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2 / 10
Linkin Park’s recent revelation that they were never really nu-metal couldn’t have been more disingenuous had they claimed to have been just following orders. They won’t let it lie, though; their fourth album opens with an instrumental called ‘Wake’ which could have been titled ‘Look Ma, No Ham-Fisted Raps!’ What follows is the sound of a band trying and failing to forge a new identity – boy-band balladry, U2-style stadium rock and Metallica-esque melodic crunch are all attempted with predictably patchy results. Album centrepiece ‘Hands Held High’, however, is far, far worse: an asinine anti-Bush diatribe on which multi-millionaire Mike Shinoda seethes that folk can’t afford gas no more, it climaxes with Chester Bennington chanting “Amen” over gospel keys and a marching band beat and is far and away the funniest thing you’ll hear all year.
Dan Silver
6.5
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