10 Best Follow Up Albums In Hard Rock

Linkin Park were the nu metal saviors back in the early 2000's. When bands like Limp Bizkit were whining about their infantile personal issues, these guys from California created fantastic tracks that seemed to tap into all the pain they had ever felt in their lives. Hybrid Theory set their career on track by selling over 10 million copies, but even most diehard fans thought topping it was a pipedream.

After coming off tour to work on Meteora, the band had come through with some of their most mature material to date. The songs still had the crunch of their early work, but the execution was much more polished. Songs like "Hit the Floor" and "Don't Stay" pummel you to the ground, while cuts like "From the Inside" and "Somewhere I Belong" proved the band didn't have to sacrifice heaviness when writing more commercial material.

Even the more subtle moments like "Breaking the Habit" are absolutely gorgeous in portraying the struggles od someone suffering from depression. Instead of writing the casual metal anthem, these songs stand on their own as little peeks into the adolescent mindset. While Hybrid Theory had one great tune after another, Meteora is probably the closest Linkin Park has come to creating a pure sonic environment with their music.