Leading the front of the group are Chester Bennington, with an amazing voice that would make Maynard James Keenan of Tool jealous, but with enough ferocity to scream his heart out on the level of some of today's loudest metal bands. Such a contrast is rare. Putting forth just as much contribution, and an equal frontman along Chester, is Mike Shinoda, strictly in charge of rap lyrics, who has the flowing ability, if not better, of most hip-hop artists. The crunching guitars of Brad Delson bring the rock part of the album to life, while Rob Bourdon's steady and fast-paced drums keep the beats so in check and so hip-hop oriented that one would swear it is a drum machine at points. However, the most bragging rights go to Joseph Hahn, the band's DJ. He can mix sound effects, cut records, and tear into his turntables with the same level of skill as DJ Lethal, among numerous others, all of which is gloriously reflected in the song "Cure For The Itch", performed only by Mr. Hahn. Strangely, the band didn't even have a permanent bass player during the recording, and had to hire a bassist for each song, but now, thankfully, a permanent bassist by the name of Phoenix has solved those problems.

But that's just where the band lies. The music itself is no typical rapcore. The emotionally charged lyrics on all the songs take the music to a level that Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst can't even dream of achieving. Adrenaline-pumping hard rock songs such as "Papercut", "With You", "One Step Closer", "Crawling" and "Runaway" will silence the skeptical on the heavy metal matter. Mike Shinoda gets a chance to show off his flowing skills on "Points Of Authority", "By Myself", and co-operates on the rock vocals on "Forgotten". More melodic, but by no means quieter or calmer songs include "In The End", "A Place For My Head", and the album's finale "Pushing Me Away". The band's sound itself has influences from A Perfect Circle, Deftones, House Of Pain, Nine Inch Nails, Papa Roach, Videodrone, and numerous others.

Fortunately, this version of the album has two added tracks attached to it. "My December" and "High Voltage", which were originally released on the band's no-longer-available EP, are gracefully added onto here for some extra touch. Although "High Voltage" doesn't exactly fit the mood of the rest of the album, "My December" should have made it onto "Hybrid Theory"'s final cut, ranging as one of the groups best songs, amazingly moving and talented. The implemation of the keyboards in the tune are something not seen very often in Linkin Park's work, aside from "In The End". This is not to mention that Chester Bennington's voice is absolutely beautiful and amazing on "My December". "High Voltage" in itself is a decent song, although it is completely hip-hop and un-parallelled with the rest of the album. Definitely deserves a listen though, especially for the added DJ effects and whatnot.

In my opinion, the best songs on the album are "In The End", "Papercut", "My December", and "Pushing Me Away", although it's next to impossible to choose favorites, as every track is equally amazing. Don't stereotype this album with the rest of it's genre and forget about it. This is a must-have.


TWO BONUS TRACKS MAKE A GREAT CD BETTER, BUT WORTH THE $?   November 23, 2001
Tim Goodson (McHenry, IL)
23 out of 23 found this review helpful

Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory is one of the greatest albums I have ever heard. I think that putting High Voltage and My December on Hybrid Theory and adding 20 dollars, is not a waste of money,(especially if you have the original album, you should) but I think your money could be better spent. I have attended a concert of theirs and seen exactly what they're capable of. Not only have I heard Hybrid Theory about a thousand times, I have searched for other songs of theirs. When I saw they released Hybrid Theory with two bonus tracks, I was a little amazed. High Voltage and My December are great songs, but the greatest was left out. "And One," a song that they played at the concert I attended, is a GREAT song by them; I believe this song should have been on the original album. The band played this song when they were called Hybrid Theory, not yet Linkin Park. I believe that other songs like Part of Me, Step Up, High Voltage, My December, Carousel, and And One, should be all on a seperate import. Since this hasn't been released yet, these songs can be found and downloaded. I suggest that if you're a TRUE Linkin Park fan, you should track down these songs. If you're someone who just likes the song Crawling and wants the cd, these two bonus tracks won't do much for you! I would give a 5+ for the original Hybrid Theory album, and their other unreleased songs, but for the two bonus tracks for 20 more dollars, I will give an overall rating of 4.


Great   December 14, 2001
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

well, HT alone was great, now two more songs? Cool. Now, i may get flak for being a purist or such, but i appreciate that Link Park doesnt use explicit lyrics. I mean, I listen to bad lyriced music but it is refreshing Linkin Park is keeping clean, swares are ok but the world doesnt need them and I think Linkin Park is doing a great job without them, they rock. Glad Linkin Park stayed clean, keep it up! Great album.


Great Additional Tracks! Great CD!   May 16, 2002
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

At first, Linkin Park's "One Step Closer" sounded like just another modern rock group but when "Crawling" was released, I was urged to check out this CD, in which it included some non-album songs and some live performances...Surprisingly, if this is your first time to buy an LP record, (and good news to parents too!) this alternative band never swore in their albums..I admire Mike Shonda the most, because he was able to balance his vocals and the strong, very strong vocal chords of Chester Bennington (check out My December).

1) Papercut- DJ Hahn showed off his skills on the turntables on this third single.. One of my favorites.

2)One Step Closer- Personally, I didn't really like this song that much but the combination of Chester and Mike's aggressive voices were extremely off the hook!

4) Points Of Authority- Another great loud track. This is much better than One Step Closer...Great music by DJ Hahn.

5) Crawling- This is certainly the best song ever! This is one of the haunting rock songs I've heard (next to "Iris" of course).. the music was just breathtaking. Chester's harmonious voice on the first stanzas and breaking it in the chorus was awesome.

6) Runaway- Another loud track..I'm still listening to it.

8) In The End- Obviously, Linkin Park's chart-topping song but I had enough of it...The catchy keyboard tune and the alternate singing of Chester and Mike was well done.

12) Pushing Me Away- One of the best tracks..Hope the DJs on the radio will play this track.

17) My December- The second best track to Crawling.. Contrast to the band's music, My December's music was not really a rock song...It ultimately concentrated on keyboards and turntables..Slow, catchy track.

The other tracks that were obviously good were the other 3 live performances.

Overall, this is a great record and you're truly lucky if you haven't bought the first one.


This is Great!!!   January 19, 2002
Andrew Nolten (CA United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I first heard "High Voltage" in a MTV2 concert, and I liked it a lot and I wondered where I could get it. About two months later I heard "My December" on the radio, and I decided that I really needed to get those two songs. When I found it here, I was phsyced about it and I bought it right away. Let me tell you This is the best CD I've ever had!! "High Voltage" is not how I remebered it from the concert, but it's still really great song. "My December" is my absolute favorite song, it's so meaningful and I'm glad I have this CD. It's definitly worth the money, and plus I found this little insert that has all of the lyrics and everything in Japennese (well duh, it's a Japan inport) but I still thought it was cool. If you are wary about it, I say go for it and buy it!!