If you sit in my car for long enough, there’s a 99.9 percent chance that a Linkin Park song will come on while you’re there. And if you ever ask who my favorite artist is, you’ll always get the same response, “Linkin Park and Rise Against.” (I’ll save the talk about RA for a later date, however.)
I’ve always liked to make the joke that I’ve been listening to Linkin Park since April 1, 2007, which is my birthday. The group, that was previously fronted by Chester Bennington, has been one of my dad’s favorites, and has consequently always been playing in my house. I’m not joking, I’m listening to “Hybrid Theory” while writing this.
And after all of this, you’d probably think that I’d surely have seen them in concert, but I haven’t. Bennington, the aforementioned lead singer, committed suicide on July 20, 2017. And from that date forward, I’ve spent my time haunted by lyrics about his mental health and suicide, wishing he was still here.
But now, after eight years, there’s a new spark of hope: Mark Shinoda and Emily Armstrong. Shinoda, who has been with Linkin Park for years, has recently led the band to team up with Armstrong, the rock band powerhouse of Dead Sara. And on September 5, the pair shocked their fanbase with the release of a brand-new single, “The Emptiness Machine.”
In a live streamed, secret-shrouded concert, the band began this new path towards the rebirth of Linkin Park after Bennington’s death. Even before the show started, they teased the crowd by playing snippets of “Castle of Glass,” repeating the line “show me how to be whole again.” And I don’t know about you, but the introduction of Shinoda and Armstrong as co-lead vocalists has left me feeling more whole.
The livestream was a great opportunity for Shinoda and Armstrong to draw old and new fans of Linkin Park back into the band, and having Armstrong sing a mix of new and old songs allowed everyone to see the new talent she’d bring to the band.
Just listening to Armstrong’s voice on the new track has left my heart racing, I can’t wait to see what this new era is going to look like. Her rage-filled screams left me in utter shock, and lines like “I just wanted to be part of something” really hit home for me.
Linkin Park has been a constant in my life through so many awful and gut wrenching experiences. “Numb,” one of their most popular songs, has been an anthem of teenage rebellion as I cut contact with my grandparents, and “Iridescent,” as well as the entire “One More Light” album, have been irreplaceable as I’ve grown to understand more about my mental health.
The band’s raw honesty about mental health, family ties, social pressure, and suicide are crucial to their entire narrative – and I don’t think that’s something that this group will ever lose, especially because of the history with Bennington. Armstrong has made it clear that she doesn’t plan to serve as any sort of ‘replacement’ for him, and I believe that with every fiber of my being. In an interview with Billboard, Armstrong explained her process in working with Linkin Park. “It’s Chester’s voice, and it’s mine, but I want it to still feel the way I feel when I listen to the song because that’s what the fans love,” she said.
The idea of hearing new Linkin Park music soon is thrilling, and I can’t wait to see what the band loves. Even though it will be different, and even though I won’t be listening to Chester’s voice like I always have, I will be home. Armstrong undoubtedly brings incredible amounts of talent to the band, and the release of “From Zero” on November 15 will only allow her more of a proving ground than she already has.
Over my seventeen years of listening to Linkin Park, I’ve never felt like the band is standing on as much of a precipice as they are now. But what I do know is that whatever their new album is going to sound like, people are going to enjoy it. Because for fans like me and my dad, the band is more like home than just some songs.
