“Influential and inspirational” album reviewed by Samara, 16

Samara, 16, of The King Alfred Academy reviews the revolutionary album Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory

Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory is undoubtedly one of the most revolutionary rock albums that we have seen in the 21st century so far. 

The band’s debut album features hits such as “In The End” and “Crawling”, flawlessly blending sounds of hip-hop, electronic and rock, through poignant poetry. 

Released on 24th October 2000, the album went onto selling over 25 million copies worldwide, including 10 million copies in the US, therefore making it the best selling album of 2001. 

The album consists of twelve tracks, each of which plays its own unique role in telling the story of the deceased Chester Bennington, with the turbulent troubles that he faced during his adolescence. 

One of the best songs on the album is “Runaway”, where Chester openly sings about wanting to escape the resonating realities of his life, with Mike Shinoda’s brilliant backing vocals,  and to be able to re-open his mind – to fully understand what’s going on inside of his head. 

This song never had as much publicity as the classic “In The End”. However, I believe that it’s a fantastic song, which exposes the emotional vulnerability that he felt during his adolescence, something which men, even almost 21 years later, are still afraid to do – a stigma that needs to be broken. 

However, through the ongoing work of male mental health advocates, such as Roman Kemp, this looks as though that this is soon to be history – showing how far this amazing album was ahead of its time. 

Another spectacular song upon this album, in my opinion, is the classic “In The End’, telling the story of betrayal and how being abandoned can have a lasting effect upon someone’s mind, an experience that many fans can relate too, therefore making them want to continue to listen to the band’s extensive musical catalogue. 

Furthermore, another spectacular song on this album is “Crawling”, where Chester sings about not being able to distinguish from reality and superficiality, with the effects that simple words can have upon someone’s head (“These words they will not heal”). 

This issue is still prevalent within our modern society- an issue which has all the worsened with social media but is slowly being addressed.

Overall, the album is one of the most influential and inspirational albums of the early 2000s, proving that it is possible to blend different styles of rock, showing bands that they shouldn’t be afraid to switch up their traditionalist style.