Linkin Park, the inventive American rap-rock band who wove electronica into its heavy, melodic compositions, return with their first new album in seven years, โFrom Zero.โ It’s a reference to their earliest days โ when the band was known as Xero โ a reclamation of their angry and ascendant sound, and something else entirely.
It started in September. Linkin Park debuted their first new music since the 2017 death of lead singer Chester Bennington: a new song titled โThe Emptiness Machine,โ with new singer Emily Armstrong of the band Dead Sara and drummer Colin Brittain, joining returning members Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Phoenix and Joe Hahn.
It was a surprising return; as wrote at the time, Armstrongโs performance style comfortably continuing the bandโs legacy. Her full-throated vocals recalled Bennington without attempting parody. That spirit continues throughout “From Zero,” Armstrong stretching out a scream into the kind of raspy, vibrato-fake out immediately recognizable as a Bennington-ism.
In his absence, however, Shinoda takes more of the vocal lead. And in some points, it is to the band’s detriment, like on โCut the Bridge.โ Elsewhere, it’s a revisitation to โMeteoraโ-era LP, like on the fistful โHeavy Is the Crown.โ Ultimately, he makes a fine solo leader.
More melodic moments may sound like the work of another band entirely when performed by Armstrong, like on โOver Each Other,” but that’s quickly abandoned for the nu-metal ferocity of the track that follows, โCasualty.โ
It’s an easy impulse, to look for Bennington on this album. One of the most rewarding moments arrives on โTwo Faced”: โI canโt hear myself think,โ Armstrong speak-sings, before launching into a guttural bellow, โStop yelling at me.โ It has echoes of Linkin Park’s career-defining hits, like โOne Step Closer.โ The necessary reminder to the listener, then, should be that this is the same band just in the midst of a transformation. Much is intact: The album is produced by Shinoda and it sounds it; signatures of Hahn, the band’s DJ, turntablist and creative director, exist throughout.
But it is also possible the controversy surrounding Armstrong will overshadow some fansโ enjoyment of the record. Shortly after the new lineup debuted, the singer posted a statement on Instagram that many took to mean her appearance at an early court hearing for โThat โ70s Showโ star Danny Masterson, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the rape of two women in 2023.
Shortly thereafter, Benningtonโs mother, Susan Eubanks, told Rolling Stone she had no idea the band was going to continue on without her son โ and that they previously said they’d give her a heads up; they did not.
For some Linkin Park fans, it is a nonstarter. For the others who will dive into โFrom Zero,โ there are echoes of the band they loved.
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