I hate the term "Guilty Pleasure" simply because of the implication that liking a certain something will ruin your social status, turn your friends into enemies or give you a one-to-one with a Consultant Psychiatrist who's willing to bring back the lobotomy, just for you.
On the plus side, the term is more than appropriate for anyone over the age of fourteen who listens to Linkin Park. Oh sure, you may look in shock that the Nu-Metal trendsetters of a decade gone are still rolling, but alas, they are.
They even had a bit of controversy with their fourth album A Thousand Suns. Well, controversy in the sense that daring to depart from the formula that had worked well for their first two near-identical albums and their stupidly successful, courtesy of Michael Bay third.
It was more electronically influenced, it was a concept album that made individual track plays almost useless, it utilised far more sampling and...well, that's about it. Credit has to be given that, despite the album being far, far too long and doing the whole "goin' electronic" thing a good decade after Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins and more did and using lyrics and themes that Public Enemy have been treading for thirty years, it was a fresh direction for the band and resulted that was overall; pretty good.
Rather than continue in this direction; Living Things almost serves as a form of apology that crawls back to what made Minutes to Midnight so successful. The songs are far shorter (none break four minutes) and go back to the Linkin Park formula of having Shinoda rap, Bennington scream and then later in the song harmonise for a bridge before return to scream, electronic drum samples and effects heavy guitar work.
It does deviate sometimes from inevitability, albeit in short moments. The opening track Lost in the Echo and far more so in lead single Burn It Down take turns trying to sound like Depeche Mode of all influences; utilising atmospheric, minimalist music that bares more than say, Enjoy the Silence-lite sound.
Almost as a tease, I'll Be Gone features strings for the verses which are then either drowned out or non-existant for the loud and by now, stereotypical Linkin Park chorus. Victimized is a minute and forty seven seconds of brutality, in a good way. Taking influence this time from more modern punk bands, it's short sweet and easily the most jarring change on the record.
Whilst Lies Greed Misery, Castle of Glass and closer Powerless sound like every Linkin Park song ever made (although to be fair to Powerless, it's easily the best song on the album), the album's biggest flaw is just how slow and monotonous one particular chunk of songs are.
From Roads Untravelled to Until It Breaks, it's simply filler. All the annoying tropes of Linkin Park are thrown together and fail miserably. Poor lyrics, boring sampling and a lack of distinction slow down the album to a crawl and boy, does it effect it.
It's almost by the numbers now, but for fans left frightened and confused by A Thousand Suns and wished long and hard into the night for a return, Living Things nearly ticks all the boxes. It does what makes Linkin Park so endearing but also re-introduces the numerous faults that has plagued the band since their inception to the music scene over a decade ago.
For everyone else; it's a semi-decent record that, although let down a good third of the tracks, manages to combine several music genres and influences into a semi-cohesive album. It probably won't be to everyone's taste and the screaming and raping might seem spectacularly dated now, but you could do worse.
Now if you don't mind, I have an appointment with my Consultant, who seems adamant I'll love this old constricting jacket that he thinks deserves a comeback.
6/10
H
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