There's a sense of urgency in the verses, and the song collapses in the second half, a great progression from the first half that feels natural and logical. With a brief intro in "Fallout", the extended version on the album shows Linkin Park in a rare angle- commanding, confident and visceral. Yet, it is the single, "The Catalyst", that remains the best track of the album. "Robot Boy" is a criminally underrated song that displays Bennington at his smoothest, and album closer "The Messenger" comes as a complete shock with its simplicity, and is another highlight of Bennington's vocals. "Iridescent" could have been a Coldplay song, but I will forgive the band for playing melodramatic pop this once. There's fantastic screaming on "Blackout", which ends off in an unusually melodic part with great synthetic effects and harmonizing vocals from both Shinoda and Bennington. "Burning In The Skies" actually manages to sound upbeat despite its solemn lyrics. This is the only time you will ever hear variety from Shinoda. The band reinvents its own rap-rock style, not once, but thrice in "When They Come For Me", "Waiting For The End" and "Wretches & Kings", with tribal drums, reggae and gangsta rap respectively. There's maturity not just in the sound, but also in the lyrics. It's a concept album with a post-apocalyptic setting, the only time the band has ever strayed away from their typical angsty teenager themes. This album has a really good flow, and listening to the songs in chronology actually makes a lot of the songs sound better than when heard alone. "In Pieces" is somehow even worse than its predecessor, with Bennington thinking emotions are more intensified over a simplistic, pop tune. On top of that, it's sung by Shinoda, who sounds like he hasn't slept in years. "In Between" is another completely uncharacteristic song, with such little crescendo in the chorus that the song barely peaks and sounds like a lullaby all the way.
Here, the band thinks he can handle manly, baritone choruses on top of a psuedo-metal anthem. In their older songs, the duality of Bennington's child-like vocals and his harsh screams were a huge factor in the band's success.
"No More Sorrow" is a joke of a song, revealing how out of touch the band was with the heavy metal community. "Shadow Of The Day" sounds like a U2 B-side, and that's not even a good thing.
Mike Shinoda is barely present and when he does rap, it sounds ridiculously stale on "Bleed It Out" and "Hands Held High" (what were they even thinking when they recorded that song). The problem is that the songs were so poorly written and executed "Given Up" has nothing other than a 17 second long scream which isn't even properly sustained, "Leave Out All The Rest" is one of the few hints of the band's later direction and features Chester Bennington at his most nasal (especially with the extra autotune). The worst LP album, Minutes completely abandons the band's signature sound from it's first three albums for a completely uninspired, derivative work with songs going all over the place in terms of style- which isn't the issue.
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