Seven years after lead singer Chester Bennington committed suicide at the age of 41, American rock band Linkin Park is reviving. On Friday night, she streamed a concert from Los Angeles where she made her debut with new singer Emily Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain. He replaced founding member Rob Bourdon, AP reported.
The newcomers to the line-up will be joined by original members, i.e. rapper, guitarist and keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell known as Phoenix and DJ Joe Hahn. With this line-up, they have now released a single called The Emptiness Machine.
According to the AP agency, the new face of the group, thirty-eight-year-old Emily Armstrong, known from the alternative rock formation Dead Sara, dignifies the legacy of her predecessor. Her singing will remind you of Chester Bennington without parodying or imitating him. “This is a really special day for us. In Chester’s place is all of you, every single one of you,” Mike Shinoda told the audience. He will take turns singing with Emily Armstrong, complements British BBC.
The new single will be followed by a studio album called From Zero on November 15, which will be released by Warner Records. “Before we changed our name to Linkin Park, we called ourselves Xero. The album title refers both to those humble beginnings and to what we’re experiencing now,” adds Shinoda.
The group also announced five concerts this month in Los Angeles, New York, Hamburg, London and Seoul, South Korea, after which they will visit Bogota, Colombia in November.
Linkin Park used to be associated with labels of alternative rock or nu-metal. They became famous for combining rock with heavy metal, hip hop and later also elements of electronic music or pop-music. They shot to fame in 2000 with their debut album Hybrid Theory, by the end of the decade they were already one of the most famous groups in the world. To date, they have sold over 100 million records and won two Grammy Awards.
Linkin Park with new singer Emily Armstrong. | Photo: James Minchin III
Their frontman Chester Bennington took his own life shortly after they released the album One More Light in May 2017. Since then Linkin Park have only released remastered editions of their older works Hybrid Theory, Meteora and most recently their best of Papercuts.
Original drummer Rob Bourdon has “decided not to continue,” a band spokesperson told the AP. “It’s been a few years since Rob told us that he wanted to distance himself from the band a bit. We weren’t surprised, he was limiting contact with us, and the fans noticed it. As a friend, I was saddened, but at the same time, we want him to be happy, so we wish him nothing but the best,” comments Mike Shinoda.
As the BBC reminds us, Linkin Park are not the first group to decide to continue without their original frontman. The same was done in the past by the bands Alice in Chains, Sublime and Queen, who continued to give concerts after the death of Freddie Mercury in 1991, in recent years with Adam Lambert. The Czech Lucia found herself in a similar situation after the recent departure of David Koller. She has not announced the compensation yet.
Linkin Park also played four times in the Czech Republic, most recently in June 2017 at the airport in Prague’s Letňany. Nine days later, singer Bennington took his own life.
Two years later, their repertoire was recalled by Mike Shinoda at a concert in Prague’s Karlín Forum, where he also presented his own solo album.
Video: Linkin Park’s new single
The Emptiness Machine single from Linkin Park’s new album. | Video: Warner Records
