Hybrid Theory

Ion's view on Hybrid Theory: One of the better cd's I've listened to. The main reason I like Linkin Park is the fact they combine rock, rap, and trance, which are my favorite genres.

Before I review the songs, I must state that people are giving this cd flak without even listening to it. This is metal and rap and some techno, but you don't have to say it's not 100% metal or rap or techno. I mean, Snoop Dogg and Metallica tours with Linkin Park. I think that explains it.

Now on with the review.

1. Papercut: Breakbeat metal. This song is about paranoia, which makes me wonder if they accidently spelt Papercut instead of Paranoid. It goes from a techno styled intro into a metal styled chorus and into the rap styled verses. The break is pretty good, where the instruments tone down to just the drums and they rap, "The Face inside is right beneath the skin." After that, it goes into a beautifal ending, where chester sings "The sun goes down; I feel the light betray me." and back into a combination of the chorus and so.

2. One Step Closer: Rock. This song is pretty good. It was made to describe the process of making lyrics to Runaway, which turned into a small quarrel. Other than that, it describes getting pushed closer and closer to the edge to the point of insanity, and before you can even respond, you're being interrupted. Before this song was ever made, I caught myself saying, "You're getting me one step closer to the edge and I'm about to break!" There's also a break in the enhanced/live version of this song, which is pretty cool sounding. Then it goes into the highly angsty "SHUT UP WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU" Break. Overall, this song is great.

3. With You: Eletronic Rap Rock and the best song on the album. It starts out with a synthy-scratchy intro with only guitars playing. After a few seconds, the scratch stops and BAM!!! The guitars blare, the drums sound, and there's ALOT of scratching. Then the song calms down into a highly emotional set of instruments and the opening lyrics "I woke up in a dream today: to the cold of the static and I put my cold feet on the floor. Forgot all about yesterday and remembering I'm pretending to be who I'm not anymore." After a while, the chorus, which is a blank verse of iambic pentameter which is very wierd for music, sounds of and the insane guitars and drums come back. It's hard to describe the song, but I think it comes down to the break, "No matter how far we've come by, I can't wait to see tommorow: with you."

4. Points of authority: Rock. The song has some of the best guitars of Linkin Park. The song is pretty much about the title, the points of authority, about one having too much power and not giving the ones around another thought.

5. Crawling: Eletronic Rock. A slower, sadder song, about personal paranoia/insecurity of ones personality traits. Has a good build in intro, but they removed the break from the original version. The only flaw in this song: it's the reason why people thing they're a boy band.

6. Runaway: Eletronica. This song is a more contreversial song, because it's about getting lied to, betrayed, attacked, and finally just running away.

7. By Myself: Industrial Rap. The song is about having more paranoia than defense or allies. The verses are pretty quiet and calm, but the chorus has an industrial feel.

8. In the end: Eletronic rap. This song is quite sad, but the message is good: the journey is more important than the end or the start. If you fail or succeed, once it's over it shouldn't bother you anymore. The break is good, too. "I put my trust in you, pushed as far as I can go, and for all this, there's only one thing you should know." It goes from light to heavy and back to the chorus.

9. A place for my head: Metal. This song was altered TWICE before being put onto hybrid theory! This song is about parasitism, a simbiosis where one benifits while the other suffers. The song's rock is constant. It never calms down until the break "You tried to take the best of me: go away." Then it goes back into the insanity. Just for the note, there's a "MUTHA**** YA!!" at the end of the song, but it was cut from the album version.

10. Forgotten: Eletronica Metal Rap. This song is about being left in a dark, dimsal ghetto-like place. The remix on Reanimation is alot more darker, but that's another review. This song isn't played much at the Linkin Park concerts... Didn't see that coming!

11. Cure for the Itch: Eletronica and Turntablism: This song is nothing but scratching and turntablism, so "Let's hear it for the great Mr. Hahn!"

12. Pushing me away: Rock. Much like Numb, this is a slower emotional track with the same message, only this is a tad different.

Overall, this CD rocks. Do yourself a favor, Linkin Park listeners, Non-Linkin Park Listeners, haters who hate Linkin Park and never heard their good songs, and people who are reading this review, and GET THIS CD!!!

