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Hybrid Theory
Linkin Park
Warner Brothers, 2000
REVIEW BY: Vish Iyer
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 09/23/2004
In the late eighties / early nineties, Faith No More had come upwith this fresh new sound: blending the heaviest form of rock everwith funk / rap. As far as I know, Faith No More was one of thefirst 'heavy metal' bands to have a full-time keyboardist! Thisunique keyboard-laden, rap-filled high-energy hard-rock sound wasnew, seminal and spawned a new generation of funk-rock acts usingkeyboards. However, most of these acts could not match the energyof Faith No More, and with the splitting up of Faith No More, itseemed as if there was no one else to carry on this unique blend ofmusic, once made so popular by this great band.
Just when everything seemed lost, or "everything's (seemed)ruined" as the boys of Faith No More would put it, Linkin Park camealong and saved the day! Amongst the myriad of funk-rock actstoday, Linkin Park is the one act which stands out, clearly andhandsomely, as probably the only act to come close to the energy ofFaith No More.
Hybrid Theory is power-packed dynamite which, in its mere37:53 minutes of playing time, blasts itself off with full fervor,releasing its complete potential with great style and panache. Onetrack after another, each of the twelve songs is as fraught withthe same amount of energy and punch as the previous one. Before youknow it, the album ends abruptly, not without leaving an obsessiveeffect of especially the hard-hitting rapping of Mike Shinoda, andleaving the listener wanting more than just a thirty-odd minutes ofthis addictive rock album.
The lyrics are not so great, and like every other rock outfitthese days, they are about despair, and nothing else but despair -no one in rock can write despair (and be reassuring at the sametime) better than the spite-ridden, wrath-filled king ofhopelessness Mr. Trent Reznor. However, there are a couple ofthings about the lyrics on this album which really surprise me.First of all, there are absolutely no swear-words, especially nofour-lettered 'F' words, which generally litter modern rock albums;not that it makes a rock album any less worth listening to.Moreover, Linkin Park shares this quality with Faith No More, whomthey so strongly resemble. Secondly, though the lyrics are nothingspecial, the timing and delivery of the words by both the vocalistsis simply awesome and really commendable.
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