Linkin Park - From Zero: A Capellas Review

Linkin Park continues to treat their fans right! With how popular "From Zero" has been since its release on November 15, 2024, the band has decided to go ahead and release the acapellas for the vocals! Now this may seem like a cash grab, but I honestly think it's a great idea. For one thing, Linkin Park did multiple acapella albums with Chester Bennington, and with this being Emily Armstrong's first album with the band, I think it's really cool to hear just her and Mike Shinoda's vocals without all of the instruments involved. On top of the acapella album, I also hope we get an instrumentals album too. If Linkin Park decides to release one, I will be sure to review it for you guys!

As always, this review will be track-by-track, and I'll be focusing on what stands out to me most from each song! Here are my thoughts:

"From Zero (Intro) (A Cappella)" - Not really going to put much here. Because this is an intro, it's basically the same as the original song!

"The Emptiness Machine (A Cappella)" - The vocoders that you hear in the background of this chorus are really nice. Emily's vocals are fantastic throughout the song. One thing I noticed in this version of the song is that the choir used in the album's intro is used in the chorus of this song as well!

"Cut the Bridge (A Cappella)" - It's interesting to me that this song also has a choir and vocoders. One thing I appreciate about this version of "Cut the Bridge" is that you can understand Emily's vocals a lot better! In the original song, I genuinely struggled to understand some of the words, especially in the chorus!

"Heavy Is the Crown (A Cappella)" - "Heavy is the Crown" is easily one of the best songs from the original album. It's really fascinating hearing Emily's super long scream towards the end of the song. I never realized how gnarly it truly was until I heard the acapella version of the track! Mike's ability to rap is also fantastic, and should not be left unrecognized!

"Over Each Other (A Cappella)" - "Over Each Other" was easily my least favorite from the album. It wasn't bad a song, it was just that it lacked energy and direction. I definitely want to give credit to Emily for her clean vocals on this track though, because she killed it! That in itself made me appreciate this song a little more!

"Casualty (A Cappella)" - "Casualty" has some of the craziest vocals on the whole album. Even Mike is screaming! Some of the things I noticed from the acapella that I hadn't heard on the original album are Emily's "OUGHHH" noise she makes. She also screams out "Let's get out alive!" right before Mike's verses! As awkward as this track sounds acapella, there are definitely some things that stand out!

"Overflow (A Cappella)" - "Overflow" proves that not only can Emily scream, she can hit some high notes really well. That, to me, is what makes her good for Linkin Park. Obviously, she isn't identical to Chester in terms of how she sounds, but the fact that she can do both rough and clean vocals is really impressive. Overall, this acapella track is pretty awesome!

"Two Faced (A Cappella)" - I must admit, I had no clue Emily was saying "Get right" at the beginning of the song! Her vocals are crazy (in a good way) throughout this track, especially in the breakdown and towards the end! It's funny, because the lyrics of this song seem to match her vocals pretty much perfectly!

"Stained (A Cappella)" - Now that I've heard the acapella vocals for "Stained", there are two things that need to happen. I need to hear an ILLENIUM remix of this song OR I need Emily Armstrong on an ILLENIUM track! Considering that ILLENIUM has had a bunch of rock and metal artists/bands collab with him, and also considering "Stained" sounds like one of his songs, I think it could work really well! Emily is a great singer, so I think she would mix well with some melodic dubstep drops!

"IGYEIH (A Cappella)" - "IGYEIH" includes more awesome vocals from Emily and Mike! Her screams are great, I'd say they're some of the album's best, just below "Heavy Is the Crown" and "Two Faced"! It's just another track that proves the talent of Emily and Mike!

"Good Things Go (A Cappella)" - Mike's vocal performance on this album is phenomenal, but Emily's background vocals are great. They both a really good job showcasing their ability, even though this song is one of the album's calmest! I think it's insane how high Emily's vocals go on this track!

Overall, this was a really unique experience! I really hope we get an instrumentals version of the album soon as well! I won't be giving this album a rating, because it's just acapellas, but if you consider yourself a diehard Linkin Park, then it's absolutely worth a listen! - Elliott Dudoit