1. Linkin Park A Thousand Suns Digipak Analysis A Thousand Suns
is the fourth major studio album from American Rapcore band, Linkin
Park. The album was released in 2010 but received this Special
Edition re-release the following year. There are many interesting
aspects to the album cover which make it unique and aesthetically
pleasing. Firstly to note, there are no characters or images of the
band themselves within the entire digipak, leaving CGI images, as
also seen with the Enter Shikari album, to set across the message.
The main image is placed on the front of the album cover,
displaying a simplistic white shape, the symbol of the album, which
is the rays from a rising sun. Though this picture is simple, it is
also rather symbolic of the album as a whole, with the colouring
aiding in the message. The white of the rays represents innocence
and purity, while the black surrounding it is to represent evil,
hate and also connotes depression and death. This creates a
powerful image which reveals the narrative of the entire album,
with the message of hope in a doomed world. Following removing this
is the inner box, hidden beneath the sleeve of the album. This is
completely black across the outside, further enforcing the feeling
of darkness. The interior of this box, where the content is
contained, harbours the bands album specific symbol engraved and
embossed into the material, with the white lines showing through
the black, emphasizing this emergence of good in a world of evil.
The case then contains 2 CDs, completely black in keeping with the
house style, contained in 2 cardboard sleeves bearing the image of
a distorted sun, with the black and white theme continuing on one
and the other containing a graphic fade between red and green,
showing the merging between rage and greed, a powerful message to
the world. Finally are 2 lithographs, one bearing the album logo
with reversed colours, showing hope surrounding and suppressing
hate, and the other of various distorted symbols, as well as the
double vinyl pack containing an image of the universe placed with a
kaleidoscope effect. This all adds to the narrative of the album.
The albums narrative is similar to that of Enter Shikari's, with an
emphasis on the collapse of the environment, the unnecessary need
for money, the overuse of rage and destruction and the helplessness
of so many on the planet. The black and white throughout are used
to connote purity and the good in the world against the hate and
destruction and death in the world. This is a powerful message with
the black surrounding the white on the front, showing that the band
believes that all the world's good is being destroyed by anger,
greed and hate. Though, it also shows it emerging out of the
darkness, a positive message which states that this is the start of
a more positive era where hate and evil are unwelcome. This is
repeated on the lithograph with the reversed colours, this time
showing the worlds purity surrounding and suppressing the darkness
and evil, which is a message of change to the audience of the
album. The use of the distorted universe is also quite significant,
with the image representing how the universe is becoming corrupt,
and people are distorting our perceptions on what is real and what
is fake, hiding the true world problems behind a veil. This message
is directed at the audience and is supported throughout the album,
showing people that changes need to be made to the planet. As
mentioned at several points earlier, the iconography in the music
video is hugely important in displaying the true message and
purpose of the album, with the main image connoting the good in the
world penetrating the hate, going on to surround and suppress it in
the lithograph, while the green and red show the combination of
both hate and greed or love and health, depending on the way its
looked at and the distorted images showing the ruse of lies we are
being fed. The technical features of the album are quite minimal,
with the main bulk being CGI edited and very few complicated images
being used.