Linkin Park returns with new vocalist, drummer after 7-year hiatus
American rock band Linkin Park is back with new band members as it debuted its new music seven years after the death of its frontman Chester Bennington.
On Sept. 6, Manila time, Linkin Park held a livestream event featuring new vocalist Emily Armstrong of the rock band Dead Sara and drummer Colin Brittain, who's replacing Rob Bourdon. They're joining original members Mike Shinoda (vocals/rhythm guitar/keyboard), Brad Delson (lead guitar), Dave "Phoenix" Farrell (bass), and Joe Hahn (DJ/turntable).
The show kicked off with an empty, dimly lit stage being illuminated by flashing images set to The Requiem from the 2010 studio album A Thousand Suns.
Linkin Park members then appeared one by one as the lights went up to perform their new single The Emptiness Machine. Shinoda sang the first verse and chorus before Armstrong showed up during the second verse and sang the rest of the song with Shinoda.
Armstrong has a full-throated singing style reminiscent of Bennington. Yet she doesn't parrot his vocals, giving her own spin to the next song Somewhere I Belong and other Linkin Park hits like Crawling, Lying From You, The Catalyst, Waiting for the End, Numb, One Step Closer, Lost, What I've Done, In the End, and Faint. The encore had Papercut and Bleed It Out.
“This is a very special day for us,” Shinoda said, introducing the band members after Somewhere I Belong. He noted that guitarist Alex Feder filled in for Delson during the performance.
He then told the audience, “In the role of Chester Bennington this afternoon is each of you."
At the tail-end of the show, Linkin Park announced that they have a new studio album, From Zero, coming out on Nov. 15.
Formed in 1996, Linkin Park is one of the most successful acts of the early aughts. It rose to international fame with its debut 2000 studio album Hybrid Theory. It sustained the momentum with its 2003 album Meteora.
Linkin Park experimented with its sound in its 2007 album Minutes to Midnight, then A Thousand Suns. Its other albums include Living Things (2012), The Hunting Party (2014), and One More Light (2017). The band went on a hiatus after Bennington died by suicide in July 2017.
Linkin Park has sold over 100 million records worldwide and has won several accolades, including two Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, two Billboard Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, 10 MTV Europe Music Awards, and three World Music Awards.