The Hunting Party

Although 2010’s A Thousand Suns and 2012’s Living Things found LINKIN PARK embracing a palette of sweeping electronics, The Hunting Party, is a forceful return to the guitar-driven, rap-laced rock of their breakthrough debut, Hybrid Theory. Searing guitar solos, double-time rhythms, and thrashing intensity make “Keys to the Kingdom” and “Rebellion” among the band’s heaviest songs to date, while other highlights—like “Wastelands” and “Guilty All the Same” (featuring legendary rapper Rakim)—fuse elements of classic hip-hop with the guitar heroics. The more poignant moments of The Hunting Party come with the brooding “Until It’s Gone” and the triumphant, fist-in-the-air chorus of “Final Masquerade.”