Linkin Park returns seven years after Chester Bennington’s death

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Seven years after lead singer Chester Bennington died by suicide in 2017, Linkin Park is returning with an expanded lineup, along with a new album and tour.

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The group announced that Dead Sara’s Emily Armstrong will join Mike Shinoda on vocals, with Colin Brittain now drumming for the band. Brad Delson, Joe Hahn, and David ‘Phoenix’ Farrell, as well as Shinoda, are returning to the fold.

The new lineup debuted the hard-charging new single, The Emptiness Machine, on Thursday. A new LP, From Zero, will be released on Nov. 15.

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Longtime members Shinoda, Delson, Farrell, and Hahn had been quietly meeting up again in recent years to connect creatively. Rather than “trying to restart the band,” they invited various friends and cohorts to join them in the studio; finding a special kinship with Armstong and Brittain.

“Before Linkin Park, our first band name was Xero. This album title refers to both this humble beginning and the journey we’re currently undertaking,” Shinoda said in a statement. “Sonically and emotionally, it is about past, present, and future — embracing our signature sound, but new and full of life. It was made with a deep appreciation for our new and longtime bandmates, our friends, our family, and our fans. We are proud of what Linkin Park has become over the years, and excited about the journey ahead.”

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Several months before Bennington’s death, Linkin Park released One More Light. In the intervening years, the group has released expanded editions of older albums and a greatest hits package.

This past February, the band released Friendly Fire, which featured Bennington on vocals.

Delson said that the track “was always one of our favourite songs from the One More Light sessions.”

Shinoda said that after working with Armstrong and Brittain, they realized the pair were “world-class talents,” adding that “the more we worked with Emily and Colin, the more we enjoyed their company, and the things we created.”

“We feel really empowered with this new lineup and the vibrant and energized new music we’ve made together. We’re weaving together the sonic touchpoints we’ve been known for and still exploring new ones,” Shinoda continued.

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Delson opted not to return because he “wanted to put some distance between himself and the band.”

“We understood that — it was already apparent. He was starting to just show up less, be in less contact, and I know the fans noticed it too. … As a friend, that was sad, but at the same time, I want him to do whatever makes him happy, and obviously everybody wishes him the best,” Shinoda explained to Billboard.

The new configuration will head out on a a short tour to promote From Zero, with shows planned for Los Angeles, New York, London, Seoul, and Hamburg, Germany, this month. They’ll also touch down in Colombia in November.

In his last interview with Postmedia, Bennington, who fronted Linkin Park since the band’s 2000 debut album Hybrid Theory, said the band was always driven to be musically different with each new record.

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“A lot of these songs started out as conversations about our lives, about what was going on in our lives with respect to the relationships, within ourselves … and then all of the sudden by the end of the day, we had a song that we would be singing over piano and acoustic guitar that was like a beautiful melodic song,” he said at the time.

Bennington also said he had a deeper appreciation for his bandmates.

“It’s not usual for a group of guys to be in a creative endeavour, especially six people, for almost 20 years and at the end of each year grow closer, as friends, as partners in our situation and have an even deeper understanding of how to work with each other,” he said. “As opposed to even with marriages and stuff, as time goes on, things kind of diminish and things kind of get a little bit reckless or something. I found myself going, ‘Man, we really have something special.’”

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