"Final Masquerade" by Linkin Park, Tuesday, September 14, 2021 [Trigger Warning: Suicide]

In the early 2010's Rock music began to fall out of favor. The artists who took up the call to keep the music alive and vital were often criticized as being too poppy. When writing Linkin Park's The Hunting Party, the band pivoted from the calmer electronic elements they had slowly been incorporating into their music and returned to their influences, '90s hard rock. Personally, I feel that The Hunting Party is the least listenable Linkin Park albums followed by their sloppy pop attempt on their follow up record, One More Light. The Hunting Party sounds like under-produced, early P.O.D.--all intensity, with nothing really interesting drawing the listener in. Laced with features from hard rock, metal, and hip hop, the album, in theory should be awesome. Hybrid Theory was an intense album, both lyrically and musically, but electronics and production made the band stand out among the Korns and Limp Bizkits of the day. However, The Hunting Party does contain one throw-back sounding song. "Final Masquerade" sounds like it would be at home on the band's 2010 release, A Thousand Suns. While the music isn't as intense as many of the tracks on THP, "Final Masquerade" is thematically heavy, and that's what makes it one of my favorites from one of my favorite 2000s rock band.

I CAN'T SEE FORGIVENESS AND YOU CAN'T SEE THE CRIME. Final Masquerade is an epic-sounding song, which uses lyrics that sound apocalyptic to talk about the breakdown of a relationship. Director Mark Pellington leans into the metaphor to create a music video that is somewhere between terrifying and heartbreaking. Scenes of death and devastation haunt the video. A baby cries in the middle of an empty, cracked street. An angel screams and weeps bitterly seeing the destruction. Men in jumpsuits and masks give an eerie feeling alluding to contamination. Given the imagery of the song and the music video and the fact that this is vocalist Chester Bennington's penultimate recording, many listeners have looked to Linkin Park's music, hearing the tortured cries for help Bennington penned within the band's music. Bennington had issues with substance abuse and depression throughout his life, which can be heard in the band's first singles. "Final Masquerade" speaks to the hopelessness one may feel when a relationship that the two people "said it was forever but then it slip[s] away." Whether or not this song biographical of Bennington, it was actually originally intended for co-vocalist Mike Shinoda to sing the song, but the band decided that Bennington's vocals better suited the atmosphere of the song.

ALL YOU EVER WANTED THE TRUTH I COULDN'T SPEAK. "I wanted to talk to you about something, Pastor Shin," Allan nervously played with the lines on his slacks. He looked at the director's greying streaks in his otherwise jet-black hair. Pastor Shin's eyes danced over to Allan, stiffly leaning planted in the folding chair in front of his desk. "You have my fullest attention. What can I help you with?" "Well, the other teachers wanted me to talk with you about something that's been happening lately," Allan swallowed. "You see, lately we've been receiving students even though registration was supposed to close. And our students are joining our class, confused. The other teachers and I would like this to stop. It's very difficult to catch our students up halfway through the course." There was a brief silence and Pastor Shin's smile faded. "You know, Allan, our institutes are not doing well these days. We have to do what we can to stay in business. We need the students to pay the rent for this place, however we can take them in." "The problem is, at the end of the course, the students don't sign up again because they cannot pass to the next level." "I've explained clearly to them that they must repeat the course at the end of the term. Nobody expects to pace if they only attend 40% of the classes." "But the students come to me asking, 'Teacher why didn't I pass. I want to study a higher level.'" "If they can study a higher level, that's your discretion" -- "But the company policy is very clear on attendance." "I'm saying we have to be flexible." Allan considered his next words for a few seconds before responding. "The problem is that I have a conflict of interest. Coordinator meetings are telling me to watch out for these kinds of things. They want to insure the quality of the program. They said to report to the main office when these protocols are broken." Pastor Shin grew silent as if the clouds had shifted before a storm. "Allan, if you do that," his voice broke as if he was fighting back tears, "our institute will be ruined. We'll join the growing list every term of institutes to be closed." He composed himself, "Look, you, Marley, Lily, and Naomi are the best teachers I've worked with--a dream team. You care so much for our institute; you all do. Please, don't say anything to the head office. It's an unspoken rule that directors have to make hard decisions. We have to do what we can to keep our doors open. And if we do that we can keep the ministry going in this city." Allan sat up straight, no longer nervous about what Pastor Shin might do or say. "Thank you Pastor Shin for your time. Please remind the students that if they join late, they cannot be promoted." With that Allan stood up and left through the seventies-orange door.

https://genius.com/Linkin-park-final-masquerade-lyrics

Official Music Video:

Excellent Live Recording: