Linkin Park

By Daniel Belvis

Linkin Park is a music band formed in Agoura Hills in Los Angeles, California. Their style is somewhere between nu metal and rap metal, but on their album Minutes to Midnight their sound turns into alternative rock, while their newest album, A Thousand Suns, feels more experimental.

The band has sold more than 500 million CDs and has already won two Grammy awards. Linkin Park became famous with their Hybrid Theory album, which has sold more than 30 million copies, becoming the second highest selling album of the 21st century.

Their second album, Meteora, furthered their success, selling 800,000 copies in the first week after its release and more than three million copies in 2003. Their third album, Collision Course, was a mixture of their songs and songs by the rapper Jay-Z, with good results, such as Numb/Encore and Lying From You/Dirt Off Your Shoulder.

Their fourth record, Minutes to Midnight, was highly critiziced but, in my opinion, it is really worth a listen, at least in part. Their latest album, A Thousand Suns, is a bit more experimental but has been a real success.

Members:

Chester Bennington (vocals)

Mike Shinoda (vocals (MC); Keyboard/piano)

Brad Delson (guitar)

Joe Hahn (synthesizer, DJ, sampler)

Rob Bourdon (battery, percussion)

Dave Farrell (bass)

Discography:

Hybrid Theory (2000)

Meteora (2003)

Collision Course (2004)

Minutes to Midnight (2007)

A Thousand Suns (2010)

Songs I Recommend:

Hybrid Theory:

Papercut, One Step Closer, Crawling, In the End, A Place For My Head

Meteora:

Somewhere I Belong, Lying From You, Easier To Run, Faint, Breaking the Habit, From The Inside, Numb

Minutes to Midnight:

Given Up, Leave Out All The Rest, Bleed It Out, Shadow Of The Day, What I've Done, In Pieces

A Thousand Suns:

Burning In The Skies, Waiting For The End, The Catalyst Blackout, Wretches And Kings.

PS: If you saw the movie Transformers, it features a song from Linkin Park called New Divide, a song that I also recommend listening to.

Iron Maiden

By Kyle Pearson

Iron Maiden is a legend of heavy metal, a music style based on making a lot of noise, putting a lot of distortion on the guitar and placing great emphasis on the drums.

The name comes from a medieval torture, or way to kill somebody, that consisted in putting a person in a coffin with nails and closing it.

Iron Maiden as a band began in 1975 in Leyton (East London). The band members are:

-Bruce Dickinson (lead vocals), Dave Murray (guitar), Adrian Smith (guitar backing vocals), Janick Gers (guitar), Steve Harris (bass, backing vocals and studio keybords), Nicko McBrian.

Their influences include Queen, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Cream and the Who.

Over 30 years they have sold more than 80 million records, and they have made close to 2,000 live performances.

After playing for three years they recorded their first EP (The Soundhouse Tape), which launched them to fame, although their big success arrived in 1982 with the record The Number of the Beast. They have been playing non-stop since then. Their latest album is called the Final Frontier.

They are considered one of the best heavy metal bands in the history of music and certainly one of the pioneers in this style of music.

A lot of other bands have tried to copy them but, obviously, without a doubt, they are unique.