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MTV has reported that Linkin Park are to ditch their successful nu-metal sound in favour of a mix of the music that inspired them to form a band in the first place - hip-hop and punk-rock.
"We're ripping that out," said frontman Chester Bennington of the band's nu-metal sound. "It's completely gone." The as-yet-untitled third album is due for release next year.
The singer continued:
"We've always been known for mixing a lot of different genres of music and not pigeonholing ourselves in one particular sound, but by doing so, we've kind of pigeonholed ourselves into our sound.
"It sounds strange, but there's a common thread that people are going to expect, and we're trying to pull that out of the new music."
Rick Rubin is producing the album alongside the band's own Mike Shinoda. Bennington concluded:
"We've always said we write the music we write so that we can spread our wings as far as we want and try new things and go anywhere. I think we're really going to prove that with this new record."
