Linkin Park

Have you ever listened to a song and thought, "If those background vocals were more in the foreground, this song would be so much better," or "If a kick-ass MC was added to this track, it would kick ass?" That is exactly what Linkin Park's second disc, Reanimation, is all about. The band, with the help of a few dozen friends, including Korn's Jonathan Davis, Zion I's Zion, Orgy's Jay Douglas, Aceyolone and others, have reinvented all the tracks from Linkin Park's hugely successful debut disc Hybrid Theory. And some of the remixed renditions are truly fresh and interesting - the Kutmasta Kurt-produced version of "In The End," featuring Motion Man, takes a fabulous and classic hip-hop approach to the tune. As a whole, however, the disc seems to approach Linkin Park in a more distortion-filled and industrial way, rather than highlighting the rap-core genre that birthed the band. I wonder if this record might not have been better suited for release later in the band's career? Hybrid Theory has been beaten to death by serious radio and video airplay, and as someone who likes what the band is doing, I would have much preferred to see a new record with new material instead of different versions of the songs we have been hearing since 2000.