“A real mixed bag. ”

written by Ridg8 on 13/08/2010

A real mixed bag.
The fast-paced fury of 'Faint/Jigga What' and 'Dirt Off Your Shoulder/Lying From you' really work nicely; the heavy bass surrounding Jay-z's swagga-filled vocals sum-up the rap-rock era of Linkin Park and if your a fan of their's, you'll be a fan of these particular songs.
'Numb/Encore' is the most main-stream friendly song. The hip-hop based beats and electronic sounds (well-known from 'numb') compliment each other, with both Chester Bennington and Jay-Z offering vocals in key parts.
Then, you stumble across 'Big Pimpin'/Papercut' and 'Izzo/In The End' which aren't far short of laughable! The out-of-date Jay-Z instrumentals are too high and joyful for the Linkin Park we all know.
Overall a very split album, stick to the songs with Linkin Park instrumentals and the quality shines through, but it is evident that this was an experiment, not a full studio-album.