Ok...we all heard everyone's review for Hybrid Theory from it being pitiful to being widely acclaimed, but all in all, it's an impressive cd! The name "Hybrid Theory" pretty much sums up LP's genre and style of music.With an influx of different styles and influences of music varying from the Deftones, Stone-Temple Pilots,Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, and NiN, the end result is a well-crafted and wonderful album filled with sounds of electronic, rock, rap, alterantive, nu-metal, and some emo here and there. Basically sounds to please everyone's taste. Then of course there is The Incredible Mr.Hahn, the DJ of LP. His masterful blend of beats, sampling, and scratching intertwine perfectly with Chester's astonishing voice, which can go from screaming to singing melancholy in a split-second, has made him one of the most well-respected artists of this century. As well as, Mike Shinoda's Emceeing, whom has a in-your-face, fast-paced, throwing lyrics in a heartbeat, rapping just keep making the band better. I didn't like Linkin Park when I first heard their first single "One Step Closer"... i felt, in my taste in music at the time, was a bit unwavering. But then, a song known as "Crawling" was released, this totally changed my perspective of the band. Showing me that they are not just a hard-core rock band, but a band that is not afraid to show a softer, more deeper side of emotion. The lyrics to that song are extremely powerful and you can feel the emotion that Chester sings in that song. Thusly, this lead me into temptation to buy the cd. When I finished the entire cd for the first time, I was not impressed, of course I didn't have the appreciation of the rock sound of rock just yet. But after constantly listening to the 12-track album, I came to a conclusion that it was an album and a band destined for stardom. The lyrics, the sound, the meaning of it all totally changed my respect towards the band. Hybrid Theory shows the true dedication and how hard-working the band is towards their music. Therefore, Linkin Park is a band that revolutionized the rock/rap genre because of it's own unique sound. They're rookie cd is collaboration of great songs that will go down as one of the best and must-have albums of all time and their second cd will be much-anticipated. Unfortunately, their second album (not the remix album), will most likely not live up to the expectations of the critics and fans, for Hybrid Theory gained fame too fast in too little time. I just wanna say thank you very much to main-stream radio and MTV for totally demolishing LP's chances for a true fan-ship base. But the true Linkin Park fans, like me, will appreciate any thing LP does with music, for we are the only ones of truely understand them.
HYBRID THEORY:
1.Papercut: 7/10- fisrt song i wasnt crazy about, but afterwards it gets better, song about a complexed insanity that i can't make out
2.One Step Closer-8/10- basically their first single and i wasnt very fond of it but after constant listening it catches on. Song about needing to be left alone every once in a while.
3.With You-10/10 One My favorite songs- about the hoping of keeping a stable relationship with their loved one, and wishing that they will never let go, and that they will always keep the memories that they left behind with them
4.Points of Authority-6/10-least favorite track on the cd but a catchy chorus. the meaning is unclear to me, i believe is something to do with being able to control somebody or somebody controling him, or someone about to take advantage of a him because he is weaker.(hence) "Forfeit the game b4 somebody takes u out of the frame"
5.Crawling-9/10- song hardest to ignore, catchiest chorus on the album- about suffering Chester had thru his life and how it affects him."these wounds they will not heal"
6.Runaway-8/10- another good song- Chester's voice is very melancholy in this track... song about some self-doubt, and problems that conflict with his life. How people made choices for him and how he needs to RUNAWAY from them in order to understand his true self, and come up with his own answers."wanna runaway,and never say goodbye, wanna know the truth instead of wondering why"
7.By Myself-10/10- about being alone in this world and not being able to trust, or rely on anybody, yet still recieves poor advice and help from the outside world.
8.In the End-10/10- LP at it's best!....perfect blend of the rock/rap, electronics, and electronic beats genre band that they are. Very obvious, the song is about love and the worries of love, and keeping together in the beginning but IN THE END, it didnt matter to him anymore
9.Place for MY Head-8/10- Mike Shinoda's Emceeing is vastly revealed in this song....he throws strong words in a rapid and short amount of time....not very sure on te meaning of the song...i believe its about being used as a person, and not wanting to be part of that person's life
10.Forgotten-10/10- Lyrics are most symbolic and very difficult to understand. Could be about how the extremities and oddness of his own world and memeories that affect other people.
11.Cure for the Itch-7/10- Happiest song on the album...yet no lyrics whatsoever...basically DJ Hahn mixing up his stuff at you.

12.Pushing Me Away-10/10-gr8 song to end the album...similar lyrics to With You but instead of him losing someone, he leaves the other person

This is probably one of the greatest albums ever recorded. It skillfully blends rap, rock and pop. From the rock out Papercut to the fast speeding Pushing me away, this may be one of the most important debut albums of all time. Here's the list of songs in order:
Papercut: When I first heard it I loved it. It has excellent drums in the beginning and in the last part is AWESOME!
One step Closer: Probably one of the best songs on the album. Both singers sign the chorus this time, which is rare for Linkin Park. Very good.
With you: No one really likes it that much, but I like it. If you listen to it a couple of times you'll learn to love it. Great sound effects in the beginning and awesome DJ work. A+
Points of Authority: This is maybe one of the best rock songs ever made. Great guitar in the beginning and moves on to be awesome. Personally, I prefer the re-mix on Re-animation album, but this is good anyway.
Crawling: Great song. Features keyboards which is also rare for Linkin Park. The vocals are amazing, the drumming is about 10/5, guitars are awesome and the video rules. The best song on the whole album.
Runaway: Awesome sound effects in the beginning, mediocre chorus, but overall a great song.
Track number 7: I forgot the name of this song, sorry, but it doesn't matter. Because this is the only disgrace this album has to show for. It isn't that good at all. Well, it has some goodness to it, but barely anything.
In the end: The pop/rock hit of this album. EXCELLENT drumming and spectacular music video. One of the best songs on the album.
A place for my head: The loudest most metal song on the album, I love it. Some of you pop lovers probably won't like it that much, but I love it. Great guitars.
Track number 10: Don't know the name of this song either, it's about a mediocre song, not very good, but I enjoy it most of the time, still good.
Cure for the Itch: One of my personal favorites, it's an instrumental song made by Joe Hahn, the DJ. He rules. The song sounds techno and hip hop at the beginning then turns dramatic and eerie. Pretty good though.
Pushing me away: My favorite song on the album, VERY good. Fast, awesome, pretentious and very awesome. It rules. Very good finisher for the album.
So in conclusion, this is probably Linkin Park's best album, Re-animation was mediocre, Meteora was good, but Hybrid Theory really packs punch. Combining Metal, Rap, Alt. Rock, and Pop, it's probably one of the best albums of all time. Buy, take it from me. (P.S: By the way, I'm the bass player in the band Hybrid Soul, ha, check me out) .
BUY IT!