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Minutes to Midnight is Linkin Park's upcoming third studio album, scheduled for release worldwide between the 11th and 15th of May, 2007. This is the first Linkin Park album to feature all band members on the album cover, to be co-produced by Mike Shinoda, to receive a parental advisory logo (excluding Collision Course, the mash-up album with Jay-Z) and where Mike Shinoda sings lead vocals for a full length track ("In Between"), rather than rapping. It is also the first to contain guitar solos (particularly on "In Pieces" and "The Little Things Give You Away") and politically charged lyrics.

This is the longest Linkin Park studio album running at 43 minutes and 51 seconds, including the band's longest song, "The Little Things You Give Away", running at 6 minutes and 25 seconds.

Release

The album was delayed multiple times, first scheduled for summer 2006, then fall 2006, then early 2007, and now May 14, 2007 worldwide with the North American release the day after. In an interview in September 2006, Shinoda explained, "When songs are pouring out you don't ever want to stop that. We already have over 100 roughs for songs. We've narrowed it down since but we're not ready to commit to those yet." From the early demo sessions, "QWERTY", which was rumored to be on Minutes to Midnight, has appeared on the Linkin Park Underground v6.0 CD on December 5, 2006 in both live and studio demo versions. The song has now been confirmed as a B-Side track and will not be included on Minutes to Midnight.

"This was a year-and-a-half long process of really hard work and experimentation in the studio that yielded about 150 rough songs," guitarist Brad Delson told Billboard.com. "Not only is this album incredibly diverse, but the depth of the material is really strong."

The first single, "What I've Done", was released on April 2, 2007, and debuted at number one on the U.S. Modern Rock chart.

"Given Up", "Bleed It Out", "What I've Done" and "No More Sorrow" made their live debut on April 28, 2007 in Berlin, Germany. Live performances of these four songs at the AOL sessions were released on AOL on May 5, 2007. They also play in the background on the band's official website.

CD/DVD Special Edition

Linkin Park will be releasing a CD/DVD Special Edition of Minutes to Midnight. The DVD will contain the following:

• 5.1 versions of all 12 tracks
• The "What I've Done" music video
• The Making of "What I've Done"
• The Making of Minutes To Midnight Documentary
• Bonus early versions of several tracks which feature Mike Shinoda singing as opposed to backing up co-frontman Chester Bennington

Among the DVD-ROM features are included:

• Wallpapers
• Screensavers
• "Buddy" icons
• A PDF booklet with Lyrics
• MP3 versions of all 12 tracks

It will also contain a 24 Page Art Book featuring the lyrics and art by Mike and Joe (Mr. Hahn) with pictures of the recording process.

CD/DVD Super Fan Edition

Linkin Park will also be releasing a CD/DVD Super Fan Edition of Minutes to Midnight. It will only be available by ordering from the official Linkin Park merchandiser, BandMerch.com. This edition features the DVD from the Special Edition, as well as an extended 68-page art book and 6 frameable collector's cards placed in linen wrapped, embossed cases.

Sound

In a recent interview with Chester Bennington it is explained that the new album is a mix of punk, classic rock, and hip-hop beats.

"Rick has brought more of a stripped down, classic-rock and hip-hop kind of feel."

"This time around, Mike Shinoda is singing a lot more. It may seem like he's not on the record, but he's doing a lot of the harmonies. He also sings a couple of songs alone. We're presenting ourselves in a different way."

All sampling elements by Joe Hahn that existed in the previous two studio albums are completely absent, except on the songs "What I've Done", "In Pieces", and "The Little Things Give You Away". Hahn contributes more with programming, electronica, and other elements to many of the songs in the album. Additionally, Mike Shinoda performs his trademark MC vocals on only two tracks, "Bleed It Out" and "Hands Held High". This is a significant decrease compared to previous albums. The rap vocals on the album are much closer styled to Mike Shinoda's side project Fort Minor than his traditional Linkin Park verses. Despite a decrease of Mike Shinoda as a main vocalist, he has two solo songs on the record. One has him rapping, 'Hands Held High', the other has him singing, 'In Between'. Both songs feature backing vocals from the other vocalist Chester Bennington. Chester Bennington screams for 17 consecutive seconds in "Given Up". Guitarist Brad Delson used the E-Bow heard on "No More Sorrow" originally when the band was piecing together "The Little Things Give You Away". The band decided not to use the effect for the solo in that song and instead ended up creating "No More Sorrow" out of the effect.

Track listing

1. "Wake" – 1:43
2. "Given Up" – 3:11
3. "Leave Out All the Rest" – 3:31
4. "Bleed It Out" – 2:46
5. "Shadow of the Day" – 4:52
6. "What I've Done" – 3:28
7. "Hands Held High" – 3:55
8. "No More Sorrow" – 3:43
9. "Valentine's Day" – 3:18
10. "In Between" – 3:18
11. "In Pieces" – 3:40
12. "The Little Things Give You Away" – 6:25
13. "No Roads Left" (iTunes Exclusive) (Pre-Order Only)
14. "Minutes to Midnight" (iTunes Exclusive)

Original song titles changed upon release

• "Given Up" was originally titled "21-Stitches".
• "No More Sorrow" was originally titled "EBow Idea".

Leak

On May 4, 2007, 11 days before its official U.S. release, the album was leaked onto several peer-to-peer networks on the internet. The following day, Mike Shinoda commented on his response to the leak:

It couldn't be more exciting to give you all new music, especially after all the hard work we put into it. This album was almost a year and a half of experiments, mistakes, inspiration, and careful craftsmanship. We put everything we had into these songs, and want you to hear every second of it. I can't wait for you to absorb all the levels of meaning in the songs, and the layers of music, eventually forming your own ideas about what the songs mean to you.

At the same time, a leak leaves out some very important parts of this piece of work. We put months of creative energy into the ART of the record, in the booklet, special edition, and big book...almost as long as it took to record hybrid theory (sic). The album has amazing photos, lyrics, and notes about how the songs came together--it's the visual half of the record. On the other hand, the super-special-edition book is packed with exclusive images, stories of the making of the songs, gorgeous art, the CD and a DVD that tells the story, showing the actual moments of inspiration caught on camera. For me, it's almost hard to imagine anyone really experiencing this album without that part of it.

Even the song sequence alone is very important. It's WAY different to hear the songs in a random order than to listen to this record from beginning to end. At the very least, if you've already downloaded the songs, do us a huge favor and listen to them in the right order...it'll be way more rewarding.

— Mike Shinoda

References

1. Minutes to Midnight - Overview on All Music Guide]
2. Hope, Clover (September 06, 2006). "New Songs Still Pouring Out Of Linkin Park". Retrieved September 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |year= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
3. "Timbaland Soars To No. 1 After Sales Explosion". Billboard. 04-12-2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. BandMerch
5. Folhateen Article. April 3, 2007.
6. Linkin Park Say Nu-Metal Sound Is 'Completely Gone' On Next LP
7. AOL Music Session on YouTube.
8. Linkin Park AOL Sessions Behind-the-Scene
9. Linkin Park AOL Sessions Behind-the-Scene

External links

• Linkin Park's Official Website
• Minutes to Midnight Lyrics — Album lyrics on LyricWiki

• Pages with empty short description
• Linkin Park albums
• Enhanced CDs
• Warner Bros. Records albums
• Albums produced by Rick Rubin
• 2007 albums