Shinedown’s lead vocalist Brent Smith thinks Linkin Park will do well with their new singer, Emily Armstrong.
“I said to myself, I believe Rock N’ Roll will be OK… And so today I will say Linkin Park will be more than OK…,” said Smith on Instagram, recalling the first time he heard Armstrong on Dead Sara’s hit song ‘Weatherman.’
The rocker continued, “I know the Internet is a blaze with comments of criticism and also of praise from fans all over the world. Something to think about … Do you honestly believe that the members of this ICONIC Band truly think that of all people Chester Bennington is replaceable???”
“The entire world knows he will never be replaceable because he was one of a kind,” he added about Chester Bennington. “But with all that being said there is an audience that miss this band, and their presence, and what they represent. So I asked you, ALL of you… Give them the opportunity to not close their chapter. Allow them to celebrate their legacy, and also the opportunity to create a new one.”
Linkin Park is back making music, seven years after Bennington’s death. On September 5, they said Armstrong is their new singer and shared plans for a new album and tour this fall. Emily had her first performance the same day in a livestream concert.
“There is so much to this band — this is a very, very important band to this world,” the singer said about joining Linkin Park. “And the integrity of the band was really helpful in keeping me grounded. There were so many of those moments where it was like, ‘Holy sh*t,’ when you talk about the size of the shows, stuff like that. I’m on cloud nine, but then it hits you that there’s a lot of work to be done.”
She added, “And going into these [older] songs, by a singular voice that’s beloved by so many people — it’s like, ‘How do I be myself in this, but also carry on the emotion and what he brought in this band?’ That was the work that I had to do. The feeling, the energy, was already there as we were doing the album, so it’s just incorporating that feeling.”
Linkin Park will release a new 11-track album, ‘From Zero,’ on November 15. It’s their first album since 2017. The lead single, ‘The Emptiness Machine,’ came out on Thursday