Why was early Linkin Park so fucking good

The title says it all, their first two albums are genuinely some of the greatest albums of all time, but they couldn't really recapture it until The Hunting Party imo, which is ALSO up there as one of the greatest albums ever made

I like Minutes to Midnight but it's not as good as Meteora or Hybrid Theory, it's like comparing a 7/10 to a 10/10, Given Up is still my favorite Linkin Park song though

But I REALLY didn't like A Thousand Suns, same with Living Things, and the less said about One More Light, the better, From Zero was pretty good too, at least, though it took me a minute to get used to Emily's vocals

Listen to some of their demos from HT:

Pictureboard and She Couldn't

A1KS is a great record, probably the best stuff they put out after Meteora

cuz humans are inconsistent and nobody can make the same kind of album twice. it's part of the beauty of life.