Welcome to Episode 21 of the Loudwire Podcast. Instead of having a musician to interview, podcast hosts Graham Hartmann and Joe DiVita sat down to dissect Linkin Park’s new pop direction and the multitude of reactions from music fans.

Before launching into our Linkin Park Rant, we took a moment to remember Soundgarden legend Chris Cornell. With the news of Cornell’s death, millions of fans worldwide have been mourning the loss of the gigantic talent. Graham and Joe share a few words on Cornell’s importance and near-unparalleled vocal abilities, even getting nostalgic about hearing Soundgarden for the first time.

As for our Linkin Park discussion, we tried to cover all the bases. Did Linkin Park sell out? Is the new album, One More Light, a stab to the heart of rock music? Is the band attempting to become “bigger” than rock? What the hell is guitarist Brad Delson going to do on an album that seemingly has no guitars on it?

We recently had Seether over for an interview, so we asked their opinion on Linkin Park’s change. The answer we received was short, but cutting to say the least. “If you want to turn your back on your entire fan base, go for it, man,” says frontman Shaun Morgan. “If they can switch from being what they were to something completely different, then obviously there’s no integrity as far as I’m concerned.”

Take a listen to Episode 21 of the Loudwire Podcast above! Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and YouTube so you never miss an episode. Linkin Park's One More Light will be released worldwide May 19.

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