Xero - Xero (1997)

Before they were called Linkin Park, they were Xero, and before I was called "retarded" by the guys I went to school with, I was called "a complete social autist". I guess both of those are steps in the right direction.

This is actually pretty neat in concept! Before they ever had vocalist Chester Bennington, they had vocalist Mark Wakefield in his spot. They sound a little similar but it makes sense. One thing worth noting is that rapper Mike Shinoda's rapping was generally a lot more underground influenced on this demo, which, by the way, is just four tracks. Two of which, "Rhinestone "and "Stick N Move" contain elements of later Linkin Park songs "Forgotten" and "Runaway" respectively. Neat shit.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the entire demo is the hip-hop track "Fuse", which suffers from a pretty shitty chorus that (in my perception) doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the song lyrically, but still, surprises me that they never reworked this track or performed it live, same with "Stick N Move" which actually has a nice little raw beat in the verses.

The raw nature of the sound quality sounds cool and adds to it more than it detracts, but it still doesn't change the fact that the songs here just aren't that great. Aside from the moments that were later redone by vocalists Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda on "Hybrid Theory", the choruses sound out of place lyrically, and vocalist Mark Wakefield isn't exactly the greatest vocalist alive.

This isn't a hidden gem for Linkin Park haters to hear and go "DAMN, I WAS WRONG ABOUT THESE GUYS, JIMMY!!" and fellate your music taste, but just a little something for the fans to listen to and circlejerk over. Repeatedly.

6/10