Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album) Linkin Park started work on their third studio album in 2003, taking a break to tour in support of "Meteora" in 2004. In this time period, the band formed numerous side projects; Mike Shinoda formed his hip hop side project Fort Minor, while Chester Bennington formed Dead by Sunrise, causing the album to be shelved temporarily. The band returned to work on the record afterward, taking on a different musical direction than the 2003 sessions while working with producer Rick Rubin. The album's completion was delayed several times for unknown reasons. Eventually, "What I've Done" was chosen as the album's
Minutes to Midnight (Linkin Park album) fans to use as the album art on iTunes. "Minutes to Midnight" received generally mixed reviews, based on an aggregate score of 56/100 from Metacritic, with critics showing approval, disapproval and indifference in almost equal measure. "Rolling Stone" gave "Minutes to Midnight" 4 out of 5 stars, stating that "most of "Minutes" is honed, metallic pop with a hip-hop stride and a wake-up kick", and it was placed at number 25 in their list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007. IGN referred to it as "definitely a step in the right direction and a stepping stone for things to