Power chords, rock and rap? Yes, the Nu Metal was the 2000s genre and 20 years ago was released one of the most successful and emblematic albums of the genre, but what´s so special about it? Was it the 2 vocalists? One rapping and other with a powerful voice? The intense sound and lyrics? Might have been a mixture of all those elements but twenty years later is an iconic album that gives us chills when listening to it, and brings up some melancholy sentiments as Chester is not with us anymore; for him, for Linkin Park here´s what Hybrid Theory means to me.
The first single One Step Closer prepares you at the beginning with that electric guitar riff for a rock song where the reach of Chester´s voice is heard on his screaming throughout the track, a Linkin Park trademark in all their records. The 3rd single Crawling continued that screaming trend in which Chester showed once again the power of his voice; it was unbelievable how in the chorus he could sound so desperate and high on range while on the verses his voice was so calm and even tender; simply showing the greatness of Mr. Chester Bennington. However the Crawling version from their record One More Light Live is something majestic and with Chester gone is definitely a song that will help us remembering him forever. Actually by hugging the fans seems that he was saying goodbye, still can´t believe that he is gone.
One of the hidden gems of the album is Runaway with that drums beat, Chester´s melodic voice mixed with Mike´s and having those examples of harmony between Chester screaming and Mike singing; same style is on Pushing Me Away songs that are extremely worth to undust and listen again on this anniversary.
At the very beginning I mentioned the mix between rock and rap but have not talked about it on prior paragraphs in detail; it is because the song that exemplifies that magic is In The End where the beginning has piano notes and then instead of Chester leading the singing was Mike Shinoda, rapping with Chester on the background singing a couple of words till the climax of the chorus appeared “I tried so hard and got so far, But in the end it doesn’t even matter, I had to fall to lose it all, But in the end it doesn’t even matter”. Strong and meaningful lyrics that can be applied to anything in life, where you tried your best to make something work but If it didn’t sometimes is better to step aside, feel good with yourself that you tried your best and start over, start aside something different; there´s nothing wrong about it.
Is difficult to continue writing about Linkin Park without having some sort of melancholy and sadness with Chester gone; however I´m pretty sure that wherever he is today, his light will shine celebrating the 20th anniversary of the album that changed the life and set the stage for Linkin Park as a band, the album that started all for the fans. With so much love and respect Happy 20th Anniversary to Hybrid Theory! because In the End, Everything Mattered! Thank you Linkin Park & Thank You Chester!
