The Metal Forge
No phoenix rising here. It’s more like a weak carbon copy.
Hmmmm. Whenever an artist goes off to do a side project, be it solo, or a new band, comparisons to said artists’ bread and butter act are inevitable. Also, a lot of the time, we see that it’s not too much of a departure from the original, and often doesn’t shine quite as brightly either. Nevermore’s Warrel Dane solo release still sounded Nevermore-ish just without the intensity. Rammstein’s Richard Kruspe did Emigrate and it too didn’t fall too far from the root tree. It’s inherent I think that this will always be the case. Now, Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington has gone the solo side project route with Dead by Sunrise (along side rhythm guitarist Amir Derakh, bassist Brandon Belsky and drummer Elias Andr). And guess what? That’s right. It sounds like Linkin Park. Surprised much? No, nor was I.
I’ll admit that Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. But past that album, they really are a bit of a one trick pony. If you can imagine Linkin Park without Shinoda’s raps, without DJ Hahn’s samples, then you can imagine Dead by Sunrise at the most basic level. Fire really could be a Linkin Park song without fail - mid tempo, strong vocal melodies, radio friendly. Interestingly enough, it’s the heavier Crawl Back In which is the album’s lead single, and it’s easy to see why - it’s as catchy as they come and dare I say, just as predictable, is the change up to the gentle Too Late. Inside Of Me sparks the album back to life with an unexpected punk slant before the album again takes a gentle turn, this time with the duo of the quite bland Let Down and the Filter like glide of Give Me Your Name - a surprise highlight indeed.
However, the jig is up at this point. Whilst Linkin’s formula is predictable enough, the rest of what we get from Dead by Sunrise is equally predictable. The brisk My Suffering, the uninspired Condemned, and the hit and miss Into You all do little to change my opinion of things at this point. The up and down nature of the album continues with the total skipper End of the World before Bennington and Co. finally managing to get things together with the slow, dynamic and sometimes powerful one two punch finale of Walking In Circles and In The Darkness.
I’ve seen a lot of varying opinions on this album, and for me, the album is a too scattered and at the same time, predictable. Whilst I might not be a big fan of Linkin Park’s more recent output, after hearing Bennington’s side work, it makes me wish for a new Linkin release and I never thought I’d say that.