martindavey87 And so it was, that as quickly as the nu metal subgenre rose to prominence (and boy, did it ever?!), so too did it burn out. In 2000, nu metal bands were topping the charts and headlining festivals all over the world. By 2003, the genre was dead, with many bands either fading into obscurity or changing their sound to maintain relevance.

Which brings us to Linkin Park, arguably “the face” of nu metal.

2007 saw the band release their third studio album, ‘Minutes to Midnight’, and sees a huge departure from the sound they were best known for. The heavy use of samples, rapping and metal guitar tones have been replaced by a more traditional, radio-friendly rock, which focuses more on Chester Bennington’s impressive singing, and a more hard rock guitar sound. It’s evident that the band have matured and grown up over the years too. Long gone is the spiky dyed hair and teenage angst-ridden lyrics, instead, we have a more melancholic, introspective band, that are looking at bigger, worldly issues than just personal anxiety.

However, one thing remains unchanged, and that’s the group’s knack for writing easily accessible and catchy tunes. The songs are all fairly short, and with very simple structures and hooks aplenty, they’ve managed to update their sound with ease, and show an organic maturity bought upon by their own life experiences, as opposed to a means for the bands survival.

With highlights including ‘What I’ve Done’, ‘No More Sorrow’, ‘Bleed It Out’, ‘Given Up’ (huge props to Chester’s vocals on this one), and ‘Leave Out All the Rest’, it’s apparent that Linkin Park have managed to transcend the nu metal genre, and while ‘Minutes to Midnight’ may not be as innovative as their prior efforts, what it lacks in originality it more than compensates for with such well-crafted compositions, confirming that the band were more than a flash-in-the-pan, and are deserving of their spot as one of the biggest bands on the planet.

martindavey87 ‘Crawling’ is the second single released for Linkin Park’s monumental 2000 debut album ‘Hybrid Theory’. It’s a solid nu metal track which helped usher the subgenre to a worldwide platform, gaining popularity among rock and non-rock fans alike. With its quiet verses and massively dramatic and heavy chorus, it’s a simple track which highlights vocalist Chester Bennington’s incredible range.

Overall however, of the numerous singles released for the bands debut, this is probably the weakest. I do like it in the context of the album, but never really find myself playing this one on its own. A live radio performance of ‘Papercut’ accompanies the main track, and is a decent enough listen which shows a young, energetic and enthusiastic band in their early days.

‘Hybrid Theory’ is one of the albums I credit for rejuvenating a then-stagnant metal scene at the turn of the century, and is absolutely essential to any music collection. But since CD singles are a thing of the past, ‘Crawling’ is best left to the absolute most die-hard collectors.

martindavey87 Linkin Park's second studio album, released in 2003, comes at a time when nu metal, which the band helped popularize at the turn of the century, was in full decline. Fed up with the repetitive song structures, whiny lyrics and image-pandering "pop bands", fans were either drifting away from the fad, or moving on to pastures heavier. But 'Meteora' ensures that the genre would go out with a huge bang.

The band were all in their early twenties when their 2000 debut album, 'Hybrid Theory', made them one of the biggest acts on the planet. And three years later, you can see how they've matured as songwriters. While the music and lyrical themes are similar as before, there's just something in the songs that sound more polished and refined.

Taking the "less is more" mentality to the limit, the band have really hit their stride with their sound. Most of the songs barely hit the three minute mark, and the arrangements are almost identical in each track. But the Californian six-piece do it with such gusto that it's hard not to be impressed. In particular, vocalists Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda have formed a duo that has become instantly recognizable, with both men's respective styles complimenting each other perfectly.

Highlights include 'Somewhere I Belong', 'From the Inside', 'Faint', 'Breaking the Habit', 'Don't Stay' and 'Easier to Run'. And of course, there's the absolute monster hit 'Numb', that has remained one of the bands most popular tracks. Even the unusual hip hop-inspired 'Nobody's Listening' is catchy, and really highlights the chemistry between the two singers.

While 'Hybrid Theory' had some absolute bangers, it also had its fair share of fillers. Which is where 'Meteora' is an improvement, in that it's a lot more consistent with a lot of really strong tracks. In fact, my only real complaint is that some of the songs could have been a bit longer. Regardless, 'Meteora' is a fantastic album that gave nu metal one last shot at showing the world what it was capable of, and sales in excess of 25 million copies says that they did the genre proud.

martindavey87 They weren't the first band to do it, but with the album ‘Hybrid Theory’, Linkin Park kicked off the huge rise of the genre known as nu metal that dominated the early years of the new millennium.

Whilst bands like Limp Bizkit and Korn had already garnered a huge following for this particular style of metal, featuring simple song arrangements, detuned guitars, DJ’s and rapping vocals, it was Linkin Park in the year 2000 that really pushed the genre into the mainstream, and with five hit singles and millions of sales, the album would go on to become one of the finest representations for what nu metal was all about.

Not bad for a debut album.

While Linkin Park’s debut record certainly has some excellent tunes, it’s the singles which are easily the best, and most recognizable, songs. Tracks like ‘Papercut’, ‘One Step Closer’, ‘In the End’ and ‘Points of Authority’ may all have been played billions of times on the radio or had their videos played on metal television channels, but there’s just some magic in the songs that make them great to listen to through loud speakers, no matter how often you've heard them.

Unfortunately, with the exception of ‘Runaway’, probably my favourite track from the album, the rest of the songs are pretty pointless, filler material. And towards the end the constant lyrical themes of depression, regret, rebellion, anxiety etc, start to wear a bit thin (a problem that would ensure this genre’s stay at the top would last no more than a couple of years).

Linkin Park is far from being one of my favourite bands, but coming from a time when metal music in the mainstream was near non-existent, ‘Hybrid Theory’ gives the music world a good kick in the arse, and helped to revitalize a dying genre.