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Linkin Park: Meteora

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Warner Bros. Records
Released: 2003.03.25
Time:
 36:43
Category: Industrial Rock
Producer(s): Don Gilmore, Linkin Park
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.linkinpark.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Foreword (Linkin Park) - 0:13
[2] Don't Stay (Linkin Park) - 3:07
[3] Somewhere I Belong (Linkin Park) - 3:33
[4] Lying from You (Linkin Park) - 2:55
[5] Hit the Floor (Linkin Park) - 2:44
[6] Easier to Run (Linkin Park) - 3:24
[7] Faint (Linkin Park) - 2:42
[8] Figure.09 (Linkin Park) - 3:17
[9] Breaking the Habit (Linkin Park) - 3:16
[10] From the Inside (Linkin Park) - 2:55
[11] Nobody's Listening (Linkin Park) - 2:58
[12] Session (Linkin Park) - 2:24
[13] Numb (Linkin Park) - 3:07

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Chester Bennington - Vocals, Producer
Mike Shinoda - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Keyboard, Piano; Strings Arrangement on [7,9], Producer
Brad Delson - Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals, Producer
Dave "Phoenix" Farrell - Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals, Producer
Mr. Hahn - Turntables, Samples, Programming, Backing Vocals, Producer
Rob Bourdon - Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals, Producer

David Campbell - Strings Arrangement  on [7,9]
Joel Derouin - Violin
Charlie Bisharat - Violin
Alyssa Park - Violin
Sara Parkins - Violin
Michelle Richards - Violin
Mark Robertson - Violin
Evan Wilson - Viola
Bob Becker - Viola
Larry Corbett - Cello
Dan Smith - Cello
David Zasloff - Shakuhachi Flute on [11]

Don Gilmore - Producer, Reording
Enrjohn Ewing, Jr. - Engineer
Fox Phelps - Assistant Engineer
Andy Wallace - Mixing
Steve Sisco - Assisted Mixing
Brian "Big Bass" Gardner - Mastering, Digital Editing
Mike Shinoda
The Flem - Creative Direction, Art Direction & Design, Installation Artist
Delta - Installation Artist
Mike Shinoda - Installation Artist
Joseph Hahn - Installation Artist
James R. Minchin Iii - Photography
Nick Spanos - Spray Paint Can Close-Up Photos
Tom Whalley - A&R
Jeff Blue - A&R
Marny Cameron - A&R Coordination
Peter Standish - Marketing Directors
Kevin Sakoda - Marketing Directors
Rob Mcdermott - Worldwide Representation
Michael Arfin - Booking Agent
Danny Hayes - Legal
Michael Oppenheim - Business Manager
Jonathan Schwartz - Business Manager

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded between April 2002 - December 2002 at NRG Studios, North Hollywood, California.



Has nu metal gotten old yet? Not hardly (although it’s probably due for a name change soon). Metal – in all its infinite permutations – remains a force unto itself, one that is largely impervious to the rules that govern the pop marketplace. Let’s face it: As long as America’s suburbs continue to spew out disaffected, sexually frustrated teenagers, there will always be an audience for bands that deliver rage and racket in equal measure. If anything, these fans’ insatiable hunger for noise creates a demand for new, ever harder kicks.

Though metal is a fairly insular genre, every so often a band will unexpectedly bum-rush the mainstream. Case in point: the Southern California-based Linkin Park. Their 2000 debut, ”Hybrid Theory,” moved some 8 million copies and became the best-selling album of 2001. Linkin Park accomplished this minor miracle by marrying indelible melodies to their melodrama and liberally dosing the resulting tunes with hip-hop bluster. They are like several bands in one: Singer Chester Bennington is adept at dream-weaver crooning and bloodcurdling screaming; guitarist Brad Delson can demolish your skull with his wrecking-ball power chords; and rapper Mike Shinoda and DJ Joseph Hahn add that oh-so-trendy urban flava. It’s a can’t-miss formula that appeals to headbangers and homeboys alike.

