In 2004 Linkin Park went on hiatus and we fans were promised two solo albums – in 2005 Mike Shinoda released a purely Hip-Hop album ‘The Rising Tied’ and then in 2007 Linkin Park released Minutes to Midnight – where was my second solo album?

As a rock chick it was the angry screaming, powerful music and moshpit craziness that drew me to Linkin Park. In 2001, Chester Bennington’s voice capable of sounding both violently aggressive and soothingly pleasant was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard (and Rob Bourdon the most beautiful man I’d ever seen). Over the years Chester teased us with guest vocals, solo appearances at Club Tattoo parties, and twitter posts promising that the album would be ready soon. And now, five years later, my waiting is over – Chester Bennington and his friends from Julien-K bring us Dead by Sunrise: ‘Out of Ashes’.

Out of Ashes is everything I was waiting for and more – it’s heavy and angry and screaming – it’s appealing to the Linkin Park fan having both the familiar elements I love, yet works as a separate and truly awesome entity. On hearing single ‘Crawl back In’ I’d been expecting something grungy, reminiscent of Chester’s (pre-Linkin Park) band Grey Daze, but with the influence of Julien-K the sound takes on a much more industrial style.  The lyrics are personal, not the Bennoda universal-feeling-applicable-to-anyone-and-everyone. These are purely Chester’s songs, songs about his life, his feelings, his divorce, his new wife and even making love…certainly not something found on a Linkin Park album.

Opening with a heavy intro ‘Fire’ has Hybrid-Theory-Chester screaming and eases the Linkin Park fan in. The song, however, is about moving on, letting go and heaven – it’s beautiful, sad and hopeful: ‘When I look to the stars, I know just where you are, you’re looking down upon me.’
Similarly, ‘Inside Of Me’ and ‘Condemned’ could be Linkin Park but with the added metal bonus of guitar solos – they’re heavy and angry, something to scream along to when you need to vent!

The addition of Julien-K/Orgy’s Ryan Shuck and Amir Derakh has clearly influenced the industrial sounding ‘My Suffering’ and ‘End of the World’, which lyrically and musically would fit onto ‘Year Zero’. Whereas break up song ‘Let Down’, written about Chester’s divorce from his first wife, sounds to be influenced by earlier Industrial music with a synthesised 1980s feel. Chester’s voice is powerful but soft, showing more range and depth than just his signature screaming, as with ballads ‘Too Late’ and ‘Into You’, building harmonies and thickening the vocals, making the song much fuller than when performed live. The unanswered question for ‘Walking In Circles’: does it include a guest female vocalist or can someone in the band really sing that high?

And if you’re looking for something a little naughtier: Chester’s wife, Talinda, has said that the album contains songs about their love and happiness – ‘Give Me Your Name’ was written for the first dance at their wedding, and incredibly sexy song ‘In The Darkness’ is about making love. These are songs that make a single girl like me want to fall in love and meet someone I can dance with; there’s romance and a sexiness fitting for both foreplay and weddings.