Warner invited fans from all over the world into their offices to listen to The Hunting Party almost two weeks before its release. The LPU hosted those events in 11 cities! We have collected photos, reviews of the event, summaries, reviews of The Hunting Party, etc. from all events and present you part 1 of our massive listening party post! Little hint: the Berlin session had a special guest and we have lots of new information for you!

Thanks to all the contributors who let us travel with them from one city to the next!

Berlin

Photo: Richard Pelzer

The Berlin event was very special because none other than Mike Shinoda visited the fans there! Thanks to Richard for the great selfie and to Fabian (@malfab) who gave us a little summary of what Mike said that evening!

– they tried to mix loud and quite songs on THP since two heavy songs insuccession don’t sound as heavy as when a quite song is in between.
– the experimented a lot between the songs to free the listeners sense of hearing after a song
– Mike likes that Brad and Rob play an important part on the album
– for Drawbar they invited Tom Morello, he completes full songs based on jamming which is the exact opposite of Linkin Park who usually give up when they try this approach. Mike felt like a robot in comparison to Tom.
– All For Nothing was already finished, but since it sounded like Helmet and they are a big idol from Mike since his youth, they asked Page Hamilton to sing the chorus.
– Rebellion on the other hand wasn’t finished at all. They developed the song together with Daron Malakian. They got the contact to Daron via Mark Wakefield from their Xero days who now manages System of a Down (amongst others).
– It is very likely that Final Masquerade will be the next single
– He likes that more quiet songs will be released as singles too, so that kids who don’t know rock at all like the singles and discover rock music
– The singles are usually chosen by the label, not by the band, but they have a say about the sequence, so that e.g. Until It’s Gone wasn’t released first because it would have screwed up the statement that the album is heavier.
– Rebellion won’t be played at the festivals in Europe, because they didn’t have time to rehearse it, but they could play it
– Mike would like to play all songs from the new album
– they don’t want the live set to be longer than 100 minutes because it would be too exhausting and they couldn’t keep the quality of the show.
– with the new set they try to play more songs during that time
– if a different song enters the set, Crawling would be the song they drop for it
– the hardest part of THP was the song writing, not the live performance. He doesn’t see any problems with that.
– they plan to tour a lot with the album
– after the US tour they want to have a break for several weeks and stay home. They have no official plans for after the US Tour, but the year is long
– they know that they have a huge fanbase in Egypt and India and really want to play there one time
– they would love to do another LPU club tour, but considering that the demand for live shows is so huge, it just isn’t possible. The summits or listening sessions are better solutions
– Mike is a huge Star Wars and Lego fan

Brussels

Oslo

You can find more photos and a (Norwegian) article about the listening session HERE!

NYC

Santiago, Chile

The Hunting Party Track by Track Review

Today I had the chance, thanks to Warner Music Chile, to pre listen the brand new Linkin Park album, “The Hunting Party”. I don’t want to make the typical review, because of two reasons: There’s a lot of reviews out there right now and I don’t want to keep spoiling the songs for the ones who haven’t listened to the album yet. The second reason is because I have a really bad memory and to be honest, I was just enjoying the album and not thinking about writing anything. So basically, I’m going to share my thoughts and feeling about every song.

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

The first track gives you an immediate feel about what you’re going to listen on this album. Craziness itself. This song explodes since the very first moment with Chester’s distorted screams. Mike’s vocals are amazing. 8,5/10

ALL FOR NOTHING

I really liked this song, maybe more than the first one (I think KTTK need more listens). It has a lot of energy. BUT. Something that I didn’t like was the presence of Page Hamilton. Chester said in the BBC Radio 1 interview that the chorus of this song was originally sang by Mike. I don’t know, maybe it needs more listens, but at first, I would prefer Mike. Anyway, the song is cool, Chester screams (kind of) in the chorus while Page sings. 7,5/10

GUILTY ALL THE SAME

When I first listened to this song back in March, I was kind… meh. But that was probably because I wasn’t expecting that style, but the electro folk that Mike was talking last year. Anyway, I really like that song now. In fact, it fits perfectly on the album, specially after the first two songs. Rakim’s verse is great. Again, I would prefer Mike but this time, I don’t dislike Rakim’s presence like I did with Page. 9/10

THE SUMMONING

Really nice interlude. It comes in the perfect time, starts soft, grows in the middle and ends soft. 9/10

WAR

This is why I’m not going to do a typical review. For what I’d read about this song, I was sure I wasn’t going to like it. But I really did. It’s fast, short, but it feels completly finished. Chester screams are really cool, specially the last one (I think it lasts about 15 seconds, not sure). This is pure Punk. I don’t like this style, but this will be THE song I will like. Brad has an amazing solo here. 8,5/10

WASTELANDS

Amazing song. Just like Guilty All the Same, it comes in the perfect time. Great rap by Mike, especially in the second verse. The chorus is great. 9,5/10

UNTIL IT’S GONE

I don’t know why some fans don’t like it, but I love this song. It feels necessary in the context of the album. Chester has great vocals on this one. The last chorus is epic. One of my favorites without any doubt. 9,5/10

REBELLION

This song really surprised me. I thought I wasn’t going to like it since I don’t like SOAD, but Daron does an amazing job. Mike’s vocals are amazing just like in all the album. Chester sounds amazing on this one. The chorus is really amazing, specially the last one. 9,5/10

MARK THE GRAVES

It starts soft, but little by little it starts to grow and grow. It starts with soft vocals, but you don’t realize and Chester is screaming. The song changes a lot over the 5:05 minutes. Great one ! 9/10

DRAWBAR

Probably most of the fans won’t like it because is not that heavy interlude you would expect. But for me, it’s even better. It’s a soft interlude, with an amazing pluck by Tom. The piano at the end is just beautiful. 9,5/10

FINAL MASQUERADE

In one word? Fuckthefuckingfuck. This is even more beautiful than what I thought. The music, the lyrics, Chester’s voice. Everything. Can’t believe it, but I had tears in my eyes at the end of the song. Can’t wait until Monday to hear it over and over again. Probably my favorite chorus on an LP song. 10/10

A LINE IN THE SAND

Well, most of the reviews out there say this song is epic. Let me tell you something. IT IS. It starts with a dark and soft feeling. Mike sings (amazingly). Then Chester appears and the song explodes. On the middle of the song, Chester sings (almost screams) over an amazing Brad guitar solo. The song ends just like it begins. 10/10

THE HUNTING PARTY

Being a fan of “A Thousand Suns” (my favorite album) you could think I wouldn’t like an album like this. But when we finished listening to the album, I was talking to a guy who was with me (fan of ATS too) and agreed that THP feels like the Hard Rock version of ATS. It has everything you could like on Linkin Park. It’s for now, on my top 3 of LP albums. The songs are perfectly ordered, every song is where it should be. The second half is better than the first one. Some of the little interludes between the songs (like people talking, or the baby laugh are unnecessary, but maybe I’ll get used to them. In the end, an amazing album. Better than what I was expecting. 9/10

That’s it. I’m really happy and it’s a pleasure to colaborate with LPFanCorner 🙂

Name: Eduardo Pereda
Country: Chile
Twitter: @eduperedap

Stay tuned for part 2 with great reviews from South Africa, “Linkin Park Rebellion Malaysia” rocking Kuala Lumpur, and more from a few other cities! Also, there’s another listening session in Milan tomorrow!

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