Linkin Park

I was never their hugest fan (I have never even seen them in concert). Their debut album, Hybrid Theory, came out a few months after I graduated college, just before I started law school and saturated my life. But I own that album, and  Meteora, on CD. I have a few songs bought on the iTunes Music Store from Minutes to Midnight and A Thousand Suns (Robot Boy is a mood). Their music wove itself into my life significantly and, kind of like The Killers, just always seemed to be a part of my soundtrack.

When Chester Bennington shuffled off this mortal coil, I kinda figured the band’s hiatus would become permanent. Until last week, when I was cycling home, wearing my Bose Frames Tempo sunglasses (decidedly mid audio) listening to Turbo with Covino on SiriusXM and heard The Emptiness Machine for the first time. Intrigued, but not yet sold.

Until I heard it on a decent setup. Okay. Emily Armstrong brings it.

(Though, watching the video below, I wonder how sustainable that screaming is. My throat hurts just hearing it.)

(I was a little put off by her “I want to see every fucking face ... this is a lot of fun, this is fun, this is fucking fun” (16:57) comment. It’s a quibble, but she’s joining a band and speaking to the fans of the band. I’m probably reading too much into it, it just felt a bit wrong tonally. Like, she’s not a superstar (yet?). Dead Sara didn’t set the world on fire; Wikipedia says they’re “best known for their single "Weatherman" from their eponymous debut album Dead Sara (2012)” a song I know I listened to when it came out 12 years ago but had forgotten about... Her selection seems to be at least somewhat controversial: Forbes, Concern Sparked Over New Linkin Park Singer’s Alleged Scientology Links; Rolling Stone, Cedric Bixler-Zavala Slams Linkin Park’s Emily Armstrong Over Alleged Danny Masterson Support; Vulture, What’s Up With Linkin Park’s New Singer? ... Including by Chester Bennington’s son: Variety; People; &c. I don’t know enough about any of that to have an opinion, frankly.)

I’m a little pissed I missed the concert they just had in L.A. There’s a new energy around the band now, and I’m thinking I want to reconnect...

This is not the end, this is not the beginnin