．期待四年，过去与现在的解构重建巨作，为世代重生呐喊！ ．用音乐、影像、态度，带领全球音乐信徒格放视野，找到新生的自己！ 2007年最重要的专辑绝对非林肯公园的【末日警钟 毁灭‧新生】莫属！ 出道短短6年即获奖无数，囊括世界音乐奖、格莱美奖、告示牌音乐奖、MTV音乐大奖，获得滚石杂志所颁发的年度风云人物头衔，并在全球累积逾4000万张总销量的Linkin Park，其名字所代表的不仅是音乐界的销售神话，更是一股新浪潮、一系列的文化现象、一种符号图腾、一连串复杂情绪的综合体。他们的音乐，让每一个孤单的灵魂，在这偌大的世界裡，有了共同的归属，让所有的不安疑惑，有了宣洩出口。从《Hybrid Theory》（溷合理论）到《Meteora》（天空之城美特拉），这六个年轻人用音乐、影像、态度，为新的世代写下属于他们自己的名字，而在面对第3张录音室大碟，林肯公园所需要超越的，只剩自己！ 此辑是由林肯公园首脑麦可，及拿下多座格莱美奖的传奇制作人暨摇滚宗师Rick Rubin破天荒共同操刀制作，花费整整超过14个月的时间录音，创作出150多首歌曲，100多首的DEMO，并筛选出18首歌，最后完成12首细心凋饰的作品。包括了首支冠军单曲「What I’ve Done」，贝斯音墙疯狂冲击耳膜的「Given Up」，金属气息重压胸口、令人久久无法喘息的「No More Sorrow」，麦可和查斯特ㄧ前ㄧ后互尬、带来演唱会令人骚动的绝佳处方签的「Bleed It Out」等一首首全新创作，清楚地展现出LP出道以来最大的突破，不管是在创作、录音所用的乐器及录音器材、或是声音的诠释表现上！ 专辑标题所要表达出的是『世界末日钟』的概念，借以提醒世人：在核武、天气异常及环境污染的影响下，世界距离毁灭的时间已所剩无几，纵使人类拥有巨大的力量，但当这股毁灭力量反扑之时，我们都该仔细思考其可能带来的严重影响。同时，此辑亦象徵着他们正以崭新姿态解构重生，揉合自我剖析的内在情绪，格放视野，探索现今世界所面临的种种问题！嘶吼依旧、节奏高涨、愤怒不减……当专辑曲序43分29秒全部倒数完之后的那一瞬间，警钟归零，将留下一连串给你我的省思！ (by KKBOX) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Minutes to Midnight is the third studio album by American rock band Linkin Park, released on May 14, 2007, through Warner Bros. Records. The album was produced by Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin. Minutes to Midnight was the band's first album since Meteora (2003) and features a shift in the group's musical direction. For the band, the album marks a beginning of deviation from their signature nu metal sound. Minutes to Midnight takes its title from the Doomsday Clock. Linkin Park started work on their third studio album in 2003, taking a break to tour in support of Meteora in 2004. In this time period, the band formed numerous side projects; Mike Shinoda formed his hip hop side project Fort Minor, while Chester Bennington formed Dead by Sunrise, causing the album to be shelved temporarily. The band returned to work on the record afterward, taking on a different musical direction than the 2003 sessions while working with producer Rick Rubin. The album's completion was delayed several times for unknown reasons. Eventually, "What I've Done" was chosen as the album's lead single in April 2007, with the album seeing release in North America on May 15, 2007. The album debuted at number one in the United States and in 15 other countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada. In the United States, the album had the biggest first week sales of 2007 at the time, with 625,000 albums sold, going on to be certified double platinum in the United States. It was also certified double platinum in New Zealand, Italy, Ireland, and Australia and certified platinum in Canada, France, Switzerland and in the UK. Despite its commercial success, Minutes to Midnight received mixed reviews from critics. Rolling Stone magazine named it the twenty-fifth best album of 2007. It was ranked number 154 on Billboard's Hot 200 Albums of the Decade. (wiki) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ by Stephen Thomas Erlewine Damned if they do, damned if they don't -- that was the conundrum facing Linkin Park when it came time to deliver Minutes to Midnight, their third album. It had been four years since their last, 2003's Meteora, which itself was essentially a continuation of the rap-rock of their 2000 debut, Hybrid Theory, the blockbuster that was one of the biggest rock hits of the new millennium. On that album, Linkin Park sounded tense and nervous, they sounded wiry -- rap-rock without the maliciousness that pulsed through mock-rockers like Limp Bizkit. Linkin Park seemed to come by their alienation honestly, plus they had hooks and a visceral power that connected with millions of listeners, many of whom who were satisfied by the familiarity of Meteora. They may have been able to give their fans more of the same on their sophomore effort, but Linkin Park couldn't do the same thing on their third record: they would seem like one-trick ponies, so they'd be better off to acknowledge their advancing age and try to mature, or broaden their sonic palette. Yet like many other hard rockers, they were the kind of band whose audience either didn't want change or outgrew the group -- and considering that it had been a full seven years between Hybrid Theory and Minutes to Midnight, many fans who were on the verge of getting their driver's license in 2000 were now leaving college and, along with it, adolescent angst. So, Linkin Park decided to embrace the inevitable and jumped headfirst into maturity on Minutes to Midnight, which meant that poor Mike Shinoda was effectively benched, rapping on just two songs. In many ways, it seems like even the guitarists were benched this time around, since Minutes to Midnight doesn't really rock, it broods. Apart from a handful of ringers -- "Given Up," the Shinoda-fueled "Bleed It Out," easily the best, most visceral track here -- this is quiet, atmospheric stuff, dabbling with electronic textures that were cutting edge in 1996 but sound passé now. Also sounding passé are the tortured musings of lead singer Chester Bennington, who still is tormented by love, loss, family, any number of items that sound convincing coming from a man in his early twenties, but not so much so when the thirties are approaching rapidly. And yet the way Bennington and his mates, shepherded by producer Rick Rubin, try to sound mature isn't always convincing, either, possibly because it sounds like a skate punk uncomfortably trying on his big brother's suit. They have the chops to rock, and when they deign to do so on Minutes to Midnight they sound comfortable, they sound right, but too often they run away from this core strength.