Linkin Park is facing a New Divide.
The California-based rock band revealed that it has reunited for a new tour and music seven years after the death of longtime frontman Chester Bennington — and tapped rocker Emily Armstrong to join the group as a co-vocalist.
Armstrong and new drummer Colin Brittain debuted with Linkin Park on Thursday as part of its live stream, showcasing the band’s new single “The Emptiness Machine” alongside returning members Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell and Joe Hahn.
“This is a very special day for us,” Shinoda told the crowd, consisting of exclusive fan club members. “In the role of Chester Bennington, this afternoon is each of you.”
Linkin Park asked Armstrong — also the lead singer of the rock band Dead Sara — to join the iconic group around Sept. 2023.
Armstrong said she cleared it with her Dead Sara bandmates who encouraged her to jump on the opportunity before accepting the gig.
“I was panicking in the best way: ‘Is it real?’ For three days at least, I don’t ever remember touching the ground,” Armstrong told Billboard. “And then everything was different when I came back down — knowing my life was going to be different, in the best way. I came back to a dreamland.
Brittain is replacing founding member Rob Bourdon who “decided to step away” because he wanted to put distance between him and his former bandmates.
According to a press release from the band, Shinoda, Delson, Farrell, and Hahn quietly began meeting up again in recent years and opposed to “trying to restart the band,” they would meet up with “various friends and cohorts to join them in the studio; among the guests, they found a special kinship with Armstrong and Brittain.”
Armstrong said while growing up, she would “mosh” and “skate” to Linkin Park’s 2000 album “Hybrid Theory” and the music even made her want to be a singer.
The rap-rock band revealed its newest record “From Zero” is set to be released Nov.15 and is taking fans one step closer to hearing what’s to come with a limited world tour making stops in Los Angeles, New York, Hamburg (Germany), London, Seoul (South Korea) and Bogota (Colombia) starting Sept. 11.
The new album title holds a special place in the hearts of the founding members because they initially called their band Xero but renamed it Linkin Park after Bennington joined as the frontman.
The announcement marks the first time the Grammy-winning group has released new music since Bennington committed suicide at his home in Los Angeles two months after the debut of Linkin Park’s last album “One More Light.”
Armstrong said she worked hard to “carry on the emotion” that Bennington brought to the band.
“You got to marry the technical part and the emotion. It’s Chester’s voice, and it’s mine, but I want it to still feel the way I feel when I listen to the song, because that’s what the fans love. There is a passion to it that I’m hoping I can fill,” Armstrong said.
Many fans online have embraced the band’s return with Armstrong on center stage.
“With the grittiness of her voice, I think she’s a great pick for them. I’m happy to see she’s getting such a positive reaction so far. I hope she only gets better as she gets more comfortable with the band,” one Linkin Park supporter wrote on Reddit.
“She’s by no means Chester, and no one ever will be, but I’m very open to this change and I think she’s going to fill his shoes just fine,” another fan wrote.
“She needs some guidance on how to know when less is more,” another fan commented on the social media platform.
But some other fans are not as enthusiastic.
“This just isn’t right. It seems desperate, and she isn’t the fit for Chesters role,” one fan wrote.
“Not great at all. Not great at all. Also, call it something else besides Linkin Park,” another wrote.
