"It’s good to see you again.” With those six, softly spoken words, shared in front of a couple of thousand elated people at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California on September 5, Mike Shinoda confirmed that 2024’s most unrelenting rumour was true. Seven years after they split following the death of talismanic frontman Chester Bennington, Linkin Park, the biggest, most storied, most influential rock band of the 21st century, were back.
Back with a single, The Emptiness Machine, and a forthcoming album, From Zero. Back with new live dates. And, most newsworthy of all, back with a brand new singer. The rumours had been building for months, beginning with a flurry of activity near the start of the year that included the unveiling of a previously unheard Linkin Park single (Friendly Fire, originally recorded during sessions for the band’s 2017 album, One More Light), and a random greatest hits release.
By April, Billboard wrote that the band were, according to sources, actively looking to book dates for “a potential tour”. “Rumours always go around,” Mike Shinoda told Revolver that month. “People always ask what’s next for the band, and the best answer I can ever give anybody is when there’s something to tell you, we will tell you.”
That “something” finally arrived on September 5, as a new-look Linkin Park announced their return to the world with that surprise show in Burbank. Streamed live on their YouTube channel, the hour-long show kicked off with The Emptiness Machine, followed by a set of classic LP bangers.
Three original members – Mike, turntablist Joe Hahn and bassist Dave ‘Phoenix’ Farrell – were joined by three newcomers, most notably Emily Armstrong, frontwoman of LA alt rockers Dead Sara and, it would appear, the brand new singer of Linkin Park. As the latter took the stage, she was greeted by raucous cheers from those in the building and an outpouring of emotion online.
“The beginning of the set, I can’t remember being so nervous,” Mike told KROQ the next day. “My brain was like scrambled eggs. And then, getting out there and seeing the fans… to see the look on their faces as we got into it was really special. I’ll never forget it.”
Neither will their fans. Many thought Linkin Park couldn’t – or shouldn’t – reunite without Chester, but the reception that greeted their return proved that appetite for the band hadn’t dimmed in their absence. Twenty-four years after they released their landmark debut album, Hybrid Theory, and seven years after the death of their frontman, it’s clear that Linkin Park still matter.
It took Linkin Park years to get a record deal, but once they did, things took off at a dizzying speed. They were formed in Agoura Hills, Los Angeles in the mid-90s by schoolfriends Mike Shinoda, drummer Rob Bourdon and guitarist Brad Delson. They’d cycle through various line-ups and band names before settling on Linkin Park.
By that time, the original trio had been joined by Joe Hahn, Dave Farrell and Chester Bennington, the latter a firethroated young vocalist from Arizona who had previously fronted alt rock four-piece Grey Daze. Released on October 24, 2000, Hybrid Theory was a cutting-edge, genre-splicing masterpiece that gave nu metal a whole new lease of life.
With its blend of heavy riffs, hooky hip hop, glitching electronica, hallmark Gen X angst and vocal trade-offs between Chester and Mike, it was an immediate hit, introducing a whole new generation of teenagers to metal.
“I remember Hybrid Theory coming out,” says Dani Winter-Bates, frontman of Bury Tomorrow. Dani was just 13 when the album arrived, and its impact on him was instant and profound. “Even then, before I was in a band, I understood the gravity of a debut album and how mental it was to be that good. I was obsessed with Chester’s flame tattoos: I used to draw them on myself at school.”
Twenty-four years and more than 30 million sales later, Hybrid Theory stands as the most influential album of the era. Its fingerprints are smeared across everything from Bring Me The Horizon’s bold sonic mash-ups to the nu gen stylings of Poppy, not to mention the music of Architects, Bad Omens and Spiritbox. There’s a direct line from metal’s current class of arena-ready superstars all the way back to those first few opening notes of Papercut.
“Hybrid Theory still sounds amazing to me,” Bring Me frontman Oli Sykes told Hammer in 2013, just as the band’s fourth album, Sempiternal, was blowing up. “I’m not at all ashamed to say that the vocal style on Sempiternal is influenced by Chester Bennington.”
“Hybrid Theory smashed down the walls of genres,” While She Sleeps frontman Loz Taylor tells Hammer today. “It showcased a new way forward.”
If Linkin Park had split after Hybrid Theory, their place in metal’s firmament would be secure, but their impact by no means ended there. The similarly lauded Meteora arrived three years later, followed by a journey that took the band through stadium rock, grunge, EDM and alt pop across the course of five subsequent albums.
Through it all, Chester Bennington remained the band’s focal point, defined by his heart-on-sleeve vulnerability and his ability to move people to tears with a delicate croon or straight-up scream the building down.
“I’d never heard anyone sing like Chester,” says Dani Winter-Bates. “He did that style of singing which is still sought after by pretty much every band in the scene.”
All this only made Chester’s death all the more devastating. When news broke that the 41-year-old singer had taken his own life on July 20, 2017, just two months after the release of their seventh album, One More Light, it was a huge shock. A true icon of modern metal was suddenly gone, lost to the demons that he had laid bare in his music.
“You touched so many lives, maybe even more than you realised,” said the band in a statement shared soon after Chester’s death. “We know that each of our lives was made better by you. Thank you for that gift. We love you, and miss you so much.”
Chester’s death not only impacted his bandmates on a personal level, leaving a deep emotional scar, it seemingly marked the end of Linkin Park. How could they carry on without the man who, for many, defined them?
“We were launching a record, we were just getting started with that, and everything came to a halt,” Mike Shinoda told Zane Lowe this year. “It felt like it got taken away. It felt like we had a thing that we were really happy with and proud of, and it was gone.”
Until September 5, 2024, that is. Keeping a high-profile reunion secret from the public is challenging enough, but to do it with a new singer, a whole new album and live shows in your back pocket? Unheard of. By that point, at least, the band’s fans knew something was happening.
