LINKIN PARK: New Album Title, Release Date Confirmed

The anticipation and rumors about multi-platinum Grammy award-winning LINKIN PARK's third studio album were finally answered today, with the announcement that the record, entitled "Minutes to Midnight", will hit stores May 15 on Warner Bros. Records/Machine Shop Recordings. Co-produced by Mike Shinoda and 2007 Grammy "Producer of The Year" Rick Rubin (U2, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, RUN DMC),"Minutes to Midnight" was recorded at the infamous Mansion at Laurel Canyon and is already being touted by critics who have heard it as the band's best and most important work to date. The first single, "What I've Done", will be released worldwide April 2, 2007.

"We have put more into the new album than anything we have ever done before," says bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell. The band spent over 14 months in the studio and wrote more than 100 song demos in the making of "Minutes To Midnight", an album which vocalist Mike Shinoda sees as, "a breakthrough in the development of the band's sound. We wrote in new ways, and used instruments and equipment we hadn't experimented with before, from vintage guitars and amps to mellotron to Rick's original 808 drum machine he used on the BEASTIE BOYS first record. We tried to question every step in our songwriting process." Producer Rick Rubin agrees, "They really are reinventing themselves, it doesn't sound like rap-rock. There's very strong songwriting. It's very melodic...a progressive record."

The coming weeks will see the launch of LPTV, a series of webisodes that can be viewed on www.linkinpark.com. The series will focus on "unseen footage of the history of LINKIN PARK, building up to an inside look at the studio experience of the new album," says Farrell. LINKIN PARK will headline the second day of this summer's Bamboozle music festival on May 6 in New Jersey before embarking on a headlining European tour in June. Next month, the band expects to announce plans for "a summer tour with an un-missable lineup," says Shinoda. "I know that's not a word, but this tour is worth making up words for."

LINKIN PARK is Chester Bennington (vocals),Rob Bourdon (drums),Brad Delson (guitar),Joe Hahn (DJ),Dave "Phoenix" Farrell (bass),and Mike Shinoda (vocals). They have earned two Grammy Awards, the first for "Best Hard Rock Performance" in 2002 with their hit single "Crawling" and the second for "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration" with JAY-Z in 2006 for the innovative "Numb/Encore". LINKIN PARK has sold 40 million records worldwide since their debut in 2000. The diamond-certified "Hybrid Theory" has alone sold more than 18 million copies. In addition, LINKIN PARK established Music For Relief with the Red Cross in January 2005 to help aid victims of world catastrophes and combat global warming.