Linkin Park‘s latest track ‘Heavy’ may have, ah, let’s say divided fans, but according to the frontman of the one-time nu metal outfit, Chester Bennington, the song has at least one supporter in Slipknot head honcho Corey Taylor.
To recap, ‘Heavy’ is a taste of Linkin Park’s forthcoming seventh LP One More Light, and the song is somewhat ironically named. That is, Heavy is likely the least heavy and most pop-centric song Linkin Park have ever given us and while Bennington did warn the band’s new album would challenge their fans, some just weren’t having a bar of this new direction.
Corey Taylor, though, is apparently on board. Speaking with AMP Radio, as reported by Loudwire, Bennington said when he showed Taylor some of Linkin Park’s new songs the Slipknot frontman gave them the “thumbs up”.
“I do shows with Corey from Slipknot. We do shows with this band called Kings of Chaos and we share the stage. We just love music, dude,” recounts Bennington.
“I had the chance to play him some new songs and I was like ‘I know you hate pop music..I’m just letting you know, this is pretty poppy. And he listened to ‘Heavy’ and I played him a couple of other songs and he was like, ‘Dude, these are great’.”
“The thing is I feel like when you write a good song, it doesn’t matter what style it is, as long as the substance of the song is good,” adds Bennington. “So I felt good. I was, like, ‘All right. Corey’s down with it. All right, I got a thumbs up from the Prince Of Darkness’.”
During the interview, Bennington also hints at plans for an “around the world” tour and refers to Linkin Park as “The Backstreet Boys of hard rock”.
One More Light is out Friday, 19th May. Watch the full interview here below and give ‘Heavy’ a spin here below.
