Linkin Park

Linkin Park, once a cautionary tale on how rap rock could go wrong, reinvented itself with last year’s A Thousand Suns. The reinvention garnered Radiohead and Pink Floyd comparisons, and, maybe even more amazingly, that’s what the guys were going for. Whether it qualifies as daring to mine either band in 2010 is a separate question, and there are still more than a few moments of vomit-screaming, bro-rock climaxes on the new album. But there is unprecedented subtlety as well, a new depth, radio-unfriendly sound samples, genuine unease. They even wander dangerously close to beauty once or twice, and that is a surprising word to use to describe this band. Forget the dead-eyed assholes in high school in the Linkin Park merch, and you may catch yourself enjoying this new look. (Stop by backbeatblog.com for a full Q&A with Brad Delson.)