This has got to be one of the best albums I have heard all year. I’m glad Linkin Park went in a new direction and didn’t give us the same tried and true formula which worked before. That shows growth as an artist and I think they did an awesome job.

“Little Things Give You Away” is one of the best songs that I have heard in a very long time. Here’s a good review by Jason Kirk from Amazon.com. While we know he’s trying to sell the album and will give a positive review, this really sort of sums up the new Linkin Park newest offering, Minutes to Midnight. It’s good, different and very stylized for 2007.

Minutes to Midnight stands to defend Linkin Park’s status as the hardest-rockin’ softies in mainstream music. Like its predecessors Hybrid Theory (2000) and Meteroa (2003), Minutes to Midnight flexes plenty of decibel-heavy muscle (”Given Up,” “Bleed It Out,” “No More Sorrow”) and made-to-order, melodic radio fare (”Leave Out All the Rest,” “Shadow of the Day,” “In Pieces”). But for all its volume, Linkin Park likes to paint its heart openly on its sleeve with suspicious sonic drama, as in the palpably saccharine “Valentine’s Day.” Fortunately, co-producer Rick Rubin brings all these elements to pinnacle effect with the surprise “Hands Held High.” On past efforts, the combination of breezy keyboard, arpeggiated guitar, choral vocals, and a military snare-beat would yield another slab of smarm, here MC Mike Shinoda drops the two best verses of his career, blending vocal styles with singer Chester Bennington for a moving piece that’s as welcome a repertorial addition as Linkin Park is ever likely to muster. –Jason Kirk

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