LINKIN PARK Vinyl Records and CDs

Naysayers predicted that this whole rap/rock thing would be dying a slow, silent death right about now, but instead of catching its second wind, it seems to be breathing just fine without needing to come up for air. Linkin Park are the latest guitar-swinging, lyric-dropping scratch wizards to simultaneously glorify the big riff while bowing down to hip-hop. In the course of a song they let their guitars run amok, push plodding rhythms, and growl like angry dogs roused from sleep -- all while dexterously zipping back and forth along record grooves.