Back catalogue: Metal

Review: With the tragic, untimely passing of lead vocalist Chester Bennington in 2017, it naturally appeared to be the end for nu-metal/alt rock juggernauts Linkin Park, until recently shocking their fans with the confirmed news that Dead Sara vocalist Emily Armstrong would be taking Bennington's place, while new drummer Colin Brittain would step in to replace Rob Bourdain who decided not to join the reformation. Serving as the follow up to 2017's pop focused One More Light, the band's upcoming eight full-length LP From Zero takes its title from their original early day name Xero whilst highlighting this newly defined creative origin the members have found themselves cornered into, bearing clear signs of a desire to celebrate their nu-metal beginnings without undoing the decades worth of progression they have accomplished since. With 11 tracks and just over a half-hour runtime, it's evident the project appears to be prioritising brevity and a succinct introduction to this new era without losing site of what sonically drew their legions of fans to them in the first place. It's a brave, delicate time for Linkin Park with From Zero championed as the heralding of this new chapter, aiming to hopefully bridge and appease listeners from all spectrums of their back catalogue.

Review: It's been seven years since the tragic passing of Chester Bennington and the abrupt end of nu-metal legends Linkin Park, while their legacy remains praised and intact by avid fans. Papercuts offers up a career-spanning greatest hits collection, yet rather than sequencing each bundle of tracks chronologically in terms of specific album release, the cuts are mixed with the design of flowing as naturally as possible, with the anthemic 'Faint' from 2003's Meteora rubbing shoulders with their iconic Jay-Z Collision Course collab 'Numb/Encore'. Elsewhere, 'One Step Closer'; the breakout single from 2000's genre-defining debut LP Hybrid Theory is followed directly by 'New Divide', which served as the lead single from the Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen soundtrack. From their rap-metal beginnings to their signature style of nu/alt-metal to the their calmer accessible later era, this compilation delivers a succinct yet sprawling distillation of Linkin Park's most vital contributions to the several dynamic scenes they helped to elevate.