I t is not about erasing the past,” Mike Shinoda told the audience at the LA Forum last week, during Linkin Park ’s first public show in seven years, “it is about starting this new chapter into the future.” It’s a chapter that was always going to be subject to scrutiny – the long-awaited return of arguably the most loved millennial rap rock band. A group whose 2000 debut Hybrid Theory sold 32 million copies and helped define the nu metal era, but who tragically lost their singer Chester Bennington to suicide in 2017.
Already, though, this new plotline seems drawn from a dark and turbulent courtroom drama. Heard on hits such as “In the End” and “Numb”, Bennington’s anguished rap-rock lyricism and persona, often coloured by his experiences of childhood abuse, depression, and addiction, were definitive cornerstones of the band for many fans. Replacing him was always going to be a bumpy process, as it is with any charismatic frontperson; Queen, for example, never really stood a chance.
But Linkin Park’s choice of singer to co-front the band with co-founder Shinoda – Emily Armstrong , singer with Dead Sara, underground favourites on the LA rock scene – has proved deeply divisive due to her previous support for her one-time friend, That 70s Show actor Danny Masterson , during his 2023 rape trial. According to the band, who had trialled working with several singers in the years since Bennington’s death, Armstrong is the perfect fit for his formidable sn.