It can't be outdone. It can't be outmatched. It can't be outrun.

The new Linkin Park song is actually... decent. I gotta say, I did not see that one coming.

I am a long time fan. Slightly surprising I guess, given my tendancy to quickly disregard the more top forty type rock bands. But with Linkin Park, it's more sentimental. One of the first CDs I owned as a kid was "Meteora", and I remember putting that baby on repeat ALL day. I remember getting a hold of my sister's "Hybrid Theory" disc, and falling in love with those tracks too. Hey, don't hate. It's hard to unlike things you liked as a kid.

They used to be angry white boys that could kind-of scream and kind-of rap, but they weren't afraid to act like they were the best at both. Their lack of technical skills were more than compensated for by their catchy hooks. Mike and Chester were like my musical heroes (well, some things DO change). Still, their combination of easy-to-rap-along-with rap verses and slow easy-to-sing-along-with choruses made songs like "In The End" and "Numb" anthems for me. I never heard guitar solos in their songs, but it didn't matter because thats not what I was looking for. Not from them anyway.

Then "Minutes To Midnight" happened. Yikes. What happened there boys? A slow boring album with no real sadness to speak of. A pathetic attempt at a guitar solo. Not to mention random swearing in their music all of a sudden. "What I've Done" has never grown on me. In fact, from that whole album, I like 2 tracks. It was just a disaster, an over-calculated mess. No more anger? I can deal with that I guess. But no more passion? Come on guys.

But then I thought that maybe I was just growing up. Maybe if I'd heard these songs as a 12 year old I would like them. Maybe Linkin Park were never that great in the first place? I could never unlove songs I loved so much in the past, so I couldn't just forget their old stuff. But maybe their new material just didn't fall under that category, so I could just dislike it freely so to speak.

But then I heard "The Catalyst". And I really like it. Mike Shinoda's singing adds a lot. Dual vocalists doesn't have to mean that one raps and one sings. I like that. The techno undertones don't seem gimicky either. I like that. The piano bit with Chester singing "Lift me up. Let me go." is cool. I like that. I like the video too.

Who knows if the album is going to be good. It could end up being ultra lame and really crap and affirm my believe that I've just outgrown them. But I feel like it could turn out awesome. I think I'm gonna like it. I hope I'm not let down. Whatever the case, it feels good to like Linkin Park again.