Comments about Minutes to Midnight ( I )

Yosh.. I'll spend few minutes to give some comments about the brand new album from Linkin Park, Minutes to Midnight. hohoho.. Before I start, I think it will be good if I let you know what Minutes to Midnight means.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Minutes to Midnight is typically associated with the Doomsday clock, which is a symbolic clockface maintained since 1947 by the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. It uses the analogy of the human race being at a time that is "minutes to midnight" where midnight represents destruction by nuclear war."

Hope it's clear for you.. Let's start the comments.. I'll go track by track and .. here we go:

1. Wake
There's so called distortion of sound in the beginning, and continued with the 'awakening' of sumthin' big as the music is getting louder and louder.. The guitar riff is conclusive and this short piece somehow could be a reminiscence of Linkin Park's old style..

2. Given Up
"I've given up... I'm sick of feeling, Is there nothing you can say?........."

The sounds of clapping hands (or I dunno wad it is.. :P) and tinkling keys makes this song sounds 'ethnic' or sumthin'.. This song sounds rough and tough .. Good enough to rise up your mood and wash away all the mellowness .. Commonly called head-banging song :P LP's old style is still rooted in this song, the new stuff here is the drum sequence sounds somethin' different, not another nu metal style anyway..

3. Leave Out All The Rest
"When my time comes.. forget the wrong that I've done.. Help me leave behind some reasons to be missed........"

As I mentioned in the earlier entry, this is the most melodic piece of the album. When I first heard this piece, I was instantly falling in love with the melody! hahaha.. The lyric is also great! It's not LP that I knew 2 or 3 years ago, but this is still awesome! What more can I say, this song is just perfect! XD Thou I realize Brad's guitar technique is not the core of this song... He did the single-string strumming in every chorus part of the song, except the last one, Brad tried to conclude the song with single-strumming style in each chord played (similar to wad he had done in the song Numb).... 10/10 from me ! :D

4. Bleed It Out
"I bleed it out diggin' deeper just to throw it away..."

An old school rock style.. hoho.. The solo guitar from Brad is also not bad, at last, he tried sumthin' new, other than just riffs. Playing each notes repeatedly blended in few riffs here and there.... This song is really really sumthin' new from LP! hohoho.. They used wider range of musical instruments in this album, particularly tambourine in this song.. Another effect is the sound of clapping hands of the audience, somehow depicts that the song is played live somewhere...

5. Shadow of The Day
"And the shadow of the day, will embrace the world in grey, and the sun will set for you......."

It starts with dark mood.. and when the drum gets in, slowly but sure the song is getting brighter and brighter. It's like going to a climax or sumthin'. Wad I thought as the climax of this song is when the guitar enters the higher octave of notes (the nicest part I guess.. :P). Nice and conclusive ending.. I thot I saw the sunlight in the end of the song :P thou the lyric conveys a different thing XD

6. What I've Done
"I’ve faced myself, to cross out what I’ve become... Erase myself.. And let go of what I’ve done......"

This is the very first and the only single released by Linkin Park before the release of Minutes to Midnight. When I heard diz for the first time, I knew sumthin' has changed... their music style.. They have said goodbye to their nu metal style and developing sumthin' new... Another nice piece, especially the chords progression in the chorus, intro and bridge parts of the song. There are 2 guitarists for this song, one played the lead (the melody) which is Brad Delson and another one played the riffs.. which is.. surprisingly.. Mike Shinoda! hahaha.. He's becoming more and more 'melodic' in this album. The song is not as 'harsh' as Given Up and No More Sorrow but it sounds somewhat dark.. and reflects the meaning of Minutes to Midnight itself. I noticed the drum effect played by Rob in the beginning of the song, represents the ticking of clock... Doomsday clock...

-to be continued.....-