Now, on the heels of their stopgap 2002 remix album, ”Reanimation,” comes the Park’s actual sophomore effort, Meteora. Not surprisingly, it sticks close to the ”Hybrid Theory” template, offering music that’s by turns pretty, bludgeoning, and rhythmic. Perhaps the most arresting track is the least metallic. ”Nobody’s Listening” is almost pure hip-hop, although it’s built on, of all things, a bedrock of Japanese pan flutes. Shinoda raps what could stand as the disc’s manifesto: ”I got a heart full of pain/Head full of stress/Handful of anger held in my chest.” He goes on to explain that the stress ”[gives me] something to write on,” while the pain ”[gives me] something I can set my sights on.” As with so much metal, mental torment is the dominant topic. (Question: Why do so many otherwise thoughtful people say metal is dumb when the notion that life is pain – a key theme in loads of headbanging anthems – is a central tenet of so many of the world’s philosophies and religions? Just wondering.)

Linkin Park and producer Don Gilmore (who also twirled knobs for ”Hybrid Theory”) have constructed a thunderously hooky album that seamlessly blends the group’s disparate sonic elements into radio-friendly perfection. ”Don’t Stay” hits like a sledgehammer, with a hoarse Bennington delivering the overheated vocal bark-and-lunge style. ”I don’t need you anymore/I don’t want to be ignored,” he roars (as if there were any chance of ignoring music this brutally insistent). ”Somewhere I Belong,” the first single, starts out all tender and gooey before toppling you into a raucous rap-metal vortex. ”Just stuck/Hollow and alone/And the fault is my own,” raps Shinoda (unflinching self-recrimination being another hallmark of the modern-day metal man). ”Hit the Floor” has a terrific stuttering-guitar motif that’s damn near the aural equivalent of electroshock therapy.

And if you’re looking for a big, sappy mosh-pit ballad, then ”Easier to Run” is your cup of schmaltz. Bennington sings passionately about how it’s – you guessed it – easier to flee from life’s challenges than face them head-on. ”If I could change I would/Take out the pain I would/Retrace every wrong move that I’ve made I would,” goes the lyric, striking the sort of universal chord that makes for hit records in any genre.

”Meteora” clocks in at under 37 minutes, but since there’s almost no filler here, its running time is a plus. As on ”Hybrid Theory,” Linkin Park manage to convey their message without profanity, so there’s nothing to censor here, sir! (Canny lads, these.) ”Right now/Hear me out/You’re gonna listen to me,” sings Bennington on ”Faint.” Of course, if ”Meteora” follows even halfway in the multiplatinum footsteps of its predecessor, we probably won’t have any choice.

Entertainment Weekly Review, March 28 2003



For an act that sold eight million copies of its full-length debut, Linkin Park may be the ultimate nu-metal singles band. During its short career, the California group has mastered the genre's prototypical three-minute hit, which hits predictable signposts (bludgeoning guitar bursts, vein-bursting angst, snatches of hip-hop flava, a tried-and-true mixture of screaming, rapping, and singing mournfully) with brutal, Grammy-winning efficiency. Hybrid Theory's title hinted at that emphasis on formula, and the new Meteora etches it in stone, rushing through a brisk assortment of ham-fistedly fist-pumping variations on the aforementioned boilerplate. Naturally, Linkin Park's subject matter never strays from the old nu-metal song-and-dance of alienation and self-flagellation, albeit in a manner restrained enough to keep the language clean and make room for a few TRL-friendly hip-hop/metal power ballads ("Easier To Run," "From The Inside"). Like its predecessor, Meteora lets its brief, filler-free run time court some goodwill, leaving the pompous dirges for the more messianic likes of Creed. And Linkin Park never got enough credit for last year's remix album Reanimation, which transcended its cash-in nature by not only radically reworking its songs, but also generating royalty checks for under-exposed guests Zion I and Aceyalone. But a general air of inoffensiveness and past good intentions only go so far. Mercifully brief but mercilessly repetitive, Meteora is little more than a tolerable rehash of a formula that's been on the wrong side of its sell-by date for some time now.

