Released in early 2007, Minutes To Midnight marked a profound change from the nu-metal sound that Linkin Park had gotten famous with. Personally, I have always loved LP's experiments for as long as I've been able to make thoughts, so it was not a big deal to me. However, their experiments have always brought plenty a detractor.
Too different, and so on and so forth, a repeating detractor comment that would follow the band... well, still follow. Maybe except Meteora, but I was only 6 years old when that came out, so I can't say for certain without looking deeper into it, but I digress.
Personally, I've never had an issue with Linkin Park experimenting with their sound - that was part of their charm to me, even during a larger departure from the norm with One More Light (Also shoutout to Celldweller's Offworld), and I've never found myself not excited for a new release. They were still Linkin Park, and they always had that Linkin Park feel to it. So what if it's not as nu-metally, it's not like they've never deviated before, heck Reanimation is still my favourite album of theirs! And let's be honest, neither Hybrid Theory nor Meteora is that heavy all things considered, so I never got what the complainers where complaing about. And Chester Bennington's voice was as great as ever, and I got to hear more of Mike's singing too.
If I had to pick something I didn't care for much was the intro track "Wake". In fact, I've sort of ended up growing out of it as a standalone track. There's nothing wrong with it as such, just it's not a track I'd have when listening to a playlist on shuffle. In terms of the album front to back... I think it fits, it has its place. The band is deviating, and to me, it has the feeling of something new, that something different is coming. Awaken to it.
And then "Given Up" follows. One of the heavier songs on the album, more akin to the old stuff. Not quite so different, but in my childhood I never noticed that the album alternates between "heavier" and "not so heavier" songs, until "In Between" follows "Valentine's Day". Seventeen seconds for a scream. You try screaming for that long at all to see just how impressive that is. Lyrically... yeah we've all been there... just me?
Up next: "Leave Out All The Rest". Contrasting heavily with the previous track, this is one of my favourites, lyrically more matching my overall self. Remembering all the good, something that's worth remembering and missing someone by. Good times, good times indeed.
"What I've Done" - I heard that in a trailer. I called my dad - "I wanna go see the new Transformers film". A proper hit, biggest single, I remember hearing it and seeing it all over the place back in the day, and it was one heck of a tune.
I would also like to give "Valentine's Day" a shout-out. Personally it's the one track I've heard mentioned the least, and I can sort of see why, a large part of the sung parts being a repeat of "...on a Valentine's Day" but I've always resonated with it. Losing someone, feeling lonely. Yeah. A tender first half to it, as emotions build up and get unleashed in the second half.
I am a big fan of it, and if I had to pick my favourite track from it, I would say it's probably "Leave Out All the Rest", but I can't say I didn't at least consider the other tracks. It's great, it marked change, new directions, and was a big part of my youth.
For my super-subjective-rating, I give it 7.5/10, good stuff, I do enjoy putting it on front to back from time to time. The ratings I give are extremely subjective, vibe based, and I really don't know how else I can put it. I rate it for the emotions, feelings, and of course, the music. Big fan, and a good part of a discography. While MTM definitely begins the deviation process and the theme of experimenting, there is still plenty of familiarity to its predecessors, while also hinting that change is the name of the game.
