A Historic Comeback
It’s early in the morning on a warm distant day in October 2000, and as you’re heading out for a Freddo Espresso at your local coffee shop, you hear a throbbing sound coming from the public radio. The words “It starts with...” follow a rather catchy piano motif, leading into a hard rockish, metalish ensemble of instruments.
You have never heard anything quite like that. The Freddo has arrived at your table, but you are not picking it up. You keep listening. An angelic yet devilish raspy voice is hollering something about “trying so hard” and “getting so far”, and you are feeling it. You ask around what’s going on, and someone sitting next to you answers: “Well, that’s Linkin Park. They’re not really that popular, but their songs rock pretty hard”.
After finishing your drink, you head to school, brushing off that chorus you just heard. As you get in the classroom, your best mate has brought his CD player along with a new purchase: Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park is what is written on the front cover.
He shares the left earphone with you, and you are completely, utterly hooked.
You’ve fallen in love with Nu-Metal. You’ve fallen in love with Linkin Park.
The band, founded by schoolmates Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson in California in 1996, was originally (and temporarily) called Xero. They permanently changed their name to Linkin Park after lead singer Chester Bennington stunned the founding members at his first audition.
Fusing rap, hard rock, metal, and electronic music, they released their debut album, Hybrid Theory, on October 24, 2000, which was immediately certified diamond. With Bennington’s unearthly vocals, Shinoda’s rapping, and Joe Hahn’s unmistakable scratches on the turntables, Linkin Park were quickly catapulted into stardom, cementing themselves as one of the most successful hard rock bands in recent history. They sold out venues on all six continents - though even penguins would have loved to attend one of their concerts. The band kept releasing albums, earning critical acclaim and becoming the most followed and liked band on social media platforms.
The glorious march of Linkin Park sadly came to an abrupt stop when the tragic news of Bennington’s passing broke the internet and shocked the music industry.
The band had just returned from their European Tour promoting their seventh album, One More Light, when Bennington was found lifeless in his own Los Angeles home on July 20, 2017 - just months after the death of his dear friend, Audioslave lead singer Chris Cornell. Fans and musicians alike were left speechless; the loss hit as hard as Kurt Cobain’s. Frontman Mike Shinoda took on the heartbreaking responsibility of announcing the news on Instagram and Twitter.
Speculations about the band’s future began almost immediately and intensified when the band announced a live tribute event featuring major artists to honor and say goodbye to Chester Bennington. The concert, streamed on YouTube later that year, garnered 25 million views, while almost 20,000 fans attended in person.
The iconic image of the solo spotlight illuminating an empty microphone stand as the fans sang along became a haunting symbol of Linkin Park’s looming demise. In 2018, Mike Shinoda resurfaced with his solo album, Post Traumatic, dedicated to Bennington, and toured until the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down.
Since then, the band has remained relatively silent, except for occasional social media posts and the release of some never-heard-before songs that didn’t make it onto past albums. While many speculated that the band would never reunite and that that was the end of Linkin Park, others believed that they were looking for a new singer, though with mixed reactions.
It was on August 24, 2024, that a 100-hour countdown was posted on Linkin Park’s official Instagram page, with no caption - just a link to the band’s website.
Over 7,000 comments flooded in, as the mysterious post stirred excitement and speculation among fans. The wait culminated on August 29, when the band posted an image showing a part of the band’s logo with the caption “Be part of something. September 5th. LinkinPark.com” And as promised, on September 5th at 3 PM Pacific Time, Linkin Park went live on their Instagram page, quickly amassing 46,000 viewers. Displayed below the video was clearly the release date of their new album called From Zero.
The band kicked off the 45-minute-long show by introducing their new lead singer, Emily Armstrong, who performed the new single “The Emptiness Machine”, now available on all music streaming platforms. They then proceeded to check off the classic playlist they rocked on their most acclaimed tours, while Armstrong showcased a strong vocal range, with a raspy yet powerful voice that was able to ace every song that was performed. As comments flooded in, the reactions were predictably mixed.
While most viewers showed appreciation towards the band’s new direction, many fans were clearly still in the biased headspace of a “Bennington replacement”, expecting Armstrong to sound exactly like the late vocalist, which was made clear by the band that it was not the case, nor the goal of their mission.
via IG @linkinpark
The album title “From Zero” (could it also ingeniously be referring to how the band’s original name, Xero, is pronounced, as in starting from where everything started?), it is fairly safe to speculate that Linkin Park intend to start anew, with a fresh face - not trying to replace Chester Bennington, but providing the band with a new future to work towards. It is of course severely premature to make any kind of remarks regarding the sound or unsound nature of the decision to bring Armstrong on board, as the fans will have to get used to this new reality, and the band should be given some time as well to prove they made the absolutely right choice. The old 2000s Linkin Park might be over; however, the band has found a new direction and future, and this just marks the beginning of a completely new chapter, and not the continuation of an old one. Linkin Park are back, after a seven-year hiatus.
