Linkin Park’s long awaited announcement has finally been revealed — the band has reunited with all former full-time members and recruited Emily Armstrong (vocalist of Dead Sara), as their new lead vocalist. In addition, the band has announced a new studio album FROM ZERO (releasing November 15th, 2024), as well as a world tour in support of it. “The Emptiness Machine” is the band’s latest single and marks Emily Armstrong’s debut as Linkin Park’s new lead singer.

- Forbes

x.com/linkinpark/status/1831838112743616808

Credit to the rest of the bandmates of Linkin Park for still trying to do new music despite losing their lead singer Chester Bennington quite a few years ago but IDK, this just doesn't really work for me. Not a super diehard fan of theirs like how I was in middle school but this just didn't really mesh. Curious how Emily Armstrong does with new music with the band.

I already see she is getting blasted online for being a Scientologist(And supposedly trying to defend Danny Masterson in his rape allegations at the time) but overall the fan response is very hit/miss.

EDIT: Listened to the video System posted, it's not bad but not very much Linkin Park if that makes sense. But it's a good try and in the spirit of their later stuff(Which I never cared much for TBH). Kinda fell off them after Meteora. 

I don't love the new track ... it feels fairly generic (and maybe harkening back to some of the more downtempo style of Minutes to Midnight?). My immediate question is if Shinoda is going to be more prominent on vocals like in the early days of the band; whatever the case, still looking forward to see what they're going to produce. It'd be unfair to make a judgment based on one song.

Used to tolerate Shinoda's whack vocals just to get to the Chester hook. It'd be very funny if it was mostly Shinoda's horrible rapping skills now.

I don’t begrudge the band for wanting to move forward, however Linkin Park without Chester IMO is not Linkin Park. That’s the issue when you have a recognizable front person. I don’t know if they would have achieved the fame they did without him. I hate to say it, but usually you can change out a guitarist or a drummer(depending on their fame-like you can’t replace The Edge from U2), but a front person is tough and there are very few cases where I think it’s been successful. I believe we had a thread not so long ago on this.

Sept 6, 2024 1:38:47 GMT iron maiden said:

I don’t begrudge the band for wanting to move forward, however Linkin Park without Chester IMO is not Linkin Park. That’s the issue when you have a recognizable front person. I don’t know if they would have achieved the fame they did without him. I hate to say it, but usually you can change out a guitarist or a drummer(depending on their fame-like you can’t replace The Edge from U2), but a front person is tough and there are very few cases where I think it’s been successful. I believe we had a thread not so long ago on this.

Van Halen did alright with themselves when Sammy Hagar replaced David Lee Roth.

Sept 6, 2024 1:38:47 GMT iron maiden said:

I don’t begrudge the band for wanting to move forward, however Linkin Park without Chester IMO is not Linkin Park. That’s the issue when you have a recognizable front person. I don’t know if they would have achieved the fame they did without him. I hate to say it, but usually you can change out a guitarist or a drummer(depending on their fame-like you can’t replace The Edge from U2), but a front person is tough and there are very few cases where I think it’s been successful. I believe we had a thread not so long ago on this.

This is one of the reasons why their choice of style will be interesting. If it's a different Linkin Park trying to be the same Linkin Park as before, that's more prone to criticism, but if it's a different Linkin Park being a different Linkin Park ... that forecasts better, I think.

Sept 6, 2024 1:40:33 GMT CM Punk'd said:

Sept 6, 2024 1:38:47 GMT iron maiden said:

I don’t begrudge the band for wanting to move forward, however Linkin Park without Chester IMO is not Linkin Park. That’s the issue when you have a recognizable front person. I don’t know if they would have achieved the fame they did without him. I hate to say it, but usually you can change out a guitarist or a drummer(depending on their fame-like you can’t replace The Edge from U2), but a front person is tough and there are very few cases where I think it’s been successful. I believe we had a thread not so long ago on this.

Van Halen did alright with themselves when Sammy Hagar replaced David Lee Roth.

That’s why I said ‘few’ cases where it’s been successful. I count Van Halen as one of those successes.

No one was ever going to fill Chester's shoes.

Bringing in a woman who can't come anywhere close to his sound is a massive fucking miss.

Should've changed the name. Instead they're going to just (quite transparently) mile the "Linkin Park" name for a quick cash grab.

Uhm …

She … uhm …

She might be better than I thought?

x.com/heehoo244/status/1831819332751593619?s=46&t=-TsyD7miKv5r_4Ww8_LOOg

The new track is hardly world-changing but it's far better than anything I've heard from their post-Meteora output.

