Well, first off I should mention that I've been a big fan of Linkin Park since their debut in 2000. I grew up listening to Hybrid Theory and Meteora. Once Minutes to Midnight came along, I was skeptical about it at first but decided to listen to the whole album and I found the album passable, despite some uninspiring tracks that remind me of U2 in a strange way.

Now what do I think of A Thousand Suns? Well, to get an idea of what it's about, It's a concept album that talks about a post war event. Interestingly It serves as the continuation of Minutes to Midnight, which is itsel a countdown to destruction. So in other words both are connected as a "before & after" concept about nuclear warfare and political activism.

Now, a few changes that I found noticeable in this album are:
1)The guitars are missing in some tracks and have been replaced with Keyboards and electronic effects. I guess they're trying to get rid of their distorted guitar sounds from their previous songs and trying something new.

2)Out of the overall 15 tracks, 6 of them are instrumentals/sound bytes/speeches. It wouldn't have hurt to add more MUSIC and less atmosphere you know.

3)There's less screaming from Chester, that is if you don't count the "screaming harmonics" in the background in some tracks. Blackout, The Catalyst and The Messenger are the only exceptions though. Chester himself stated that he's getting tired of screaming,which is why this contains more ballads, Similar to MTM. I don't mind it, but at times I do miss their old sound.

4)There is more rapping from Mike Shinoda ( in 3 tracks), though he prefers to sing more nowadays.

Now with all these nitpicky comments aside, is it a good album? In my opinion it's not a bad album, but definitely not their best either. That all depends on your taste in music. If you're open to listening to a new sound then you're welcome to check it out. If you still prefer their old sound, that's your call. I have learned over the years that when your favorite band decides to evolve, you have to accept change and you have to grow up along with them. In other words, despite these changes, I'm still a fan of their work and I still look forward to listening to their future albums.

Sure, you can try to convince LP to go back to their HT roots, but to quote their song "When They Come For Me" : "I'm not the same person telling you to 'forfeit the game'."