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Minutes to Midnight: Punk, Classic, Hip-hop or Pure Crap?

Minutes to Midnight is Linkin Park's third studio album, released on May 9, 2007. This is the first Linkin Park album to feature all band members on the album cover, to be co-produced by Mike Shinoda, and to receive a parental advisory sticker (excluding Collision Course, the mash-up album with Jay-Z).
"What I've Done", was digitally released on April 3 in the UK and April 2 in the US. The CD single was released on April 30.

In an interview with Chester Bennington it is explained that the new album is a mix of punk, classic rock, and hip-hop beats.
"Rick has brought more of a stripped down, classic-rock and hip-hop kind of feel."

"This time around, Mike Shinoda is singing a lot more. It may seem like he's not on the record, but he's doing a lot of the harmonies. He also sings a couple of songs alone. We're presenting ourselves in a different way."

This is their first album where Mike Shinoda sings lead vocals for a full length track ("In Between"), rather than rapping. It is also the first to contain guitar solos (particularly on "In Pieces" and "The Little Things Give You Away"). Unlike the two previous studio albums, Minutes to Midnight contains profanity and politically charged lyrics.

The album has polarized critics and fans. In a two out of five stars review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide described the album's sound as "passé" and summed the band's effort up as "opting to create a muddled, colorless murk." In a harshly critical review by NOW Magazine, Evan Davies panned the album, calling it a "a rehash of the same lame hiphop/metal/electro," and "narcissistic garbage." In the UK, NME magazine's Dan Silver awarded it 2/10, calling it the "sound of a band trying and failing to forge a new identity", and referring to the song 'Hands Held High' as "far and away the funniest thing you'll hear all year".

A CD/DVD Special Edition of Minutes to Midnight is available. It contains a 32-page art book featuring the lyrics and conceptual art by Mike Shinoda and Joe Hahn, along with pictures of the recording process. The bonus DVD contains the following:

• Advanced Resolution PCM Stereo (48kHz/24-bit) versions of all 12 tracks
• The Making of Minutes To Midnight Documentary
• The Making of "What I've Done"
• The "What I've Done" music video

Among the DVD-ROM features are included:

• A PDF booklet with lyrics
• A flash widget and a fansite toolkit.
• Instant Messenger Buddy icons
• Exclusive DVD links to the official Linkin Park website, only accessible through the DVD
• Screensavers
• Wallpapers

Users have experienced problems accessing the DVD-ROM features, as certain computers may not be able to access the enhanced portion of this disc. LP Forum Members are looking into why this is.