“A Thousand Suns”, by Linkin Park (Warner Bros.)

Linkin Park disappear further into the musical wilderness…

Well, it’s official: I have officially lost interest in the music Linkin Park produce. A Thousand Suns features not a single song that remains with you once it’s finished, and not a single hook that lodges itself in your brain. Each of the 15 tracks on here (which still, as a whole, only last 47mins) is over-loaded with samples and characterised by forgettable musicianship.

In case you think I’m just being a “hater” of a successful band, I should point out that both Hybrid Theory and Meteora are two of my favourite albums ever. I have no problem with bands being experimental, or trying new things. A Thousand Suns is a strange progression from Minutes to Midnight, which saw the band forsake originality to produce an album of mediocre, repetitive and short songs aimed at eliciting a two-to-three minute response from what were, for all intents-and-purposes, merely a single hook repeated a few times. But, at least on this album there were still songs. The only one that stuck out for me, unsurprisingly, was “What I’ve Done”, which adhered to the ‘classic’ Linkin Park-style. Every other song, as mentioned, was a single hook, repeated. [It’s doubly annoying that I paid for the special edition of MtM, which was expensive and not at all worth the money.]

On A Thousand Sons, the band has effectively disappeared. I don’t remember noticing any guitar riffs, or memorable drumming. The sheer number of samples was irritating and the only thing that stuck with me. A band that built their career on writing singles (the last one to please was “New Divide”, which featured on the Transformers II soundtrack, which bears no resemblance to the ‘music’ on this new record).

I am so disappointed by this album, that I’m angry rather than upset. I do not think this album is any good, and the music has zero redeeming features, overlaid with an air of pretentiousness that is simply off-putting.

I’m going to go listen to Hybrid Theory and Meteora, and remember a time when this band was leading the new wave of melodic-yet-heavy rock music.

“R’n’f’n’R”, by Slash & Friends

The new, highly-anticipated solo album from former Guns ‘n’ Roses guitarist

In all honesty, this album is fantastic. The sound is huge and varied. Each track has a guest singer, all ranging in quality and fame. Some of these songs are, of course, better than others, but stand-out tracks for me include “Watch This”, “Ghost”, “Back From Cali”, “Promise”, “Gotten”, “I Hold On” and “Starlight”. Particularly good tracks were ones where I hadn’t anticipated liking it so much: Ozzy’s track, “Crucify” is superb; Miles Kennedy continues to show why he’s one of the most under-appreciated vocal talents in rock on his two songs “Back From Cali” and “Starlight”; Kid Rock surprises on “I Hold On”, offering a slow-burning rock song; Ian Astbury is also on top form on “Ghost”, which reminded me of The Cult’s Beyond Good And Evil album.

To truly appreciate the quality of this album, however, you need to listen to it. So, thanks for Slash’s website, here’s a special player for the album:

Favourite Song of the Moment

Demon Hunter’s “Collapsing” (feat. Bjorn from Soilwork)