Turtleguy556 The Hunting Party Review

I had the awesome chance to be one of the first to hear The Hunting Party in full today at The Attic Nightclub in LA.
We checked into the event and walked up 3 sets of stairs to get to the top of the nightclub. On the side wall of the club there was a motion graphic of the bands photo shoot, and animated graphics for the album art.
The nightclub served various free food and drinks to us as we sat down on the club style booths in the open club room.
LPU Adam hopped on the mic to lead us into what would be happening at the event, and off we went!

First, Mike Shinoda came out to talk to us about the album and mentioned that he didn't want it to be awkward for us, with him in the room while we listened. He told us to forget about those around us and pay attention and just concentrate on the album as it played. He then walked into the back. Right as he walked into the back they did a 3 second sound check by playing the opening of "Keys To The Kingdom." In these 3 seconds for the check it was a small taste of the intro of the album. Then they stopped the track to start it from the beginning. Let me tell you, in this small taste of the intro it lit the room up for reasons I will go into below regarding the opening track.

Now I will give fair warning now this was being played on club speakers and it was at a VERY high volume, so loud that I couldn't make out many lyrics with the style of these songs being so aggressive. I will try to be as detailed in my descriptions as possible of each track but I feel like I missed the intricate things with how loud it was, but I will do my best! Here we go!

1. Keys To The Kingdom - The opening of the album is Chester screaming the chorus of the song HARD, alone, with nothing behind him. He has a digital distortion on his voice that sounds AMAZING during this opening. It gave me an, "OH CRAP," moment not knowing what to expect. After this, it kicked in with a huge jumpy guitar riff. Mike does rap in the song, and Chester screams every chorus. After hearing this, I can say this was a stand out on the album and if you are a Linkin Park fan in any form, THIS song was made for you.

2. All For Nothing - This song was far less "punky" that I thought it was going to be. It had a nice groove and the Page's voice fit well on the song. Mike has AMAZING rap parts in this song with an amazing beat behind him!

3. Guilty All The Same - This is the single that we all have heard.

4. The Summoning - This is an interlude that starts with the sounds of a music box that builds into a drum beat.

5. War - This was the one song on the album that I really didn't care for. It sounds like an old school punk song in the vain of early Green Day. Imagine a punk song with the chorus of WooooooOOaaaHH, instead with the word WaaaaAAAAAaaaaRRR. It's very fast and personally not really my thing. It was cool to hear Chester sing this type of song though!

6. Wastelands - THIS SONG IS EPIC. Also built for all LP fans. This has a HUGE guitar riff that sounds like something from Meteora and Mike raps on top of it. The chorus is very sing-able and this could easily be a radio song. This has my favorite melody of the whole album. I don't mean radio song in a negative way. It just hooks you and you will be singing before it finishes.

7. Until It's Gone - Same single we have all heard. I will say this is the softest song on the record.

8. Rebellion - Starts out fast and heavy and sounds just like SOAD. Also very sing-able chorus, and Mike's rap sections are KILLER. Lots of gang vocals near the end yelling REBELLION. Sounded very interesting coming from LP. Again, it was VERY loud and I couldn't pick out Daron's guitar work. This one has a slight leaning toward punk as well in the chorus but nothing like WAR.

9. Mark The Graves - This a very interesting song! It has dynamics and has lows and highs. The guitar riff and song reminded me of Metallica. The riff was jarring on purpose. Almost like they sectioned some in the middle of it to be faster so it's not a groove riff. The chorus is full voice Chester really going for it at a high pitch. LOTS going on in this song that I couldn't pick out, and it had many layers. It has great harmonies on the verses from what I can tell. Mike sings! It's a journey of a song that goes many different places. The song fades into the next track Drawbar.

10. Drawbar - Well I am sorry to say it guys, but this is an interlude and they fully did NOT take advantage of Tom's playing. It's largely piano driven and the guitar is faded behind it. It honestly sounded like a classic rock 60's guitar sound behind the piano. I thought this was the end of Mark The Graves but this was it... I will say the piano was beautiful and it was a good break between the action. I'd call this track really floaty almost ATS worthy.

11. Final Masquerade - This is a great hook driven song. Also easy to catch on, and you be singing by the end. This is the other song that sounds like it could be radio friendly, again, not in a bad way. It reminded me of a classic rock hook made into modern rock. Not as slow as Until It's Gone, but not as aggressive as the others. I would rank it medium on the Visceral scale.

12. A Line In The Sand - This is LP giving it everything they have got musically, vocally, and sonically. It starts out like an ATS song with surging bass and keys over Mike singing softly and builds into a shredding rock epic. It was faster than I expected when it kicked in. It rocks HARD, and leaves you with the feeling of "I WANT MORE OF THIS SONG!!!" Couldn't make out intricate things, but there was ALOT going on in this song. Rest assured it is not a slow closer AT ALL. After the heavy beating of this song it flows into the same soft Mike singing to close. The band referred to this song as the odyssey.

After it was finished Mike and Brad came out to answer questions. It was a great time!

Overall I would consider this a great album. I actually went in expecting this to be a heavy min to midnight, and boy was I wrong. There are mini interludes between many of the songs. From start to finish I was impressed. I wish they didn't have it quite so loud so I could get more, but I really tried to hear it as best I could. I like things loud but this was a little overpowering for aggressive music like this.
I had a great time, and I look forward to my next listen cause I feel like I will hear more intricate details!
I hope you guys take something from this review, and have a general sense of what to expect.
As an LP fan this album is quite incredible.