LINKIN PARK's 'The Hunting Party' Projected To Sell 100K-110K First Week

LINKIN PARK's sixth studio album, "The Hunting Party", is likely to sell between 100,000 and 110,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to industry web site Hits Daily Double. The estimate was based on one-day sales reports compiled after the record arrived in stores on June 17 via Machine Shop Recordings/Warner Bros.

The LINKIN PARK bandmembers, especially singer-producer Mike Shinoda, have been very vocal about returning to harder-edged rock on this record as a response to the poppier sounds heard on alternative rock radio at the moment. Shinoda explained that he was tired of what he was hearing on the airwaves. "I just couldn't take it," he told The Pulse Of Radio. "I was listening to stuff and I really just was getting frustrated. I was actually listening to my own demos and I wasn't happy with those either. And yeah, there was a point at which we just kind of did an about face and I said to the guys, like, 'I've just kind of scrapped everything that we've been working on, like we can go back to it if we want to, but I made some new things and I think this is the direction for the album.' And that's what I played them."

"The Hunting Party" follows up 2012's "Living Things" and features the singles "Guilty All The Same" and "Until It's Gone".

Guests on "The Hunting Party" include RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello, HELMET mainman Page Hamilton, SYSTEM OF A DOWN axeman Daron Malakian and rapper Rakim.

Shinoda told Radio.com about the new album, "Rock music has gone in this direction that's like indie pop jingles. It's like songs that could be on Nick Jr. and the Disney Channel. I can't see myself writing music like that. I don't want to follow that trend. Forget it!"

He added, "I'm not under the impression that we've made the heaviest album of all time. But I do know that what's going on out there in rock music, is that rock music, even the most popular bands, is not really influencing the zeitgeist."

LINKIN PARK will head out this summer with 30 SECONDS TO MARS and AFI on the "Carnivores Tour", which kicks off on August 8 in West Palm Beach, Florida.