The A.V. Club Review



Perhaps if the cut-'n'-paste remix record Reanimation hadn't appeared as a stopgap measure in the summer of 2002, Linkin Park's second record, Meteora, would merely have been seen as a continuation of their 2000 debut, Hybrid Theory, instead of a retreat to familiar ground. Then again, Reanimation wasn't much more than a way to buy time (along with maybe a little credibility), so it's unfair to say that its dabbling in electronica and hip-hop truly pointed toward a new direction for the group, but it did provide a more interesting listening experience than Meteora, which is nothing more and nothing less than a Hybrid Theory part two. Which isn't to say that Linkin Park didn't put any effort into the record, since it does demonstrate that the group does stand apart from the pack by having the foresight to smash all nu-metal trademarks - buzzing guitars, lumbering rhythms, angsty screaming, buried scratching, rapped verses - into one accessible sound which suggests hooks instead of offering them. More importantly, the group has discipline and editing skills, keeping this record at a tight 36 minutes and 41 seconds, a move that makes it considerably more listenable than its peers and, by extension, more powerful, since they know where to focus their energy, something that many nu-metal bands simply do not. (It must be said that there will surely be consumers out there that will question paying a $19.99 retail for a 36-minute-and-41-second record, though some may prefer getting a tight, listenable record at that price instead of a meandering 70-minute mess.) So, it must be said that Meteora does deliver on the most basic level -- it gives the fans what they want, and it does so with energy and without fuss. It's also without surprises, either, which again gives the album a static feeling -- suggesting not a holding pattern for the band, but rather the limits of their chosen genre, which remains so stylistically rigid and formulaic that even with a band who follows the blueprint well, like Linkin Park, it winds up sounding a little samey and insular. Since this is only their second go-round, this is hardly a fatal flaw, but the similarity of Meteora to Hybrid Theory does not only raise the question of where do they go from here, but whether there is a place for them to go at all.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine - All Music Guide



Meteora is the second studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released on March 25, 2003 through Warner Bros. Records, following Reanimation, a collaboration album which featured remixes of songs included on debut studio album Hybrid Theory. Linkin Park released singles from Meteora for over a year, including "Somewhere I Belong", "Faint", "Numb", "From the Inside" and "Breaking the Habit". The song "Lying from You" was released as a promotional single. Meteora takes its title from the Greek Orthodox monasteries.

Meteora is the most successful album in the history of the Alternative Songs chart, a chart that specializes in radio play of alternative songs. As of 2013, the album has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, and is certified six times platinum by the RIAA. Meteora was also ranked number 36 on Billboards Top 200 Albums of the Decade. The song "Session" was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, losing to Jeff Beck's "Plan B". Some songs from the album were remixed with some of Jay-Z's songs for the EP Collision Course.

In its first week it debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and sold an estimated 810,000 units. As of June 2014, the album has sold 6.1 million copies in the US, and over 20 million copies worldwide. The album was ranked number 36 on Billboard's Hot 200 Albums of the Decade.

Meteora received generally positive reviews, although critics noted that the album's musical style was similar to its predecessor, Hybrid Theory (2000). The overall Metacritic score is 62. E! Online rated it an A, and expected it to "shoot straight for the stars". Entertainment Weekly described it as "radio-friendly perfection". Dot Music described it as a "guaranteed source of ubiquitous radio hits". Rolling Stone said the band "squeezed the last remaining life out of this nearly extinct formula". Billboard Magazine described Meteora as "a ready-made crowdpleaser". The New Musical Express said it had "massive commercial appeal" but left the reviewer "underwhelmed".

AllMusic described it as "nothing more and nothing less than Hybrid Theory Part 2.", adding "More importantly, the group has discipline and editing skills, keeping this record at a tight 36 minutes and 41 seconds, a move that makes it considerably more listenable than its peers and, by extension, more powerful, since they know where to focus their energy, something that many nu-metal bands simply do not."

Blender described it as "harder, denser, uglier", while Q described it as "less an artistic endeavor than an exercise in target marketing." Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+, calling it a "thunderously hooky album that seamlessly blends the group's disparate sonic elements into radio-friendly perfection"

The song "Session" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 2004.

Wikipedia.org
 

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