One More Light Full Album: Linkin Park's Farewell to Their Beloved Singer and Friend

The band recorded the album between September 2015 and February 2017 in multiple studios. Band members Brad Delson and Mike Shinoda served as the album's primary producers. The sound of One More Light has been described as being more pop-focused, departing from the alternative rock and alternative metal sounds of their previous albums. The album features guest vocal appearances from Pusha T, Stormzy, and Kiiara, and production and songwriting collaborations with J. R. Rotem, Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter, Ross Golan, Andrew Goldstein, Blackbear, and Eg White.[1] It is also the band's first album to have a title track, as they felt that the song "One More Light" was the heart of the album.

One More Light Full Album

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The band had been writing and recording mostly in Los Angeles but also had a few sessions in London and Canada where they worked with a few songwriters.[21] In Los Angeles, the band started working at the Larrabee Studios where they had worked for their previous album. After noticing the band needed a bit more space they shifted to Sphere Studios.[22] Starting in the early 2016 the band decided, for the first time, to open up their process to fans through social media by doing live streams, posting pictures and videos of their day by day in the studio, and sending studio updates to their mailing list.

The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, beating out Kendrick Lamar's Damn to the top spot by selling 111,000 copies in its first week with 100,000 of which coming from pure sales.[65][66] This would gift the band its sixth number one album on the Billboard 200 and the first since 2012's Living Things. The band is one of only a few bands to ever score six or more albums to peak at the top spot of the US Billboard charts.[67]

One More Light, Linkin Park's seventh set, is a divisive and brazen statement from a band that already does not shy away from fearless experimental leaps. From the rap focus on Collision Course and the Fort Minor side project to the electronic A Thousand Suns and their remix albums, Linkin Park have balanced an empire built upon pain and angst with an admirable dose of cross-genre dabbling. Which is why One More Light shouldn't come as such a surprise. And yet, the album remains a jarring follow-up to 2014's muscular The Hunting Party and an overall curve ball in their catalog. Recruiting electronic pop producers like Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter, Jesse Shatkin, and RAC, Linkin Park made a pop album, which is sure to infuriate diehards who yearn for the days of "shut up when I'm talking to you." While it's unfair to fault them for not being pissed off anymore, the experience is not the same. For the first time, the band sounds happy and content. Though while they may be at peace, their creativity took a bullet. There's a bevy of bright tropical notes and even some "na na na" choruses, tones that are dime a dozen on pop radio. The group is effectively neutered on One More Light: there's no feral screaming from Chester Bennington, there are barely any riffs, and DJ Hahn has disappeared beneath the textured studio sheen. The closest they toe to "rock" is "Talking to Myself," which has discernable live drumming from Rob Bourdon and guitar licks from Brad Delson. Otherwise, One More Light is mostly concerned with triumphant anthems ("Battle Symphony" and "Invisible") and heartfelt confessions ("Sorry for Now" and "Halfway Right") that end up sounding like the Chainsmokers blended with Twenty One Pilots. Certainly, One More Light will find its defenders, but for fans of their past work, "Good Goodbye" with rappers Pusha T and Stormzy is the closest they come to "aggressive" and "inspired" (even if Shinoda sounds like G-Eazy). Oddly enough, the Kiiara-assisted lead single "Heavy" ends up being one of the only memorable earworms on the album, an undeniably catchy dose of radio-friendly pop that dares listeners to sing along. Here, Linkin Park actually lay out the entire plot of this endeavor by asking "Why is everything so heavy?" With the bandmembers all hovering around their forties, they've matured and fully expect fans to do the same, taking huge steps away from the nü metal that established them in the early 2000s. Objectively, that attitude is refreshing, but nonetheless a letdown. From their inception, Linkin Park connected through catharsis. However, many of the emotions presented here are fleeting. The issue isn't that it's a pop effort; indeed, they get points for a brave attempt so outside of their wheelhouse. The problem is that much of One More Light is devoid of that visceral charge that previously defined much of their catalog. It's a provocative challenge that ultimately fails to satisfy.

I spoke about 'One More Light' quite heavily last year but with last Friday (July 20th) marking one year since Chester Bennington passed away, I've been revisiting Linkin Park's final creation with their late frontman a lot recently. As such, I've had time and retrospect to think about this album - one that was hastily torn down by many - more than when I first covered it. The end result of that thought process is that I still like it and still think it received an unfair go. As I wrote before, I enjoyed their seventh LP and truly feel that it's a far cry from being the chart-topping band's worst album. (Despite what many disgruntled rock/nu-metal nerds would tell you). 'One More Light' is a fine enough record; a decent pop outing at that, and one that got a fuckin' brutal slaying from fans and critics alike in May 2017. It honestly received far harsher sentencing than it ever deserved. Of course, Chester's death doesn't suddenly make it a classic or anything of the sort - that would be super disingenuous of me to say so. But the vocalist's passing did reveal more about the record's heavier personal tone and emotional weight than these ten songs might've actually said upon initial release; just two months before Chester would sadly take his own life.

To start off my defense of a record that was savagely cut down by angry rock fans, let's talk about the stunning title track of 'One More Light'. This atmospheric eponymous song proved without a doubt that Linkin Park hadn't lost their touch nor their heart as songwriters. For me, "selling out" isn't a change of sound, but rather an upheaval and reshifting of the themes and lyrics a band or artist speaks of in their music. Following closely to the lyrics of 'One More Light' - both the song itself and the wider sentimental album - it's clear that the original soul of the band's lyrics was still present; still emotional; still human; still positive; still as heartfelt as ever. What was being sung about people, remorse, loss and humanity on older tracks like 'Lost In The Echo', 'Leave Out All The Rest' or 'Hands Held High', just to name a few examples, was being brought forward once again. In full and honest view for all too hopefully see. Sadly, I think many skimmed over that with this titular piece and many other moments from the record too. Because it didn't have loud, "rock" guitars or some such shallow requirement.

Whether they heard the full album or not, this was the "smoking gun" that deeply annoyed fans and longtime critics needed that the band had apparently "sold out". (Yep, here we go again). Which is really amusing to me, as how can a band sell out when they're already one of the biggest damn bands in the whole world? Linkin Park didn't need nor want to get on the radio; they'd already been played on the bloody thing years before 'One More Light' was even recorded! How many times have you heard 'Numb', 'Castle Of Glass', 'Burn It Down', 'Shadow Of The Day', or 'What I've Done' on the airwaves (or in ads) over the years? I bet that number goes up the longer and harder you think about it. And that will go doubly so for rock-orientated programs and stations too. My whole point being here is that 'Heavy' was and is a good song. Time won't ever change that.

However, just as how a couple good tracks do not a great album make, a couple of off songs do not result in an overall bad album. So while not 'amazing' or a '10/10' release, 'One More Light' had its faults but these didn't make it fundamentally flawed as reviews like this, this and this would lead you to believe. As Chad Childers eloquently put it in his write-up of this album's live version last December for Loudwire, "It's a more restrained live set, but one that is no less impactful than what they have delivered in the past." And he's right - it's a different beat, but not a bad one, with some really great new songs to offer. Now, we've already mentioned 'Heavy' and the title track, so let's get into the rest.

Mid-album gem, the darker, sliding synths and open lyricism of the comforting 'Invisible', feels like an old Fort Minor track featuring Chester; whilst also showing off that classic LP vocal duality between the two that so many adore. This is also another song where Brad's guitar playing becomes a truly supportive element of the songwriting and the album's mix. No longer making pit-riffs and static chords, the guitarist's noodling adds a lot more than you think; without it, 'Invisible' (and other songs here) just wouldn't work.

'Hybrid Theory' was a heavy record not just through the screams, breakdowns and chunky riffs, but because of it's lyrical content. On the opposite end of the sonic spectrum from that album is a song like 'Halfway Right'. It paints a picture of broken homes, troubled childhoods, and self-destructive tendencies - experiences and moments that defined Chester's younger years, spurning much of LP's lyrics. Making one of the song's early lines of "Used to get high with the dead end kids/Abandoned houses where the shadows lived" that much more revealing; lyrics that would be harder to fit into older LP album's, I feel. Sure, the "Nana nana, na nana nana" in the bridge is really played-out, but that's a small gripe on what is a haunting song about Chester bearing himself and his insecurities for all to see. Which is perhaps why he lashed out so heavily against critics of the album in interviews, before eventually admitting that he needed to take a step back and "recalibrate". 2ff7e9595c