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Linkin Park wrote more than 100 demos when making their new album, ‘Minutes To Midnight.’ If ‘Shadow of the Day’ is one of the highlights of that horde of recordings – releasing it as a single suggests it is – then the only positive is that we don’t have to listen to the whole lot. From the moment Mike Shinoda’s hoarse voice reveals “I close both locks below the window, I close both blinds and turn away,” like it’s a heart-wrenching moment for the listener as well as the window-closer, it’s clear we’re in cheesy rock ballad territory. Linkin Park are actually trying to sound like Snow Patrol. Worse, they’re coming up short.
Was that strings I just heard? Where’s the rap part? It appears they’re moving in a new direction. U2 producer Rick Rubin adds in soaring guitars to give the song an epic quality. Still the track lacks the backbone to make you pay attention, let alone care. As Shinoda whines melodramatically about sunsets and sad goodbyes, it’s clear this drivel is destined to accompany a montage of teenagers ‘finding themselves’ on a trashy American drama.
Released 29/10/07 on Warners.
