Linkin Park, the inventive American rap-rock band who wove electronica into its heavy, melodic compositions, return with their first new album in seven years, “From Zero.” It's a reference to their earliest days — when the band was known as Xero — a reclamation of their angry and ascendant sound, and something else entirely.
It started in September. Linkin Park debuted their first new music since the 2017 death of lead singer Chester Bennington: a new song titled “The Emptiness Machine,” with new singer Emily Armstrong of the band Dead Sara and drummer Colin Brittain, joining returning members Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Phoenix and Joe Hahn. (Shinoda and Armstrong share vocal duties.)
It was a surprising return; as AP wrote at the time, Armstrong’s performance style comfortably continuing the band’s legacy. Her full-throated vocals recalled Bennington without attempting parody. That spirit continues throughout "From Zero," Armstrong stretching out a scream into the kind of raspy, vibrato-fake out immediately recognizable as a Bennington-ism.
In his absence, however, Shinoda takes more of the vocal lead. And in some points, it is to the band's detriment, like on “Cut the Bridge.” Elsewhere, it's a revisitation to “Meteora”-era LP, like on the fistful “Heavy Is the Crown.” Ultimately, he makes a fine solo leader.
More melodic moments may sound like the work of another band entirely when performed by Armstrong, like on “Over Each Other," but that's quickly abandoned for the nu-metal ferocity of the track that follows, “Casualty.”
It's an easy impulse, to look for Bennington on this album. One of the most rewarding moments arrives on “Two Faced": “I can’t hear myself think,” Armstrong speak-sings, before launching into a guttural bellow, “Stop yelling at me.” It has echoes of Linkin Park's career-defining hits, like “One Step Closer.” The necessary reminder to the listener, then, should be that this is the same band just in the midst of a transformation. Much is intact: The album is produced by Shinoda and it sounds it; signatures of Hahn, the band's DJ, turntablist and creative director, exist throughout.
But it is also possible the controversy surrounding Armstrong will overshadow some fans’ enjoyment of the record. Shortly after the new lineup debuted, the singer posted a statement on Instagram that many took to mean her appearance at an early court hearing for “That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the rape of two women in 2023.
Shortly thereafter, Bennington’s mother, Susan Eubanks, told Rolling Stone she had no idea the band was going to continue on without her son — and that they previously said they'd give her a heads up; they did not.
For some Linkin Park fans, it is a nonstarter. For the others who will dive into “From Zero,” there are echoes of the band they loved.
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This cover image released by Warner Records shows "From Zero" by Linkin Park. (Warner Records via AP)
BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday urged Russia to be willing to negotiate with Ukraine in his first call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in nearly two years. The Kremlin responded that Moscow was open to new talks and pointed to Putin's earlier proposal that Kyiv should cede territory and back off its plans to join NATO.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Scholz condemned “Russia’s war of aggression” against Ukraine during the call, and called on Putin to end it by withdrawing troops that launched a full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. That conflict reaches its 1,000-day mark next week.
“The chancellor urged Russia to be willing to negotiate with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace and stressed Germany’s unwavering determination to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression for as long as necessary,” Hebestreit said in a statement.
The new communication between the leader of Germany — one of Ukraine's strongest backers since late 2022 — and Putin comes at a time of widespread speculation about what the upcoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump will mean for Ukraine.
Washington has been Ukraine's biggest military backer, but Trump has repeatedly questioned the amount of aid being given to Ukraine to fight the war. Trump also has suggested he could settle the war between Russia and Ukraine quickly, though this implies Kyiv should cede territory to Moscow in return for peace.
The German leader condemned Russian air raids on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and warned that the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia to fight in the war would mark a serious escalation. The U.S., South Korea and Ukraine say North Korea has sent thousands of troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.
For its part, the Kremlin said Germany initiated the call, during which the two leaders had a “detailed and frank exchange of opinions on the situation in Ukraine.”
Putin blamed “the current crisis” on what he called NATO’s “long-standing aggressive policy aimed at creating an anti-Russian stronghold on Ukrainian territory while ignoring our country’s security interests and trampling on the rights of Russian-speaking residents,” a Kremlin readout said.
Putin also said Russia remains open to resuming peace talks and pointed to conditions he laid out in June, which included Kyiv renouncing its bid to join NATO and withdrawing troops from the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed in 2022.
“Possible agreements should take into account the interests of the Russian Federation in the security sphere, proceed from new territorial realities, and most importantly, eliminate the root causes of the conflict,” the readout said.
Putin also noted the “unprecedented degradation” in bilateral relations between Germany and Russia, the Russian statement said, while noting that leaders also discussed situation in the Middle East.
The two sides agreed to remain in contact after the call, which German media reports said lasted about an hour. German news agency DPA said the two leaders last spoke by phone in December 2022.
Tuesday will mark 1,000 days since the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, even though the armed conflict dates to 2014.
Scholz had spoken beforehand with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and would do so again after the call with Putin, the German statement said.
Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten contributed to this report.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with the head of Russian state space corporation Roscosmos Yuri Borisov during their meeting at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside of Moscow, Russia, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends the Bundestag's Committee of Inquiry into Afghanistan, in Berlin Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)
