Linkin Park: 'LP is homage to hip-hop'

Linkin Park have revealed that they pay homage to hip-hop music on their new album.

The LP - called A Thousand Suns - is a tribute to Public Enemy, who the nu-metal band describe as "three-dimensional".

"There is a homage to Chuck D on there. It's probably the most hip-hop song on the record and one of the most aggressive," guitarist Mike Shinoda told NME.

"Public Enemy were very three-dimensional with their records because although they seemed political, there was a whole lot of other stuff going on in there too.

"It made me think how three-dimensional I wanted our record to be without imitating them of course, and show where we were at creatively."

Despite the aggressive sound of the tribute song, called 'Wretches And Kings', Shinoda claims that the band have calmed down on their fourth LP.

He continued: "These songs are not kicking you in the teeth. Whenever we made something that sounded like stuff we'd done before we felt lazy and ended up ditching it.

"In the end we wanted to do something that explored a different space for us. Hopefully it will surprise people."

A Thousand Suns is out September 13.