An interesting 'mash-up' between nu-metallers Linkin Park and hip hop uber-mogul and former Glastonbury headliner Jay Z, combining two songs: 'Numb' from Linkin Park's 'Meteora' LP and 'Encore' from Jay Z's 'Black Album'. This track works well as it adds quite a bit to the usual Linkin Park formula which basically goes: quiet bit, quiet meaningful bit, loud shouty bit, end. Nothing wrong with having a template to work from, but it can all get a bit samey. Numb/Encore avoids that by introducing Jay-Z for the first half, rapping over a fairly basic backing track reinforced with a nice chord progression, which segues into the main hook of 'Numb' while the main guitars are dropped altogether. Rather than just remix the two together, the artists actually re-recorded whole sections of the songs to ensure that everything sat together correctly. One not just for fans of Jay Z and Linkin Park, it stands as a decent track in its own right. ~Martin Gadgil. Copyright (c) Shazam Entertainment Limited 2009. All rights reserved

 more