Linkin Park The Hunting Party 2LP (Translucent Light Blue Vinyl)

The Hunting Party is the sixth studio album by Linkin Park and was self-produced by members Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson. It is their first album since Meteora not to be produced with Rick Rubin. The title of the album is a metaphor for the group searching to bring back the energy and soul of rock.

The album finds a departure from their recent electronic rock sound. It is simply "a rock record" as described by Shinoda and serves as a statement by the band against contemporary mainstream bands accused by him as "trying to be other bands and playing it safe."

Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and hip-hop artist Rakim are among the few guest artists to appear on the album.

The Hunting Party has produced five singles including "Guilty All the Same," "Until It's Gone," "Wastelands," "Rebellion," and "Final Masquerade."

There's a war going down on the new Linkin Park album, the band's first since 2003 not produced by Rick Rubin. Without the guidance of their bearded generalissimo, these Cali rap-rock commandos go rogue, flinging missiles in all directions. They attack record companies, politicians, rule makers, exes, and anyone else in sight, all the while rediscovering the savage fun of super-loud guitars.

The band has described 'The Hunting Party' as a prequel to 'Hybrid Theory,' their mega-selling 2000 debut, and while the members work in plenty of the pretty synths and electro bits they've explored over the last decade, they spend much of this record pummeling away like back in the day. The aggressive sound fits with the defensive lyrics, and the group arrives reinvigorated, ready for a fight. Mike Shinoda apparently ditched early demos that would have sent Linkin Park further into electronic territory, and given the ferocity of this music, his band mates seem thrilled by that decision.