MusicRadar

Brad Delson plays a PRS Custom 22 with Linkin Park in Pomona, California, 2009. © Paul Hebert/Icon SMI/Corbis

Ten years after releasing Hybrid Theory (with sales of over 10 million copies, it's one of the world's most successful debuts), Linkin Park have issued their fourth album, A Thousand Suns. Produced by Rick Rubin and Linkin Park co-vocalist Mark Shinoda, it's a meticulously crafted collection of songs - riveting hodgepodges, in many cases - that defies easy categorization.

Full of experimental sonic collages that shift seamlessly from rock to hip-hop to industrial grind, the album sees Shinoda and lead singer Chester Bennington rapping less and singing to an even greater degree than on the group's previous effort, 2007's Minutes To Midnight. "I think that this record is the latest step in the evolution of the band," says guitarist Brad Delson. "In terms of the direction that the group takes in the future, I believe and I hope that we'll continue to have the spirit of openness that's helped us to this place.

"With respect to the vocals, that's certainly been a defining factor, the openness and the talent that Mike and Chester have to tackle a lot of different styles, whether they're singing or rapping or complementing each other in various ways. It gives us a broader palette in the studio from which to draw, and it makes it a lot more fun."

Having just completed dates in South America and Europe, Delson is home in Los Angeles for a week before Linkin Park travel to Australia and then hit the US for a two-month trek. On a rare day off, he took time to talk to MusicRadar about the recording of A Thousand Suns. You're pretty much known for playing Paul Reed Smith guitars. Did you stick with those on the new album?

"You're not going to like this answer, but I played guitar as little as possible. You know, I started playing the guitar when I was 12, so that was 40 or 50 years ago…" [Delson is just shy of his 33rd birthday; he was born 1 December 1977.]

Yeah, right!

"So what was really inspiring for me was to work in the studio and try things that I wasn't familiar with or accustomed to. To be fair, I did play guitar on the record. However, overall, with respect to my contribution, the record was really driven by a lot of electronic experimentation, like keyboards. But a lot of that was done by taking conventional sounds and manipulating them in Pro Tools, using plug-ins and editing, to maybe even disguise the origin of the sound.

"Rick Rubin noticed early on and fastidiously encouraged us to maintain a standard where each sound in a song sounded unique and hand-crafted, and yet you don't know what it is. Something that sounds like a guitar may have been piano, or it may have been a vocal. Or if we used a guitar, we may have manipulated it to the point where you don't know what it is. The juxtaposition of all of these organic and synthetic sounds helped to craft the sonic identity of A Thousand Suns."

In doing this, however, did you feel less like a band? As opposed to being in a room and playing together, you're crafting and layering parts.

Around the web: