On Apr. 12th, 2024, Linkin Park released their latest collection album, Papercuts. The album is a compilation of 18 of the band’s biggest hits over the course of their career.
Hit songs like Crawling, Numb, and Somewhere I Belong are all featured. Along with these are two unreleased songs, Friendly Fire and QWERTY.
Both songs aren’t exactly new music, but it’s the first time they’ve been properly released through a studio recording. Last year they released a 20th anniversary edition album of Meteora, their third album released in 2003.
Papercuts is a collection of their most popular songs along with those two new releases, according to numetalagenda. QWERTY was originally a fan-club-only demo rip release from 2006. It was uploaded only to LPU, Linkin Park’s official paid fan club coming from the band’s short Tokyo tour, where it was first performed live in Chiba, Japan.
“Linkin Park was my gateway. It was chill music, and it’s cool that they’re sort of keeping the legacy going. I’m glad people haven’t forgotten about them,” said OH junior Armando Ortis.
It’s interesting to note that it also features Friendly Fire, a song from the sessions from their 2017 album, One More Light. The song has some of Chester Bennington’s last vocals, so its place in the album is well deserved as the last song on the album.
“Their new stuff is good, the songs are like their other music,” senior Elijah Duran said.
The features don’t go in chronological order, instead being spread out in the playlist randomly. This highlights the differences from some of their earlier music and their more recent stuff. For example, Living Things’ Burn it Down plays right after What I’ve Done, two songs from 5 years apart.
“It’s only some mainstream songs, but I mean, it is a best hits album. I like the new songs because it’s like a little comeback, something is just off about it,” said Ortis.
Regardless, both long-time fans appreciate the work of a long-departed band. Besides the two new releases for those songs, the rest of the album is kind of redundant. The music is great, and the choice of order for the songs is deliberate.
Overall, it’s pretty good stuff. It’s appreciated that they released something new, but this also feels like a quick cash grab. The new songs are great, but they get a six out of ten. This album has an interesting background, but there is nothing amazing to say about it immediately after hearing it.
I am a senior and a staff reporter for 42Fifty. This is my first and only year on 42Fifty and I really like to review things.
Hi i'm a senior at OHS and this is my first year w 42/fifty. I hope to get along and have fun with everybody.
