Reviews

Perhaps if the cut-'n'-paste remix record {^Reanimation} hadn't appeared as a stopgap measure in the summer of 2002, {$Linkin Park}'s second record, {^Meteora}, would merely have been seen as a continuation of their 2000 debut, {^Hybrid Theory}, instead of a retreat to familiar ground. Then again, {^Reanimation} wasn't much more than a way to buy time (along with maybe a little credibility), so it's unfair to say that its dabbling in {\electronica} and {\hip-hop} truly pointed toward a new direction for the group, but it did provide a more interesting listening experience than {^Meteora}, which is nothing more and nothing less than a {^Hybrid Theory} part two. Which isn't to say that {$Linkin Park} didn't put any effort into the record, since it does demonstrate that the group stand apart from the pack by having the foresight to smash all {\nu-metal} trademarks -- buzzing guitars, lumbering rhythms, angsty screaming, buried scratching, rapped verses -- into one accessible sound which suggests hooks instead of offering them. More importantly, the group has discipline and editing skills, keeping this record at a tight 36-minutes-and-41-seconds, a move that makes it considerably more listenable than its peers and, by extension, more powerful, since they know where to focus their energy, something that many {\nu-metal} bands simply do not. (It must be said that there will surely be consumers out there that will question paying a $19.99 retail for a 36-minute-and-41-second record, though some may prefer getting a tight, listenable record at that price instead of a meandering 70-minute mess.) So, it must be said that {^Meteora} does deliver on the most basic level -- it gives fans what they want, and it does so with energy and without fuss. It's also without surprises, either, which again gives the album a static feeling -- suggesting not a holding pattern for the band, but rather the limits of their chosen genre, which remains so stylistically rigid and formulaic that even with a band who follows the blueprint well, like {$Linkin Park}, it winds up sounding a little samey and insular. Since {^Meteora} is only their second go-round, this is hardly a fatal flaw, but the similarity of {^Meteora} to {^Hybrid Theory} does not only raise the question of where do they go from here, but whether there is a place for them to go at all. [This version of the album includes a DVD of bonus material.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide