Linkin Park have shared the previously unreleased track Friendly Fire. Recorded during the 2017 sessions for their seventh album One More Light, it features a powerhouse vocal performance from the late Chester Bennington.
Cinematic keys and a delicate beat underline emotionally charged verses as humming guitar uplifts the introspective chorus, “We’re pulling apart for no reason, we’re pulling a trigger in a useless war…what are we fighting for.” It embodies the style, soul, and spirit of classic LP.
The song arrives accompanied by an official video, directed and edited by long-time collaborator Mark Fiore which features never-before-seen studio and live footage.
Speaking about Friendly Fire guitarist Brad Delson added, “‘Friendly Fire’ was always one of our favourite songs from the One More Light sessions. Something about it wasn’t quite right so as close as it got to the finish line, we chose to set it aside for later. When we started looking for an unreleased track to include on our greatest hits collection, I was blown away by the power of the song, the power of the storytelling, the power of the vocal, and the sonic landscape and I actually thought that it was closer than maybe we had realized at the time. We got together to work on it and connect some of the missing pieces that for whatever reason hadn’t revealed themselves during the recording of One More Light. I can’t wait for people to hear it. It’s such a beautiful, compelling, heartbreaking, hopeful story and it really resonates with me today.”
The track is lifted from the band's first-ever career-spanning greatest hits album Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023) due for release on April 12 via Warner Records. It will be available at all DSPs and in various physical configurations, including CD, Cassette, and double Vinyl. There are several limited edition colour vinyl variants for the latter, a Zoetrope picture disc and black vinyl. Fan enthusiasm and fervour for both Hybrid Theory (20TH Anniversary Edition) in 2020 and Meteora (20TH Anniversary Edition) last year ultimately inspired the band to curate and carefully piece together what would become Papercuts. It offers a comprehensive retrospective of their journey so far in the span of one album highlighted by everything from Crawling and Somewhere I Belong to the sought-after rarity QWERTY.
Mike Shinoda said, “In the making of each Linkin Park album, I want to love and believe in each song completely. I hope that if any one track is heard on its own in the world, it is something I can feel proud of and something that takes root inside the listener and becomes part of the energy that connects us." "Curating the tracks for Papercuts was a joy. Each song in this collection is both a singular moment on our timeline and an evolving story that is as much ours as it is yours. From our first release ‘One Step Closer’ to the brand-new ‘Friendly Fire,’ this tracklist spans all our chapters so far. Thank you for being a part of our journey. We hope you enjoy Papercuts.”
Maniacs is offering an exclusive Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023) T-Shirt Bundle.
Pre-order with your choice of music format now.
PAPERCUTS (Singles Collection 2000-2023) Tracklisting:
1. Crawling
2. Faint
3. Numb/Encore
4. Papercut
5. Breaking The Habit
6. In The End
7. Bleed It Out
8. Somewhere I Belong
9. Waiting For The End
10. Castle Of Glass
11. One More Light
12. Burn It Down
13. What I’ve Done
14. QWERTY
15. One Step Closer
16. New Divide
17. Leave Out All The Rest
18. Lost
19. Numb
20. Friendly Fire
Additionally, In The End just achieved a Diamond Certification (10x Million) from the RIAA. It stands out as the band’s most-streamed song with over 1.8 billion Spotify streams and 1.7 billion YouTube views on the music video. This marks their first Diamond Certification for a single. It notably graces the tracklisting of their 12x-platinum Diamond-Certified full-length debut, Hybrid Theory.
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