Soon at Nova Rock?

Linkin Park: The comeback closes the circle

Full attack ahead: with Emily Armstrong on the microphone, Linkin Park start a new chapter in their successful career.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Warner Records, James Minchin)

Right after Oasis, it's the comeback of the year - with singer Emily Armstrong, nu-metal legends Linkin Park are starting a second life. The comeback "From Zero" is also a second debut album and deliberately draws on the band's roots. Will the top band come to Nova Rock in 2025?

With the media overuse of Oasis articles, the second major reunion in the international mainstream music sector was almost criminally overlooked. Seven years after the tragic suicide of singer and voice of the generation Chester Bennington, the cat was let out of the bag at the beginning of September via a global live stream. Mike Shinoda and co. announced the return of one of the most influential bands of the new millennium. With their mixture of hard metal riffs, hip-hop ingredients, electronic influences and honest, real-life lyrics, Linkin Park touched several generations of music fans who found the nu-metal wave surrounding Limp Bizkit around the millennium too dull and lacking in content. Linkin Park brought heart and soul to the blasting sub-genre. Emotions and feelings were socially acceptable again.

Going straight on the offensive
In the end, the announcement of the brilliant comeback was no longer quite as surprising as people at Bandcamp would have liked. Industry colleagues and resourceful internet kibitzers fueled the rumor mill at regular intervals over the summer months, and Shinoda's electropop experiment as a solo artist didn't work out nearly as well as he would have hoped. His most clever move was undoubtedly the integration of Emily Armstrong as the singer in the reincarnation of the band. Instead of trying to replace the vocally irreplaceable Bennington by hook or by crook, Shinoda went on the offensive and turned the band's second life into a new one, which in a way can also act independently of the old one. The fact that Armstrong was caught in the crossfire of public criticism due to her Scientology affiliation and her friendship with US actor Danny Masterson, who was convicted of rape, has so far been gallantly avoided by the band.

Instead of dealing with the prophets of doom, they preferred to play a comeback show in Los Angeles, followed by a few selected dates across Europe and currently in South America. While the very first recordings with Armstrong on the microphone were still regarded as unstable in terms of quality, the 38-year-old grooved into the band more and more and can now be unreservedly described as a strong point. In addition to the change of vocalist, drummer Rob Bourdon also retired from the band and has since been replaced by Colin Brittain. Guitarist Brad Delson prefers to enjoy his beloved family life in California and will be replaced on tour by Alex Feder. Away from the shaky personnel situation, the core members focused on creating new songs, which have now led to the eighth studio album "From Zero", which can of course also be seen as a second debut.

The circle closes
While Armstrong's mere presence made Linkin Park known to a new audience, the musical material focuses on the successful past. The eleven songs cross the finish line in just over 30 minutes and, strictly speaking, fish in the pond in which Shinoda has reared and nurtured his musical fish for a quarter of a century. The basic sound is therefore diametrically opposed to the album title, because the Californians don't start "from scratch", as Armstrong emphasizes in the intro. Although the title is ambiguous - it also alludes to the fact that Linkin Park were called Xero in the distant past. For Shinoda, this closes the circle of his musical identity on the one hand, and on the other, the return to the old days gives him the chance to make a new start. Under the old flag, but with a breath of fresh air.

Armstrong and the band met for the first time back in 2019 to work on ideas. Over the last five years, there has been enough time to build the new musical corset in peace. The singles "The Emptiness Machine" and "Heavy Is The Crown" showed the band with little willingness to experiment. Relying on the security of their own discography, the band concentrates primarily on being the executors of their own legacy. Nevertheless, the exuberant electronics of the last two studio albums have been scaled back. Tracks such as "Two Faced" sound most like the popular "Meteora" era from 2003, the harsh "Casualty" shows the band to be unexpectedly rude and thrashy, while "Good Things Go" doesn't shy away from big emotions and brings a very delicate, vulnerable touch to the fore.

2025 at Nova Rock?
Frontwoman Armstrong proves to be a surprisingly expressive strength in the project. She can sing and scream in equal measure, act calm and harsh and meander between high and low. Shinoda's often somewhat weak-chested rap parts are still present, but in view of Armstrong's (probably deliberately centered) omnipresence, they take an unusually strong back seat. "From Zero" is no masterpiece, but it is a more than respectable sign of life that can be used as evidence of a whole host of correct decisions on the part of the band. Full arenas and perhaps even stadiums are guaranteed in 2025. The first video trailers have already appeared on the websites of Wembley and the Stade de France in Paris. In Austria, Nova Rock fans could enjoy their big live comeback - rumors about a headlining performance at Pannonia Fields in June have been circulating for some time ...