A mysterious, 100-hour countdown was launched on Linkin Park’s website on August 24, sending the internet into meltdown as the band’s name trended for days on social media. Four days later, as fans watched with bated breath, the countdown finally hit zero… only to start counting back up again. Excitement turned to confusion, emotions sent into overdrive as Linkin Park’s social media channels began cryptically teasing a special fan event that’d be taking place on September 5 in Burbank.
“They did an amazing job keeping this under wraps,” says Jason Lipshutz, Billboard’s Executive Director of Music and author of the new book It Starts With One: The Legend And Legacy Of Linkin Park. As Mike Shinoda later revealed, the reunion was the result of almost five years of writing, experimenting, feeling each other out and, this year, finally putting the wheels in motion. Jason had been speaking to the band behind the scenes by this point. “I have to imagine a lot of people knew, especially because of the shows. I had to sign an NDA, and I’m sure other people did as well.”
By the evening of September 5, everyone knew. There they were on that Burbank stage: Linkin Park, but not quite as we knew them, playing those generational songs with not only a new singer, but a new touring guitarist, Alex Feder, and a new full-time drummer, Colin Brittain. Brad Delson had decided to keep his LP duties off the road, while Rob Bourdon had opted to “step away” from the band completely, according to Mike Shinoda.
Their return was inevitably defined by extreme reactions. Some fans were ecstatic about the band coming back, others were in despair over the idea of Linkin Park without Chester Bennington at the mic. Younger fans, many of whom had discovered Linkin Park in the years following Chester’s death, were excited at the prospect of getting to see the band live for the first time.
“It was only recently I discovered them,” says Chaya Beckett-Messam of nu gen duo ALT BLK ERA. Just 10 years old at the time of Chester’s death, Chaya first heard Linkin Park through Spotify and TikTok in 2022, and is now making music of her own. “I can imagine [the reunion] must feel upsetting for some people, especially if they grew up knowing the band with Chester. For me, I think they are honouring his memory but also creating their own legacy.”
Those excited by the news were emboldened by Linkin Park’s comeback single, The Emptiness Machine, a shimmering, urgent alt metal anthem straight out of the Meteora playbook that, alongside her performance in Burbank, immediately established Emily Armstrong as a worthy addition.
The vibes around the band seemed positive. And then the shit hit the fan. Just 24 hours after that comeback show, At The Drive-In/ The Mars Volta singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala criticised Emily Armstrong for her alleged ties to the Church Of Scientology and her friendship with actor and convicted rapist Danny Masterson. In a recirculated Instagram post, he wrote: “Do your fans know about your friend Danny Masterson? Your rapist friend.” (Bixler-Zavala and his wife, Chrissie Carnell Bixler, are former Scientologists themselves, and the latter had also accused Masterson of sexual assault).
The internet picked up on Bixler-Zavala’s post, prompting Emily Armstrong to respond with a statement of her own. “To say it as clearly as possible: I do not condone abuse or violence against women,” she wrote on Instagram, adding that she “misjudged” Masterson and has “never spoken to him since” (she has never spoken about her connection with Scientology, though her parents are prominent members of the Church).
While that seemed to quell the controversy, there was more to come. Chester Bennington’s son, Jaime, criticised the band, and Mike Shinoda in particular, accusing them of having “quietly erased my father’s life and legacy in real time”. Chester’s mother, Susan, stated that she felt “betrayed” by the band. While the controversies involving Emily and the Bennington family undoubtedly took a little shine off the reunion, neither came close to derailing it.
“I think what it speaks to is the sensitivity around the new co-vocalist for Linkin Park and just how protective fans are of this band that means so much to them,” says Jason Lipshutz. “Having gotten to know the band a good amount, and seeing how they operate, I trust them to make the right call and move forward in a in a smart way."
Linkin Park seem to be making the right calls so far. The comeback shows they have played – including a sold-out gig at London’s 20,000-capacity O2 arena on September 24 – have been rapturously received, as has subsequent single Heavy Is The Crown. The absence of Chester Bennington, while keenly felt, is outweighed by the overwhelming joy at having Linkin Park back. And it’s clear that they still have plenty to give.
New album From Zero – a reference to their pre-Chester incarnation as Xero and, in hindsight, the reason behind that mysterious countdown resetting – is the sound of a band revitalised, a genre-hopping, masterfully orchestrated Linkin Park that journeys through every era of their sound while still sounding fresh and rooted in the rock and metal of 2024.
Could Shinoda et al have saved some hassle by releasing it under another moniker? Undoubtedly, but as much as Chester’s presence is missed, there can be no doubting it: From Zero is a Linkin Park album, and worthy of the name.
“To call it anything else would be strange and misleading,” Mike told Billboard. “We teach our kids that when you fall down, you have to get back up and you have to go try again, right? The idea of us doing some other thing, with this group of people and the sound of this music, feels like it would have been a resignation, in a way… it would feel like hedging a bet.”
With From Zero due to drop in mid-November and rumours of more live dates incoming, this doesn’t feel like a victory lap so much as the start of a new chapter for the band. Where it all leads remains to be seen. For now, though, it seems most fans are simply celebrating the unlikely return of a band that has meant so much to this scene for so long.
“It’s a really good thing that Linkin Park have continued and that they haven’t fizzled into insignificance,” says Dani Winter-Bates. “I think that would be an incredible shame for a band like that.”
Linkin Park certainly aren’t fizzling out. Far from it: judging by this comeback so far and how it’s all played out, they’re making more noise than ever.
From Zero is out now via Warner. Linkin Park are on tour in 2025; for the full list of tour dates, visit their official website.
