty All The Same isn't my favorite track on the Hunting Party, but it sums up everything great about that album and then some. It's Linkin Park at their heaviest, and I fuckin' love it.
19
For a while I was considering putting the two opening tracks on A Thousand Suns on this list, the Requiem and the Radiance, for being incredible pieces of atmosphere that haunt the listener and provide incredible buildup for the album to come. I eventually opted not to, given how they're technically not songs but interludes, but you can guarantee if they did make this list, they would've been damn high up, and hey, even if they didn't make it, we can still go with the next best thing.
#19. "Burning In The Skies"
from A Thousand Suns
Burning In The Skies is the perfect opener to an album like A Thousand Suns. For an album that deals with so many confusing and hurtful emotions, especially given the dark subject matter of nuclear holocaust, Burning In The Skies starts this tale on a note of somberness and regret. It's a very bleak, almost hopeless track, the dreary instrumentation and Chester's pained, imperfect delivery portray the emotion spectacularly.
It's a more subdued track in the face of the album's overwhelming emotion, one of reflection and loss in the face of great tragedy. It's depressed and bleak and regretful, in all the best of ways.
18
You know, while I love Hybrid Theory, I'll be one of the first to admit that in terms of Linkin Park's albums, it's arguably the one that's aged the worst. I mean, it's still a fantastic record and one that I'll almost always come back to, but when you look at songs like Forgotten or By Myself or especially Crawling, while all good songs, they definitely have that layer of early '00s nü-metal cheese all over them that can make them kind of hard to listen to.
However, Hybrid Theory does have a few standout tracks that still sound great even today, and my favorite song from it is, unfortunately, one of the most overlooked.
#18. "Pushing Me Away"
from Hybrid Theory
Pushing Me Away is a prime example of early Linkin Park's best traits.
The angsty songwriting, Chester's rough delivery, Mike's hip-hop-laden interjections, the turntables and rough guitars... it's all there, and it works spectacularly. Every element of this song flows together perfectly to provide a perfect punch of nü-metal greatness. It doesn't feel overly angsty or heavy, every element of the songwriting and instrumentation just fits so incredibly well, and make Pushing Me Away easily the best-aged track on Hybrid Theory, and in my opinion, the best overall.
A Thousand Suns is a very dark album, but it ends on one of the most beautifully optimistic and hopeful songs I've ever heard.
Now, The Messenger is not on this list, but it did come damn close. There's a B-side that many LP fans consider to be the "alternate ending" to that album, a much more bleak and hopeless ended to an already very somber album. And as a fan of tragedy in works of fiction, of course that's the one made my list instead.
#17. "Blackbirds"
A Thousand Suns B-Side
Blackbirds is one of Linkin Park's darkest songs. Everything about it, the instrumentation, the vocals, the lyrics, it's all so... post-apocalyptic. It conveys the feeling that everything you've ever known and loved is gone, dead. It's very similar to Burning In The Skies in that sense, but I think Blackbirds works better, because it's even sadder. Where Burning In The Skies was a song about searching for some kind of hope or some answers, Blackbirds is the realization that there is none.
It's one of the most crushing and depressing concepts out there, everything there has ever been to know and love being destroyed, and there being just about no more to live for. It's a slow burner of a song, but the emotional payoff is absolutely incredible.
16
Reanimation is possibly one of the most underrated albums in existence. I rarely see anyone, even fellow LP diehards ever talk about it, and that's a real damn shame because it is one of their best.
Remember how I said Hybrid Theory hasn't exactly aged spectacularly? Reanimation doesn't sound like it's aged a day. It took everything great about Hybrid Theory and cranked it up to 11, while leaving out some of the album's more... embarrassing moments.
Another great thing about it is, much like A Thousand Suns, it feels less like a simple collection of songs and more like a cohesive, full-length musical experience, each track and interlude flowing into the next superfluously to create one big musical journey. Because of that, it was hard to pick individual songs from that album for this list, but when songs on that album did stand out, they stood out spectacularly.
#16. "My{Dsmbr"
from Reanimation
My{Dsmbr is a song that is, in every element of its existence, stunning. The piano, the electronics, Chester and guest vocalist Kelly Ali, it's all just so... immaculate.
That's the best word I can use to describe Reanimation, immaculate. It's all just so seamless, so flawlessly and carefully put together, and My{Dsmbr is the epitome of that. It's one of the most flawless executions of a purely emotion-driven ballad I've ever heard. The sense of isolation, of coldness, of sadness... it's all conveyed through a song that's so minimal yet so all-encompassing at the same time. It's a true masterpiece of a remix, if you haven't heard this song or the amazing album it came with, I implore you to go listen to it right now.
Seriously, go do it. I'll wait.
15
If this list is to be any indication, Linkin Park know how to end a fucking album. It seems that their album closers tend to be the ones that leave the most impact, or are just plain the best, which is good practice seeing how the last song is the one that leaves that last taste in your mouth when you finish listening to an album, and can affect your viewpoint on the product as a whole.
Linkin Park has great album closers down to an art, and you can tell that when the closing track to one of their weaker albums is still one of their best songs.
