Sure, they may not have the most complex guitar out there and their songs are very structurally similar, but really, Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory" was one of the catchiest, most energetic, and innovative cds to come out in quite a while. I loved their first release, loved the remix album just as much, and have been salivating over this new album. So, does it live up to their past two records? Lets go track by track-

1. Foreword- a short intro with speeding up percussion (the sound of a cd burner being beaten up) erupting into the sound of shattering glass and launching you into the next track.

Overall, this album is musically more advanced and distinguished than Linkin Park's past attempts. However, it is not as gripping, powerful, or focused as Hybrid Theory or even Reanimation. Though a number of songs seem attempt to duplicate past successes- Don't Stay and Ones Step Closer, Somewhere I Belong and In The End, Lying From You and With You, Easier to Run and Crawling, Figure 9 and By Myself, Numb and Pushing Me Away- they seldom capture the elements that made Hybrid Theory such an outstanding album. Nowhere is there the frenetic razor beats of Papercut, the infamous "Shut up!"s of One Step Closer, or the emotional meltdown of A Place for My Head. Meteora excels in other ways, however. The tracks are more diverse, from the techno pop of Breaking the Habit to the ingenious hip hop of Nobody's Listening to the grinding elements of Hit the Floor, the songs on the album are on a whole more different from each other than they were on Hybrid Theory. Newcomers to LP won't be disappointed, but I think long time fans will find them selves yearning for the band's former punch. In fact, its probable that Meteora will not commercially match Hybrid Theory- though a lot of the tracks are soft and catchy, not as many just scream to be heard again. Another gripe is that this is one very short cd- though there isn't a lot of filler, you feel like they keep working up to something grand and never quite achieve it (though Numb, the best track, is last, one amazing song tacked on at the end does not make the rest of the cd monumental). Don't get me wrong, this is a good album and is well deserving of your money, I just think that there is something missing that prevents it from being a 5 star album.

First let me start off saying Linkin Park is a truly awesome and unique band. But as I've been looking over everyone else's reviews on both Meteora and Hybrid Theory, people confuse Linkin Park with so many genre's. It's either "If you want REAL pop rock get Justin Timberlake" or "If you want REAL rock get Alice in Chains," or "If you want REAL hip hop get 2pac".

Wake up, LP isn't just one genre. It's a mixture of all of those above plus the synthesizers used frequently. I guess because this is one of the only bands to combine all of these, not many like it.

It's either the rap fans hating the screaming/rock to it, or the rock fans hating the rapping part. And to those who think they're too much like Justin Timberlake, lets try hearing JT with his high squeaky voice belt out those songs.

And as for sounding too much like Limp Bizkit, try giving Fred Durst a dictionary and see if he can actually think up half decent lyrics without using the "F" word every other line, so that you actually have an idea what he's singing about in the first place.

This band is all about opinion, on whether or not you like changes or appreciate many different types of music. You got to appreciate many types of instrumentals and vocals to appreciate LP. Sure it takes some gettng used to, but dare to be different. Too many bands have the same music lately, don't you want to hear something unique and different for once? LP is just what your looking for then. Try it, you might enjoy what you hear.

I am an older fan, being over 40. I have a fairly ecclectic taste in music and generally I can find something I like in almost any genre. I am not big on old style country music or rap music, but other than that I have favorites in just about every music style.

To me a good album is one where you don't feel like you have to skip songs because you just can't stand them. There are very few albums that are chock full of good songs. Most have one to three songs that I like and the rest of the album ranges from bad to aweful.

Having said all that I have to say that this album is fantastic! There is only one song that is merely good, and the rest are very well done. You can tell that more than one of the band members like to engineer as much as play. I find it interesting that the soul of the band are the two engineers (Shinoda and Hahn) that met each other in art school. I think that says alot about what this band is about. They love what they are doing and it comes through in their music.

