Seven years ago, Chester Bennington, the charismatic lead singer of the hugely successful alt rock band Linkin Park, killed himself. He had a history of depression and substance abuse, and had been deeply affected by the suicide of his good friend (and alt rock god) Chris Cornell two months prior.
I thought, as I believe many others did, that Chester’s passing was the end of the band. I’m not entirely sure why I thought that. There have been plenty of other examples of bands that have continued on after a founding singer leaves or dies — just off the top of my head, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Rage Against The Machine (albeit under a different name), Alice In Chains… — but for some reason, with Linkin Park, it felt like an ending.
It’s times like this that I’m happy to be wrong.
Two nights ago I was checking out some videos online (still in the spinoff aftermath of watching so much drumming stuff, like Pneuma), and something wholly unexpected came up: A video of a new song called The Emptiness Machine.
By Linkin Park.
… wait, what?
… with a new drummer and new singer.
… wait, what?
And whoo, boy, with my head already spinning with just that news, this video wasn’t what I was expecting.
Turns out it wasn’t what almost anyone was expecting.
… and there it was. Emily Armstrong, the co-founder of L.A.-based alt rock band Dead Sara, is the new lead singer of Linkin Park. Colin Brittain is now the permanent drummer, filling the hole left by band co-founder Rob Bourdon, who opted to not join the new iteration of the group.
Linkin Park has risen from the ashes of Chester’s death and remade itself. And longtime fans are all in…
Goosebumps and tears aplenty in that compilation and others. I was far from the only one who didn’t expect anything like this would happen. Even could happen.
I haven’t yet checked out the whole new album, which I then found had dropped four days ago, but I like a lot of what I’ve heard. Just from The Emptiness Machine, it’s obvious that this is very much still Linkin Park.
There’s a lot in all this news and content for Linkin Park fans to unpack and come to grips with.
Emily isn’t Chester.
She can’t be.
No one can.
But if Linkin Park was going to do an overhaul and rebirth the right way, they needed someone who could stand front and centre, be the new figurehead for the band, and hold their own singing their songs their way. If they had brought in a new man, he would always be compared with Chester, with every new song and album. By making the bold choice of bringing in a female, they’ve told the world that they’re not replacing Chester, but that they’re moving on from where he left off. With these changes, they’ve breathed unexpected new life into the band, allowing themselves to continue making their unique kind of music for years or even decades into a future so many of us had thought cut short for them.
We’re looking forward to seeing what they do with this second chance.
Linkin Park is dead.
Long live Linkin Park.