#15. "Powerless"
from Living Things
If this list is to be any indication, Linkin Park know how to end a fucking album. It seems that their album closers tend to be the ones that leave the most impact, or are just plain the best, which is good practice seeing how the last song is the one that leaves that last taste in your mouth when you finish listening to an album, and can affect your viewpoint on the product as a whole.
Linkin Park has great album closers down to an art, and you can tell that when the closing track to one of their weaker albums is still one of their best songs.
14
Ah, Living Things.
Living Things is probably the most lukewarm of all of Linkin Park's records. It's not overly spectacular in comparison to many of the band's albums, and while still very, very good, many would say it probably wouldn't line up with some of the band's more prominent works. I'd probably agree, but that doesn't mean Living Things is completely worth overlooking, as there are still plenty of really fantastic songs on there.
And, oh look, here's one of them now!
#14. "Roads Untravelled"
from Living Things
Roads Untravelled is a song that just grabs you. It all just comes together, the brilliant music and vocals and vibe are all this song needs to be absolutely stunning.
Chester and Mike's harmonizing is excellent. These two voices were practically made for each other, as we'll see with more songs on this list.
The instrumentation is great. The mix of the soft electronica, guitar, organ, and minimalist production just come together and make the song absolutely striking.
Above all, it's just a song that gets emotion. It nearly bring me to tears every time. It's of the biggest emotional punches that the band has ever delivered.
13
When Mike said LP were going for their heaviest record yet in The Hunting Party, they meant it. Not only was it the closest to straight-up metal the band has ever gotten (and they fucking pulled it off), the themes of war, death, and pure rage were the most prevalent they've been since A Thousand Suns. This allowed them to do plenty of songs about inner struggle, of course, but that doesn't mean they were afraid to get political. Quite the opposite, in fact.
#13. "Rebellion" feat. Daron Malakian
from The Hunting Party
From a musical standpoint, Rebellion is absolute insanity. System Of A Down's Daron Malakin provides the guitarwork on this track, and believe me, the System influence shows. This is what I was talking about when I said they could do straight-up metal. I haven't commented on this yet, but Mike is an amazing singer, and his performance here is incredible.
But where Rebellion really shines is the lyrics, where the band acknowledges that, yes, in the grand scheme of everything, they are the most fortunate ones, and that there are many out there who actually suffer horribly, which provides a very interesting and potent contrast to Linkin Park's usual bouts of inner turmoil. It's heavily political and provocative, yet at the same time very self-reflective. Rebellion shows Linkin Park's most heavy, politically righteous side, and it is just striking.
12
I love Minutes To Midnight. One of the big reasons why is that it finally allowed Linkin Park to break away from the chains of their stigma as an angsty my-metal band and begin to grow and mature artistically, and it allowed them to do more storytelling and write more emotionally complex and even relatable subject material, something that would show even more in later album. It was a transitional album to be sure, but it's definitely worth a listen, especially with tracks like this.
#12. "Leave Out All The Rest"
from Minutes To Midnight
When I say the band can write very down-to-earth and emotional music, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Leave Out All The Rest shows Chester at his most vulnerable, both in his vocals and his lyrics, contemplating what he's going to remembered for after he dies, if anything. It's a really striking emotional dilemma, one that I know I've been through before, and one that's delivered perfectly.
The dark, almost haunting tone set by the instrumentation and the aforementioned brilliant vocal work by Chester make the sole absolutely beautiful to listen to as well. It's one of their most beautiful songs to date.
This is an example of LP's songwriting capabilities. It provides a very emotional, very striking dilemma, and it makes you feel that emotion, that drama, that turmoil. It's what the band does best.
11
And now it's time to talk about Meteora.
Meteora is, without a doubt the band's most acclaimed album and one of the most influential and praised rock albums of the 21st Century, and it completely deserves it.
Meteora is a modern-day masterpiece. One of the album's greatest aspects is just how perfectly it captures pure inner angst and turmoil. A lot of less capable musicians would come off as whiny when they write songs about "their pain", but Linkin Park got it 100% right. They wrote very angry, screaming songs of sadness and angst and confusion, and it was still surprisingly very mature and even relatable. That's what made that album so god damn great.
And one of the greatest examples of this was Easier To Run.
#11. "Easier To Run"
from Meteora
Sometimes it's easier to just run away. Sometimes it just seems like the best option, to just burn all bridges and run away from your problems. You may not be able to escape them, but you just want to.. keep trying, as if it were that easy. If only it were that easy...
Yeah, we're getting into the personal shit now. Just deal with it.
Easier To Run is a song I really relate to. Whenever I'm stressed out or under lots of deadlines or trouble or whatever, I just wish I could drop it all and leave it behind, but it's never that easy, and even though you know you can't escape all the daily bullshit, you just never stop trying because hey, it's better than the alternative.
Linkin Park are at their best when they can get as intensely personal and relatable as this. They're able to convey emotion and relate with and speak to their audience like very few artists can. Easier To Run is a powerful song for me, and it speaks volumes about how hard a piece of music can really hit you personally.
