Single Review: Linkin Park – The Catalyst (The Times of India Version)

Linkin Park - The Catalyst

“The Catalyst” manages to sound enraged and thoughtful at the same time, a very difficult combination to pull off. All accusations of selling out and going pop seem naive. Just because a song doesn’t have a heavy guitar upfront doesn’t mean it is pop for a song that is 6 minutes long is the farthest thing from a radio friendly song. “The Catalyst” can be interpreted as a litmus test for their audience where the band is testing their fans.

Akhil Kashyap

Ps. The above review (abridged version of my original review) was published in the Delhi edition of The Times of India.

The Catalyst review, as published in the Delhi edition of The Times of India

The Catalyst Review, The Times of India, Delhi edition

LINKIN PARK / The Catalyst Stats

Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park recently posted some interesting stats. Check ’em out!

Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart [August 21, 2010]

Disturbed - Another Way To Die Single Cover

Disturbed continues its reign on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart with “Another Way To Die” at #1 for the third consecutive week now. The song is the lead single from the bands’ upcoming album “Asylum.” Four new songs debut on the chart this week with Linkin Park’s “The Catalyst” making the highest debut at #16. Other bands to intrude the chart this week include Korn, Three Days Grace and Sevendust.

tw-lw-wo-Title-Artist
01-01-08 Another Way To Die – Disturbed
02-03-12 Bad Company – Five Finger Death Punch
03-04-12 Nightmare – Avenged Sevenfold
04-02-18 The Crow And The Butterfly – Shinedown
05-06-10 Hell Of A Time – HellYeah
06-05-09 Lesson Learned – Alice In Chains
07-10-05 Say You’ll Haunt Me – Stone Sour
08-11-08 Kick In The Teeth – Papa Roach
09-07-16 Stupid Girl (Only In Hollywood) – Saving Abel
10-13-12 All Night Long – Buckcherry
11-08-17 Let Me Hear You Scream – Ozzy Osbourne
12-14-09 Lights Out – Breaking Benjamin
13-16-05 Love-Hate-Sex-Pain – Godsmack
14-09-27 The Good Life – Three Days Grace
15-12-20 Diamond Eyes – Deftones
16-**-01 The Catalyst – Linkin Park
17-18-07 End Of Me – Apocalyptica Featuring Gavin Rossdale
18-15-26 Cryin’ Like A Bitch! – Godsmack
19-17-22 Your Betrayal – Bullet For My Valentine
20-20-07 Shoot It Out – 10 Years
21-19-20 Hero – Skillet
22-23-07 Porn Star Dancing – My Darkest Days Featuring Zakk Wylde
23-22-16 Wild And Young – American Bang
24-24-14 Take Back The Fear – Hail the Villain
25-26-04 Back From Cali – Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy
26-28-07 Take A Load Off – Stone Temple Pilots
27-21-15 Fractured (Everything I Said Was True) – Taproot
28-27-09 Erase My Scars – Evans Blue
29-31-04 Maybe – Sick Puppies
30-30-10 The Way You Move – Since October
31-32-03 Parade Of The Dead – Black Label Society
32-29-15 In One Ear – Cage The Elephant
33-**-01 Let The Guilt Go – Korn
34-**-01 Forever – Sevendust
35-**-01 World So Cold – Three Days Grace
36-25-17 Shake Me – Taddy Porter
37-40-02 Do Her Wrong – Atom Smash
38-36-04 Familiar Taste Of Poison – Halestorm
39-35-03 Afterlife – Bush
40-33-11 We Are One – 12 Stones

TW: This Week’s Position

LW: Last Week’s Position

WO: Weeks on Chart

Single Review: Linkin Park – The Catalyst

Linkin Park - The Catalyst

LINKIN PARK had revealed their intentions of not returning to their nu-metal roots along with their willingness to experiment even more quite explicitly in the interviews leading up to the release of “The Catalyst.” But nothing could have prepared their fans for this new anthem of raw and untailored sonic aggression. The song manages to sound enraged and thoughtful at the same time, a very difficult combination to pull off.

I don’t expect majority of the band’s audience nodding their heads in approval, but accusations of selling-out and going “pop” seem very ill informed.  Just because a song doesn’t have a heavy guitar upfront doesn’t mean it is pop, for a song that is almost 6 minutes long is the farthest thing from a radio friendly commercial song. Selling-out, for me, would have been releasing Hybrid Theory 2.0. Hats off to the band that is willing to risk so much, and at such scale too, only to stay true to their art.

“The Catalyst” can aptly be called a litmus test for the band’s audience where the band is testing their fans, and not the other way round. And I am proud to have passed the test.

Akhil Kashyap

LINKIN PARK Releases New Single

The Catalyst Single Cover

LINKIN PARK have released their new single “The Catalyst” worldwide. The brand new song is the band’s first since the release of their album “Minutes To Midnight” back in 2007 (besides the release of Across The Line, Not Alone and Blackbirds, all of which were studio outtakes from the “Minutes To Midnight” sessions and not new recordings). “The Catalyst” is the first single from the band’s upcoming album “A Thousand Suns.”

Check out the song right here and let us know what you feel about the new LINKIN PARK sound.

Album Version: