Ever since the early-aughts super-combo of Hybrid Theory and Meteora, Linkin Park has been doing something popular artists just don't do, going off-menu. Chester Bennington, Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, Joe Hahn and Mike Shinoda collectively came to the hard decision to deviate from the foundation of their success in search of fresh new sounds and ideas. On the records that followed, Minutes to Midnight and A Thousand Suns, Linkin Park made the courageous leap into the unknown. Living Things is a personal album, centered on human emotions and relationships, implied by the title. It is informed by and built upon all previous Linkin Park albums, while still pushing the band's sound into new territory. It's spirited, energetic, daring and unafraid to hybridize the past, present and future. It's absolute proof to a radical theory six musicians have devoted their lives to testing.