Linkin Park: The Hunting Party Album Review

 Today I'll be reviewing Linkin Park's sixth album, that just came out today, "The Hunting Party".  I've been a fan of Linkin Park since 2005 when I saw their video for "Somewhere I Belong", even though the song was released 2 years prior.  I'll make this intro short so here's my track by track review:

1) Keys to the Kingdom: The songs starts off with Chester screaming the chorus.  Awesome way to start off the album!  The song is much harder than any of the songs from their previous album, "Living Things."  I love the guitar parts in the song.  My only negative is in two parts Chester and Mike's vocals sound a little layered in the beginning of the song and at the end of Mike's rap.  9/10

2) All for Nothing (featuring Page Hamilton): Linkin Park usually never have any features on their albums (excluding "Collision Course", "Reanimation", and "Recharged") so it was interesting to see that Page Hamilton from the band "Helmet" was featured on this song.  That being said the song is my favorite on the whole album.  Page's vocals fit perfectly with Chester's singing and Mike's rapping.  Hopefully it'll be a single in the future.  10/10

3) Guilty All the Same (featuring Rakim): The first single from the album.  The instrumental intro is awesome but I think it was a bad choice to be released as a single.  Lyrically it's awesome and while Rakim's rapping is okay but I wish Mike did that part instead.  7/10

4) The Summoning: This song is an instrumental that starts off slow but picks pretty quick before ending with a couple of people talking.  It's a pretty good though.  Because it is short I won't give it a score.

5) War: This song is a fast paced rock song.  It's an awesome song but I wish it was longer.  10/10

6) Wastelands: This song was released as the first promo single from the album.  Part of the introduction reminded me a little bit of "Victimized" from their last album.  That being said the song is awesome and I think this song should've been the first single instead of "Guilty All the Same".  10/10

7) Until It's Gone: The second single from the album.  The song is a rock ballad that reminds me of their singles, "What I've Done" and "Numb".  The song is about looking back on failed relationship.  It's one of my favorites and I'm glad it was released as a single.  10/10

8) Rebellion (featuring Daron Malakian): This song features Daron Malakian, from the band "System of a Down", playing guitar.  It was released as the second promo single from the album.  The song is okay but I think it would've been better if Chester screamed the chorus.  7/10

9) Mark the Graves: The song starts off with a long intro that reminded me a little of the ending part of "Blackout" from their fourth album, "A Thousand Suns".  The vocals and lyrics are amazing but the song makes me feel sad.  9/10

10) Drawbar (featuring Tom Morello): This song is another instrumental but this one features Tom Morello, from "Rage Against the Machine".  The instrumental is amazing and I love the piano parts.  Since it's almost 3 minutes long I will give it a score.  10/10

11) Final Masquerade: The third single from the album.  The drum part in the beginning reminded me a little bit of Evanescence's song "The Other Side".  When I first heard the song I hated but after a couple more listens I started to like it and I can't wait for it's video.  9/10

12) A Line in the Sand: At 6 minutes and 35 seconds, it is the longest song on the album and one of the longest songs that band has released.  The guitar reminded me a little bit of "Victimized".  The beginning part is a little boring but thankfully it picks up later on.  Mike sings and raps on this song.  While Mike is good at singing, his singing on this song feels unnecessary but the song is still pretty good.  6/10

 "The Hunting Party" was much more hard rock sounding than Linkin Park's last three albums.  My favorite songs on the album are: "All for Nothing (featuring Page Hamilton)", "Until It's Gone", "War", "Wastelands", "Keys to the Kingdom", "Final Masquerade", "Drawbar (featuring Tom Morello)", and "Mark the Graves".  While there are 12 songs on the album, I'll be scoring the album out 110 points instead of 120 because I didn't give a score to "The Summoning".  So out of 110 points I give the album 97 which is 88%, a B+.  Awesome.  I think this album is my third favorite Linkin Park album with "Meteora" and "Hybrid Theory" being my favorite and second favorite.  Anyway Linkin Park rules and if haven't gotten this album you should because it's awesome!

 Thanks for reading and feel free to comment on if you agree with this review, disagree with it, or if you know why the album was titled "The Hunting Party" because I still don't know why it was titled that.

Girls Aloud: The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits (Limited Edition Bonus Disc) Mini-Album Review

 Hello everyone! It's been awhile since I did a review and I thought I'd do a little mini review. It's obvious that I'm a huge fan of Girls Aloud and that I'm annoyed that they broke up last year. I already did a review of the original version of "The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits" so today I'm doing a mini review of the limited edition bonus disk which included different versions of songs as well as unreleased songs from the group. Here's my track by track review:

1) No Good Advice (Explicit Version): This version is nearly identical to the original version of the song. The only difference is the line "shut mouth because it might show" is changed to "shut your mouth because your s*** might show." The song's still good though. 10/10

2) Wake Me Up (Alternate Version): The whole first verse is different. The lyrics are different from the original and Cheryl sings more of the first verse than Sarah, whereas on the version that was released it's the other way around. 10/10

3) I Predict a Riot (Live from Wembley): This song is a cover, originally performed by "Kaiser Chiefs", that the group performed on their "Chemistry Tour". This song was also put on the "St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold Soundtrack" for the film which Sarah stared in. I find the track to be kinda boring. 5/10

4) Sound of The Underground (Extended Version): "Sound of The Underground" is my favorite song from the group and I was curious how the extended version would sound. There isn't much of a difference except for a new guitar part added after the chorus is sung the second time. Either way I still love the song. 10/10

5) Hanging on the Telephone: Another cover song. This song was originally recorded by Blondie. While I give the band credit for taking a risk by covering Blondie, I not really into their version of the song. 5/10

6) Loving Is Easy: This song was b-side for the single, "Wake Me Up". It's a little different from their stuff and it's still growing on me. 5/10

7) Singapore: This song is an unreleased song from the group's third album, "Chemistry". Why it wasn't on the album, I 'll never know. It should've been though since it's better than most of the stuff on that album. It's an amazing somewhat uptempo ballad. I really like it. 10/10

8) Sacred Trust: Yes, Girls Aloud released their own version of this song. This song was sung by "One True Voice" who competed against Girls Aloud for the Christmas number one with this song but Girls Aloud won with "Sound of The Underground". Nadine sings lead on this song and while her voice is amazing, as always, I don't really like it. 5/10


My favorite songs on this are: "Singapore", "Sound of The Underground (Extended Version), "Wake Me Up (Alternate Version), and "No Good Advice (Explicit Version). Out of 80 points I give the album 60 points which is 75%, a C+. I know this review was short and I promise I'll do a longer review later this month. Thank you for reading!