Box Set Offers ‘New’ Linkin Park

Brandon Granite, Staff Writer

The band Linkin Park has become a fan favorite over the years, especially in the early days of their career. The band has released seven studio albums, three live albums, two remix albums, a couple of soundtrack albums, and anniversary albums. The band was also on tour in between making albums during their music careers. That unfortunately ended after singer Chester Bennington died by suicide on July 20, 2017.

The band hasn’t toured or made any new music since. In 2020, the band released a 20th year anniversary box set for the fan-favorite album, “Hybrid Theory.” The box set consisted of album, vinyls, cassettes, posters and unheard song singles. Fans loved it and then wondered if the band would decide on doing the same thing for the 20th year anniversary of the 2003 album “Meteora.”

The band hinted on Feb. 10 that they would be doing the same box set for its 20th year anniversary for the album “Meteora.” The box set includes unreleased songs, demos, B-sides, live shows and never-seen, behind-the-scenes footage from the band’s 2003 time period. This is considered the band’s best album based on fan reactions and polls over the years. Some fan favorite songs include “Somewhere I Belong,” “Faint,” “Numb,” “Figure.09” and much more.

“Tracks like “Somewhere I Belong” and “Numb” spoke to teenagers and young adults grappling with similar issues as myself. Even today, years later, the messages conveyed by these songs remain just as relevant,” said Derek Oswald, a 23-year-old undecided major from Middletown.

The band took a different approach in terms of hyping up the album for the 20th year anniversary. The band has released two new singles prior to the release of the box set. These are “Lost” and “Fighting Myself,” which will be on the 20th anniversary album. Fans quickly fell in love with those songs because of the nostalgia in Chester ‘s voice. Even though this is old music, it still has an impact on people listening today. Chester Bennington was one of a kind.

“The idea of the set is great. I’m excited for the release. The songs that dropped already were nice, so I can only assume the anniversary will be just as good. If they got back together to perform just one show, I’ll find a way to be there,” said Liam Strick, a 22-year-old undecided major from Hazlet.

Singer and guitarist Mike Shinoda mentioned that the song “Lost” had the same vibe as one of their most popular songs called “Numb.” They didn’t release “Lost” on the actual album because of that reasoning. “Finding ‘Lost’ was like finding a favorite photo you had forgotten you’d taken, like it was waiting for the right moment to reveal itself,” Shinoda said.

The future of the band is uncertain, but fans hope that more unreleased music comes their way and that the band does these anniversary box sets to keep the band’s history alive.

The Meteora box is available to pre-order; you can order it online at the band’s website for $200 at linkinpark.com.