(Warner Records)They sold millions as the most poppy and emotional band in nu-metal. Now, returning with Emily Armstrong as frontwoman, they remain just as dynamicIn September, Linkin Park’s comeback single The Emptiness Machine entered the UK singles chart at No 4. You could see that as an extraordinary state of affairs: an august metal band whose lead singer died seven years ago – recently replaced with the largely unknown Emily Armstrong – gatecrashing a Top 5 that spent most of 2024 as the exclusive domain of a handful of pop and pop-dance artists, most of them too young to remember the 2000 release of Linkin Park’s debut album Hybrid Theory first-hand.Then again, perhaps not. For one thing, the nu-metal scene that birthed them has been enjoying a resurgence in interest: quite aside from a wave of early 00s nostalgia, there’s an intriguing correlation between the genre’s feel-my-pain angst and the emotional tenor of latter-day pop. Perhaps more importantly, Linkin Park always stood slightly apart from their rap-rock peers. One popular line is that they were to nu-metal what Def Leppard were to glam metal, not just because of their vast sales figures or the expensive, radio-friendly sheen to Hybrid Theory’s sound, but because, like Def Leppard, they never bothered to conceal their pop leanings. Continue reading...