10 Most Underrated Hard Rock Albums Of The 2000's
9. Minutes to Midnight - Linkin Park
Linkin Park were thrown a bit of a curveball as the 2000's wore on. While they were initially on top of the world as kings of the nu metal genre, how would they do once they moved away from the fad of detuned guitars and tortured wordplay? The band put their boldest step forward with Minutes to Midnight and (while far from perfect) ended up delivering more hits than misses.
The transition over to more alt-rock tendencies was done very organically, with the pop singles like "Leave Out All the Rest" being balanced out by tracks like "Given Up," which features one of Chester Bennington's greatest shrieks. In another daring move, Mike Shinoda still comes through with some decent verses, with songs like "Bleed It Out" becoming a bonafied anthem for the band along with more personal pieces like "In Between."
The album also closes incredibly strong with "The Little Things Give You Away," which serves as the band's scathing indictment of the US government's actions following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. You could probably find a lot of alternative rock like this during the mid 2000's, but coming from the former nu metal gods, this was a welcome change of pace that launched them into the next phase of their career.