By Drew Wilson
This review covers the nu metal (rap rock, alternative rock, etc.) track Linkin Park – Papercut.
This track was released in 2000 as part of the Hybrid Theory album. The Hybrid Theory album was what helped make this band very well known in the early to mid 2000’s.
There is a fair bit to notice in this track. There’s the cinematic electric guitars, the DJ scratches, and, of course, the lyrics.
Overall, this track has that paranoid schizophrenic tone throughout. The lyrics pretty much spells that out, though the overall sound gives this track a sort of horror sound to it.
One thing to note that this track has a very loud or compressed sound to it. This, I think, can be risky when brought to these levels as some tracks end up getting distorted and unbearable to listen to due to poor compression techniques. While there is a debate about the loudness wars, I think it comes down to the overall sound quality to it and whether it was a particular effect that is being sought. In this case, I felt that the overall tone attempting to be projected in this track justifies the loudness because the sound blocks out virtually everything else much like what paranoid delusions can do.
A lot of criticisms I’ve heard about Linkin Park in general have more to do with style rather than the overall quality of the tracks themselves. Personally, I think simply disagreeing with the style does not make this bad music. If you don’t like this kind of music in general, then don’t listen to this band. This review is based on musical merits rather than disliking the style. The point of most music is to project emotion and this track does a very good job of that.
Generally speaking, I thought this was a well put together track. There’s not much I could mark down on this track generally speaking. Overall, it was a good track.
Score
8/10
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85