Despite the heaviness of the guitar-work in most of the songs, it is one of the cleanest and most precise sounding albums I have ever heard. The lyrics are probably meaningful to the younger crowd, but they are well thought out. The songs are different enough from each other to stay fresh and they are all very melodic and energy filled. Many of the songs are filled with in your face power and several are quieter and more thought provoking. The players in the band are maturing with life experience and it is showing in the feel of the songs.

It is a great sophmore effort and I can't wait to see what comes out of the next studio collaboration.

A lot of people have asked me what I thought about Linkin Park's 2003 Sophmore Release 'Meteora' and the first thing I would tell them was that it was a nice follow up with some songs that can push them in a newer direction. Now, a lot of you Linkin Park 'haters' who think this album was terrible won't agree with what I am about to say, and that's fine. Linkin Park has a style that, whether you 'love em' or 'hate em', is catchy and it works. They succesfully have combined hip-hop, rock, and electronica to make something that most of us enjoy hearing and they ACTUALLY care about their fans, unlike most bands out there. Now, back to what I was saying before about a 'newer direction'. Meteora was a necessity in Linkin Park's career because they hadn't finished experimenting with their style to a point where they could go into a 'new direction'. Sure 'Meteora' had its moments where it seemed that it was trying to repeat some of the songs from 'Hyrbid Theory' like (Easier to Run=Crawling, and Somewhere I Belong=In the End), but there were other songs such as 'Faint' and 'Breaking the Habit' that helped push thier style to a new point. 'Breaking the Habit' especially is the key song that was the most diverse of all the songs from any of their albums, and because of it they plan to head the way 'Breaking the Habit' helped push them for their next album. I am a Linkin Park fan, yes, but I'm not gonna lie; I like their music and I liked all their albums so far, but I really hope they bring something different forward for their third album, because that is where true artists make/break it. But Meteora is worth buying; it's short, sweet and to the point. No filler songs and a very nice expansion upon Hyrbid Theory. Even if you're skeptical about buying it because you have heard it was bad, buy it anyway because why base your decision off of someone elses OPINION. You won't know for sure until you have heard it yourself.

I didn't know what to expect when I popped this CD into my stereo. As I've said before, I really liked their first album, but thought it was very overrated. Almost every song on that album was being played on the radio non-stop! And I wasn't too impressed when they decided to release a remix album. So, I was very cautious when I picked up Linkin Park's 'Meteora.' All of that worrying was for nothing, though. I think this album�s a masterpiece and is so much better than their first album.

You can really tell how much they've improved; in their music playing, song writing, and singing. The songs have more depth to them and are much more complex than half the songs on the first album. They successfully combine industrial, rap, and alternative all together to make up a great package of very entertaining music.

Every song is great. I could not find one song that I disliked. Of course, I have my favorites and ones I listen to more than others, but this is an album I can pop into my car stereo and drive without having to fumble around with the track buttons. My favorite songs are 'don't stay,' 'somewhere I belong,' 'breaking the habit,' 'lying from you,' 'easier to run,' 'numb,' session,' 'figure .09,' and 'from the inside.' But really, they're all very good songs.

My only complaint, and it�s really a small one, is that the album is really short. Not even forty minutes, I don't think. While I think this is the only album's weak point, it's not a very big weakness. I'd rather have an album that is short and sweet than an album that just keeps dragging on and on. Still, I don't think a few more minutes would've hurt the CD any.

The limited edition version is neat because it comes with a bonus DVD that goes into the making of 'Meteora.' It was pretty interesting to see them at work and what went into this album. The CD also includes some neat extras that can be accessed from your computer.

'Meteora' does more than be a successful second album (I don't count the remix one as their second album), it goes above and beyond. You can tell that the band put a lot of hard work and effort into this, which is why it didn't come out right after the first one. If you like Linkin Park, chances are you will fall in love with this album. I was very, VERY surprised and impressed. Hopefully they can keep it up, and hopefully those evil radio stations don't overplay these songs like they did with the first one, although I fear that's a certainty. Great album, great band, great music.