Album Review: Linkin Park – From Zero
3 min read
After the tragic suicide of Chester Bennington in 2017 I have to admit, I didn’t think there would be another Linkin Park album, despite contrary statements of intent from Mike Shinoda through the ensuing years. In 2019 the band met Dead Sara vocalist Emily Armstrong and in the following year began working on new music. Fast forward to 2024 and the new band line up is announced, touring recommences and From Zero is released! Quite a busy year! The Album title is in reference to the original band name of Linkin Park (the band was originally called ‘Xero’), and suggests a phoenix-style rebirth for the band, moving into the post-Chester era.
A short choral harmony in From Zero (Intro) with Emily querying the album name, runs into The Emptiness Machine, fast paced nu metal track, with the Shinoda taking a more prominent role in singing vocals, and female vocals of Armstrong giving a different dynamic to a Linkin Park track. Cut the Bridge follows – another straight up banger, with Shinoda returning to a more familiar role of rapping the verse. The subsequent tracks follow suit, with Heavy Is the Crown feeling like an old school Linkin Park track (think Meteora or Living Things), Over Each Other feeling a more chart friendly, Emily-focussed track, and Casualty taking a set of old school, heavy metal riffs and both Mike and Emily giving more grit to their vocals.
I’ve listened to Overflow a few times now, it’s absolutely in my reckoning for the best track of the album: experimental but simultaneously gorgeous – a mesmerizing, atmospheric, spectacular track! It should be impossible to follow strongly, but Two Faced does a great job, going back to that early Linkin Park sound. Stained pushed Overflow in my favourite From Zero track, it has that experimental, atmospheric feel (for Linkin Park) to it – a real sleeper track, whilst penultimate track IGYEIH steps up mid-track, with a sense of being in the anger stage of grieving for Chester, with the lyrics screaming out the end of the track “from now on I don’t need you”. Rounding off the album in the strongest possible way is Good Things Go, Linkin Park have not just the best track on their album, but a worthy addition to their portfolio of best tracks, period! Deeply personal, the track describes grief itself – agony, remorse, regret, depression… and, at the end, release of these feelings, happiness and love.
Confession time: I was assigned From Zero, I did not pick it. I Loved Linkin Park, I’d seen them live in 2011– they were spectacular. I was sceptical of the ability to pick a replacement for the irreplaceable vocals of Chester Bennington. Saying that, let me be clear – Emily is not a replacement for Chester… She is a new chapter and direction for the band. This is not an ‘in effect’ Linkin Park tribute act, this is the start of a new Linkin Park era… and I’m on board! This is a strong album, and a great advert for what Linkin Park was, is and will be. I’ve added two tracks to my coveted 2024 favourites playlist (Overflow and Good Things Go – I limit myself to two per album), and I could have added two or three more. Strong like!!