From what I've heard Emily is pretty good. Obviously she's not Chester but she's able to bring a similar vocal style. She will receive a lot of backlash, just as anyone who stepped in Chester's shoes would.

Classic.

Sept 6, 2024 1:40:33 GMT CM Punk'd said:

Sept 6, 2024 1:38:47 GMT iron maiden said:

I don’t begrudge the band for wanting to move forward, however Linkin Park without Chester IMO is not Linkin Park. That’s the issue when you have a recognizable front person. I don’t know if they would have achieved the fame they did without him. I hate to say it, but usually you can change out a guitarist or a drummer(depending on their fame-like you can’t replace The Edge from U2), but a front person is tough and there are very few cases where I think it’s been successful. I believe we had a thread not so long ago on this.

Van Halen did alright with themselves when Sammy Hagar replaced David Lee Roth.

Faith No More only got better.
AC/DC, arguably too.

Oh, and that new LP video clip, it looks like someone produced it with an AI video generator. Come on..

There was a tiktok video going around of Bonnie Fraser singing Bleed It Out with Linkin Park a few months ago and I thought she was way better than this woman. I thought she would have been a better choice but whatever, I guess time will tell.

I'm not loving what I've heard so far and like others have said, replacing Chester is damn near impossible. His vocals are unmatched.

Enjoyed the new track for what it was but then watched the performances of the old stuff and it left a lot to be desired.

That being said a lot of people look back at LP with rose tinted glasses, One More Light was critically panned and people were claiming that it “wasn’t Linkin Park” until Chester died.

I think they may get into a better groove when doing their newer music where Armstrong will have a say in the formulation of the tracks but people want their 'Numb' or 'In The End' or 'Papercut' and that's where people might be kind of turned off and see this as a mere "Legacy band".

Alice in Chains and Blind Melon tried to replace their singers and it just didn't work. LP is of course bigger than both, especially to most of our generation but alas. I'm surprised Shinoda isn't doing more rapping in these newer stuff(Albeit it's 1 song) and do a pseudo-Fort Minor type of approach to this.

Full live performance if you have the time.

Listening to "Papercut" and I get very heavy Lacey Sturm/Flyleaf vibes to it. IDK if you want Linkin Park to be that with Shinoda's rap to counter that but I thought some tracks in this concert were better than the initial stuff I saw yesterday. 

She sounds great singing Papercut and Bleed It Out and  less great singing some of the other songs.

That being said, she's much better than I anticipated. She just isn't Chester, which will be the hill they have to climb. You could replace any of the other guys including Shinoda [fight me], but Chester is just one of those front men that's almost impossible to replace.

I think Hybrid Theory is one of the best albums front to back and it was near impossible to follow that up, but they did pretty well with Meteora and Minutes to Midnight. Some of their later albums didn't grab me quite the same way. I guess we'll see.

Sept 6, 2024 0:41:23 GMT Blindy said:

x.com/linkinpark/status/1831838112743616808

Credit to the rest of the bandmates of Linkin Park for still trying to do new music despite losing their lead singer Chester Bennington quite a few years ago but IDK, this just doesn't really work for me. Not a super diehard fan of theirs like how I was in middle school but this just didn't really mesh. Curious how Emily Armstrong does with new music with the band.

I already see she is getting blasted online for being a Scientologist(And supposedly trying to defend Danny Masterson in his rape allegations at the time) but overall the fan response is very hit/miss.

EDIT: Listened to the video System posted, it's not bad but not very much Linkin Park if that makes sense. But it's a good try and in the spirit of their later stuff(Which I never cared much for TBH). Kinda fell off them after Meteora. 

It took less than 12 hours for a lot of the internet to sour on this decision, and rightfully so.

Not only were better vocalists available, this woman is a Sicentologist who supported a convicted rapist and thinks mental illness isn’t real.

Chester struggled with mental illness very openly and ultimately killed himself because of it, and a big reason he was mentally ill is because he was raped as a child.

They had 7 years to find someone and this is who they picked? Mike Shinoda is a bigger asshole than I thought.

They saw blink and sum 41 come back so they wanted that elder millennial cash cow.

Sept 6, 2024 17:42:21 GMT RT said:

Sept 6, 2024 0:41:23 GMT Blindy said:

x.com/linkinpark/status/1831838112743616808

Credit to the rest of the bandmates of Linkin Park for still trying to do new music despite losing their lead singer Chester Bennington quite a few years ago but IDK, this just doesn't really work for me. Not a super diehard fan of theirs like how I was in middle school but this just didn't really mesh. Curious how Emily Armstrong does with new music with the band.

I already see she is getting blasted online for being a Scientologist(And supposedly trying to defend Danny Masterson in his rape allegations at the time) but overall the fan response is very hit/miss.

EDIT: Listened to the video System posted, it's not bad but not very much Linkin Park if that makes sense. But it's a good try and in the spirit of their later stuff(Which I never cared much for TBH). Kinda fell off them after Meteora. 

It took less than 12 hours for a lot of the internet to sour on this decision, and rightfully so.

Not only were better vocalists available, this woman is a Sicentologist who supported a convicted rapist and thinks mental illness isn’t real.

Chester struggled with mental illness very openly and ultimately killed himself because of it, and a big reason he was mentally ill is because he was raped as a child.

They had 7 years to find someone and this is who they picked? Mike Shinoda is a bigger asshole than I thought.

Like they didn't already have the 'she's not Chester' hill to climb, they pick a woman - which will piss off the misogynists which I'm ok with. But then they pick a woman that other women and people in general  won't want to like and support because of her views. That's well ...a choice. 

So yeah I take back all I said already. Girl is seems to be a scientologist.

www.boredpanda.com/linkin-park-new-vocalist-emily-armstrong-blasted-scientologist-links-with-danny-masterson/

I don't have any issue with her being a Scientologist, I mean Leah Remini and Cedric Bixler-Zavala(Mars Volta/At the Drive In) were members. Difference is they escaped it and knew how some of the enabling was bad. They also both were against Masterson, including the latter being married to one of his victim's. Armstrong pretty much vouched hard for Masterson during this and stood by him thoughout.

There's no other way around it, she will get peppered with these questions.

Supporting Danny Masterson after the molestation stuff was well known is certainly a choice.

I like her singing but will not support people in this cult.

I love me some early Foo Fighters, but I have to admit everything post 2003 is generic, forgettable dad rock. And like Foo Fighters, everything post 2003 for Linkin Park is generic, forgettable dad rock.

More comparisons - I was watching some of this lifeless performance yesterday, with all the lights and visuals and couldn't help to think, is Linkin Park our/this generations U2? Bland/safe sort of music that isn't terrible, but isn't especially great either outside of the handful of hits, but for whatever reason we all pretend it's good.

Brad Delson out of Linkin Park tour (still a studio member)

"I am so proud of everything we continue to create together. While I will not be performing on tour in this new chapter, I am super excited to introduce Alex — my handsome deputy on the road. Alex is a world-class musician, a kind and thoughtful friend, and we are truly fortunate he'll be contributing his unique talent to our LP universe.

"Fresh eyes, honest appreciation, and devoted teamwork have brought us to this special moment. The privilege of sharing our creativity with you. Thank you for joining us on the journey."

Drummer Rob Bourdon quietly left the band before the comeback as well.

Shinoda explained: “Rob had said to us at a point, I guess it was a few years ago now, that he wanted to put some distance between himself and the band. And we understood that — it was already apparent. He was starting to just show up less, be in less contact, and I know the fans noticed it too. The ‘Hybrid Theory’ re-release and ‘Papercuts’ release, he didn’t show up for anything. So for me, as a friend, that was sad, but at the same time, I want him to do whatever makes him happy, and obviously everybody wishes him the best.”

Time will tell if this is a good or bad decision, suppose they could always tour as Linkin Park ft Emily Armstrong.


Like I guess Queen tour with whoever they use to sing songs now...Adam Lambert?

Chester Bennington’s Son BLASTS Mike Shinoda: “We Trusted You to Be the Bigger Better Person”

Jaime Bennington claims LP co-founder Mike Shinoda has "quietly erased" his father's legacy following controversy around new singer Emily Armstrong's support of convicted rapist Danny Masterson

“We trusted you to be the bigger better person. To be the change. Because you promised us that was your intention. Now you’re just senile and tone deaf. Insane.”

“People aren’t having a difficult time wrapping their head around the prospect of LINKIN PARK reinventing itself,” he wrote. He went on to point out that the issues he and fans of the band have are Armstrong’s “history in the church,” referring to Scientology, and support of Masterson. Bennington goes on to say that the band has “quietly erased [his] father’s life and legacy in real time…

Bennington goes on to call out the band for not acknowledging controversies and points out that Shinoda and the rest of Linkin Park “have betrayed the trust loaned to [them] by decades of fans and supporting human beings including myself.”

variety.com/2024/music/news/chester-bennington-son-slams-linkin-park-emily-armstrong-1236138222/



EDIT; he also claims that the album was being planned as far back as 2019 or 17

Rape apologist I understand but what did scientology do where association is that bad? Like you can still be a catholic no issues despite pedo cover-up. Is their weird religion really that much worse?