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Linkin Park has always polarized people. Nu-metal fans thought they were too basic, some thought they were just right. Rap fans like Mike, rockers like Chester. Some say Reanimation was their best release, some say Meteora, some say Hybrid Theory, some say Collision Course, some say Minutes to Midnight.

So here's LP at their 4th true album, and after dividing the fans with MTM...they come with an album that is going to polarize. So is it their "Kid A" or their "Electric Circus"?

Let's be honest here: Minutes to Midnight was a huge misstep for Linkin Park, that somehow kept them alive. Must be the fact that they teamed up with Transformers and made crazy money off the promotional apparatus... or America's music taste sucks (heh) but they only became more popular with a copy-cat release, which is surprising. Now the band has a new album that is seeped in electronics, that may remind you of another album, Kid A.

While Kid A polarized people in the right way (challenged them to listen to Radiohead for more than Karma Police and Creep), A Thousand Suns polarizes in the bad way, as in, the old-school LP fans are not so cool with the band's direction, while the Johnny-come-latelies will eat it up. How so? Let's break it down.

As stated before, this album is submerged in electric sounds. Keyboards, guitars, synths, drums, vocals (not so much, but still) all have an electric feel to it, so essentially, the raw rock of MTM is gone, replaced with a synth-rock/rap hybrid that is processed and essentially brought to you via Apple. Is it any good?

Negative good buddy. It just has the feelings of a band that rejected their true identity in exchange for a disillusioned vision fostered by staying out of the game for 2-3 years. There are some positives, for one.

Mike's rapping again. For anyone who heard MTM, he had only 1 song. 1 song... talk about imbalanced vocals. On this, he has a couple songs, and on When They Come For Me, he sounds like he's biting Lupe Fiasco's style. Which is ok, but the problem is, he's dropping so many hip-hop names in the song, he makes Game's embarrassing name-calling seem smart. However, he does redeem himself with "Wretches and Kings" which is a roaring monster of a song, unlike any hip-hop song I've heard ever since Public Enemy. Mike also has some singing as well, both by himself and harmonizing. Again, I am not sold on Mike as a singer, but he is trying.

Chester is Chester, again getting a majority of the songs. And he's sounding like an emo kid, more so than ever now. Hell, he even sounds like the kids from those MySpace screamo acts. Listen to Blackout, and tell me how embarrassing it sounds.

Instrumentally, the songs are fine, with some breakdowns here and there, but it's almost all electric, which will wear on you for the 47 minutes you invest in this album. Essentially, they took the roadmap with New Divide and switched things up for most of it, thought I love the opening theme on track 1 that builds towards The Catalyst.

The album ends with The Messenger, which shockingly...is all acoustic. A first. However, the lyrics are um....sucky, and it seems like November Rain, all emo'd up. 

The core problem with LP now is that in an attempt to make a crazy album, they have lost their identity musically, trying to ape top 40, hip-hop, synth rock, and nu metal, ripping off multiple bands and acts, and not at all trying to be themselves. That is a huge problem, the band needs to sit down and make an album that is NOT for the radio, for MTV, but for themselves.

So what do I think about this album? I am torn, too many flaws to say it's perfect, too radical to look at in the context of MTM or Hybrid Theory, too much style switches to really give the band a true identity, and also, not bad enough to get scorn.

End result: This is, like I said before, a polarizing album. To the point where I can't lean towards either side and say "oh, it sucks" or "ZOMG! BUY IT NOW!" All I can say is listen before you buy, and personally, this album isn't fantastic, but it is somewhat OK.