10 Great Albums You Didn't Understand The First Time
5. A Thousand Suns - Linkin Park
As far as Linkin Park fans go, there seem to be two categories: those who love A Thousand Suns and those who hate it. Coming at the dawn of the 2010's, this album was the band's biggest foray into electronic music, with tunes that were dominated by a more ambient approach.
Though the more broad soundscapes waeredefinitely a strange look for the band at the time, it was by no means cause for outrage. The band had been dabbling in soundscapes ever since their formation, with turntablist Joe Hahn providing interludes for all the best albums by the band. At this point, this was where the band took the leap of faith and turned themselves into something more than just an aggro-rock band. There are more synthetic moments like "Robot Boy," but still some awesome ragers like "When They Come For Me" to be had on this record. Even a song like "Waiting For the End" shows how the rock and electronic instrumentation can play off each other to glorious effect.
Though it was not expected to see Linkin Park change this quickly, A Thousand Suns still feels like the natural progression the band were going to take after their initial nu-metal period. By taking that risk, this album gave Linkin Park a second wind and impacted how rock music would be looked at as a whole in the 2010's.