A Sneak Peek...
Linkin Park's sixth album was released on June 13, 2014. The name of the album "The Hunting Party" was chosen in the sense that Linkin is the party that conducts a hunt on returning the energy and soul to rock music. We have a bit of a hard time with this statement and this style especially, in light of the album that came out after it.
This is the first album since "Meteora" that is not produced by super producer Rick Rubin but by guitarist Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson. On this album the band decides to abandon (for a moment) the sounds and electronic production that characterized their previous two albums and go back to their rock roots, creating a “rock album” as Mike described it. The album served as a sort of statement against all the critics and commentators who claimed that Linkin is trying to be a different band, more digestible and mainstream not like it was in the beginning.
This album, written in less than a year, was created entirely on local improvisation by the band members. None of them came with ready-made material or demos and even when they created something together it was recorded and worked on in the process, without a lot of rehearsals or preliminary preparations.
One of the salient elements of the album that serves the statement we mentioned above is the collaboration with other artists, something that has never happened on the band's previous albums. There are a number of very leading and dominant artists in the rock world who have come to give the "rock" stamp to the album, including Page Hamilton (Helmet), Daron Malakian (System Of A Down), Rakim (rapper and producer) and last but not least Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine).
This is without a doubt a statement of intent !! But considering the album that came out three years later "One More Light" which is the exact opposite of the above album we can't stop wondering what went through the heads of the band members after the release of the album, and how the work affected them and how they felt. Those who are unfamiliar with the band and who will play both albums will be shocked to learn that they belong to the same band and that they were released three years apart.
That's why music is such an amazing thing !!
Listen to the album on Spotify, Apple Music