Linkin Park has regrouped and is making music once again — seven years after the death of frontman Chester Bennington.
On Sept. 5, the California-based band announced Emily Armstrong as the new vocalist and announced plans for a new album and tour this fall. Armstrong, previously of the Los Angeles-based rock band Dead Sara, made her debut the same day during a livestream concert.
What was Linkin Park’s big announcement?
After a big tease with a countdown clock on social media, the rap-rock band dropped the news that it had reunited after going on hiatus following Bennington’s death.
Armstrong joins as co-lead vocalist and there’s a new drummer, Colin Brittain, replacing Rob Bourdon. The group, composed of longtime members co-lead vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell and DJ Joe Hahn, was founded in 1996.
Linkin Park, one of the bestselling bands of the 21st century, will release an 11-track studio album, From Zero, on Nov. 15, which will be the band’s first since 2017’s One More Light. Its lead single, “The Emptiness Machine,” was released Thursday.
The band will hit the road on a six-city tour with shows in Los Angeles (Sept. 11), Brooklyn, N.Y. (Sept. 16), Hamburg, Germany (Sept. 22), London (Sept. 24), Seoul, South Korea (Sept. 28) and Bogotá, Colombia (Nov. 11).
It plans a more extended tour in 2025.
What happened to the band after Bennington’s death?
Two months after One More Light was released and days before the band was to embark on a tour, Bennington died by suicide at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., on July 20, 2017. He was 41. The singer struggled with depression and substance use, said his wife, Talinda, who has since been an outspoken advocate for awareness around mental health.
The band went on hiatus shortly after Bennington’s death though it held a tribute concert later that year for the frontman. Since then, the group has put out several rereleases, including 20th anniversary editions of Hybrid Theory in 2020 and Meteora in 2023. Earlier this year, it released Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000–2023).
As for what the band members have been doing outside of Linkin Park, Shinoda released solo albums, including Post Traumatic in 2018 and the multi-volume Dropped Frames in 2020. For the most part, Delson, Farrell, Hahn and Bourdon (the band’s drummer, who isn’t returning for this regroup) stopped making music.
What are the band members saying about the new chapter?
The four remaining founders of the band — initially formed as Xero before Bennington joined and the name was changed to Linkin Park — said in a statement that they started spending time together again in recent years to “reconnect with the creativity and camaraderie” of their early days.
The new album’s title, From Zero, the band’s eighth studio album, is a nod to their original band name and signifies both their “humble beginning and the journey we’re currently undertaking. Sonically and emotionally, it is about past, present and future — embracing our signature sound, but new and full of life. It was made with a deep appreciation for our new and longtime bandmates, our friends, our family and our fans.”
In an interview with Billboard, Farrell said there “wasn’t an endgame” as far as Linkin Park went, with Shinoda saying, “Everybody’s always close, even if they’re not talking all the time.”
For the last several years, they would get together and make music. They met Armstrong in 2019 when she came into the studio for three days. They stayed in touch and worked together again. Shinoda said the idea was never “‘Hey, come in, we’re doing Linkin Park sessions.’” It just evolved.
A year ago they decided to bring back the band with Armstrong but kept it a secret. Hahn explained, “Part of working under darkness was simply the fact that we didn’t know how far we would get in our efforts. We didn’t want to set ourselves or anyone else up for disappointment if we weren’t able to do it.”
They weren’t even sure Armstrong would say yes because she had her own thing going on. When they asked her and she said yes, she recalled thinking, “‘Is it real?’ For three days at least, I don’t ever remember touching the ground. And then everything was different when I came back down — knowing my life was going to be different, in the best way.”
Shinoda said that now as they head out on tour, they’ll see how the new grouping is received. To him “it’s been better than I imagined. Emily was always going to be able to hit the notes and scream the parts. It’ll be a question of, ‘How does it land with people?’ And I don’t know how it will. But I know that, when I hear it, I love it.”
Of taking the torch, Armstrong said, “There is so much to this band — this is a very, very important band to this world. … It’s Chester’s voice, and it’s mine, but I want it to still feel the way I feel when I listen to the song, because that’s what the fans love. There is a passion to it that I’m hoping I can fill.”
Shinoda also addressed the departure of drummer Bourdon. He said starting a few years ago Bourdon “wanted to put some distance between himself and the band.” While it’s sad, as longtime friends, “I want him to do whatever makes him happy, and obviously everybody wishes him the best.”
So Linkin Park moves on — but while not forgetting the past, especially Bennington’s spirit and legacy.
During the livestream, Shinoda told the crowd, “In the role of Chester Bennington this afternoon is each of you.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call 911, call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 800-273-8255, or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
