Discography Ranking: Linkin Park · 11:58pm Sep 17th, 2021
Yesterday, I covered Five Finger Death Punch, but today, I'm tackling something way lighter: Linkin Park.
Linkin Park, headed by Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington, is one of the most popular candidates for best rock band of the 2000's, and for good reason. Their lighter, more emotional, take on the ever popular sub genre known as nu metal made them staples of the early to mid 2000s, and they were never afraid to try new things like in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Once again, these are just my personal opinions, and I won't lose any sleep if you disagree with me. With that, let's go
#7
One More Light
I feel a little bad about putting their last album on the bottom of this list, but I can't bring myself to put it any higher. This is by far LP's lightest album, both vocally and musically. There's plenty of emotion on it with songs like "One More Light" and "Invisible," but there's just no energy from Bennington or Shinoda. This isn't a bad album by any means, but it could've been way better
#6
Living Things
When this album first came out in 2012, it was hailed as LP's big comeback after their fourth album disappointed fans. But the truth is, this is one of those albums that pushes all of its highlights to the front. "Lost In The Echo," "Burn It Down," and "Castle Of Glass" are really the only songs people remember this album for, although that doesn't mean there's anything bad on it. It does capitalize on the more digital sound LP was leaning toward at that time, which I'm not a huge fan of, but once again, there's nothing bad on this album
#5
The Hunting Party
Easily the most ignored of LP's discography. I was a little hesitant when I listened to this album, but I was pleasantly surprised. While it doesn't even come close to my top four picks, I do like that the guitar work is a lot more pronounced, and the music feels a bit less digital like their previous material.
#4
A Thousand Suns
This album absolutely polarized LP's fanbase when it first came out. People lined up outside of music stores the night before it came out, but most were disappointed. But I don't think this album is bad at all. Granted, it does have the one song by LP that I genuinely dislike, being "Wretches And Kings," only nine out of fifteen tracks on the album are actual songs, and a lot of them are a lot to take in. But I like that they were ambitious here, that's what LP is all about. I absolutely love "Waiting For The End," and the songs "The Catalyst" and "Iridescent" are great too. "Blackout," "Burning In The Skies," "When They Come For Me," and "The Messenger" are a bit much when you first listen to them, but I really came to appreciate what they were trying to do once I got used to them
#3
Minutes To Midnight
This was the first time LP made a huge change in their style. MTM features a much more toned down delivery from Bennington and Shinoda, as well as slightly less processed music. And while a lot of fans didn't appreciate that, I like the attempt at something new. The problem is that the songs chosen as singles were a bit overplayed, which doesn't usually apply to LP. Don't get me wrong, I love the songs "Shadow Of The Day" and "What I've Done," but they're nothing special considering how much radio rotation they still get
#2
Hybrid Theory
It was insanely hard to distinguish my top two picks for LP, but for now, I'll give their debut album the silver. It's always a big deal when an album is certified diamond, and this was no exception. While I'm not quite as fond of "One Step Closer" now as I was when I first heard it, LP proved to everyone that they weren't just a standard nu metal band with songs like "Papercut," "Runaway," and of course, "In The End." I give this the #2 spot because a few of the songs like "Crawling" and "By Myself" haven't aged overly well, and the flow just is a little abrupt at times
#1
Meteora
The main basis for this album seems like "Do Hybrid Theory again, but better," and that's exactly what they did. All of the singles on this album still get radio play to this day, and LP showed that they can do something a bit softer while still not pulling any punches. The flow feels a lot more natural than on Hybrid Theory and the songs have aged a lot better as well. I love all these last four albums, but Meteora is easily one of the greatest nu metal albums of all time
