{billy stanton}

After the death of Kurt Cobain, Nirvana as a band felt as if they were no longer, and could not go on without Kurt, and as such.. Nirvana was disbanded. Dave Grohl set out to form Foo Fighters -- a fairly popular band these days, of which the debut self titled album was completely recorded and played by Dave, and Dave himself. But why didn't Mike Shinoda do this when Chester passed away? It turns out he did.

After Chester Bennington's unfortunate death, Linkin Park was left to die. But recently, it has been revitalized by Mike Shinoda, the original co-founder of Linkin Park (alongside Chester). To me, this has not been much of a surprise. Mike Shinoda had been releasing his own music for quite some time now, however, overall his creations have not gained much popularity. So, what better idea than to bring back Linkin Park?

It's easy to hate on Linkin Park for their recent move, especially in their newly found attempt to replace their lead singer, Chester, with another. This new lead singer is known as Emily Armstrong, from the band Dead Sara. Like many others, I have never heard of Dead Sara.. However, her voice is quite unexpected to me, with similarities to Courtney Love from Hole.. minus the extremely raspy cigarette smoker voice. Likely, she'll be there soon.

After listening to their newly released single, "The Emptiness Machine" featuring Emily's voice, Mike Shinoda's voice can be seen comparable to Machine Gun Kelly's, with a lack of rap, like their older songs. Quite contrary to the current topic, I am more worried about the change of Mike's style -- as well as the amount of autotune used in his parts. Sara's screams are incredible, and while definitely not as good as Chester's, her style may partially compensate. Could this attract a new audience to the band who once pioneered nu-metal?

Emily definitely brings an interesting aspect to the band, but will it be enough to revitalize the band? Only time will tell, but I'll still be there to listen with an open ear. Will you?