Linkin Park released their new compilation album Papercuts: Singles Collection (2000–2023) today (April 12), and it contains an ultra-heavy song that was previously unavailable to stream.
The track in question, Qwerty, was originally recorded during the sessions for the nu metal stars’ third studio album Minutes To Midnight in 2006.
The band performed the song live during a 2006 tour of Japan, then released studio and live versions of it on the LP Underground 6.0 EP on December 5 of that year.
However, Qwerty never made it onto streaming services until today.
Papercuts is Linkin Park’s first-ever career-spanning greatest hits album and contains such standouts as Crawling, Bleed It Out, One More Light and Jay-Z collaboration Numb/Encore.
The compilation also contains the song Friendly Fire, which was recorded for the band’s 2017 album One More Light but remained unreleased until February this year.
Upon the announcement of Papercuts, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Shinoda commented: “In the making of each Linkin Park album, I want to love and believe in each individual song completely.
“I hope that if any one track is heard on its own in the world, it is something I can feel proud of, and something that takes root inside the listener and becomes part of the energy that connects us.”
He continued: “Curating the tracks for Papercuts was a joy.
“Each song in this collection is both a singular moment on our timeline and an evolving story that is as much ours as it is yours. From our first release One Step Closer to the brand-new Friendly Fire, this tracklist spans all our chapters so far.
“Thank you for being a part of our journey. We hope you enjoy Papercuts.”
Linkin Park’s lead vocalist, Chester Bennington, passed away in July 2017, shortly after the release of One More Light, aged 41.
Bar a tribute concert in October 2017, the band haven’t performed live or released a new studio album since.
Earlier this month, Jay Gordon of US industrial rockers Orgy, who previously collaborated with Linkin Park, sparked rumours that the band would be reactivating with a female lead singer in Bennington’s place.
He told Wired In The Empire: “It’s going to be tough without Chester, but we’ll see. I hear they got a girl singer now. That’s what I heard.”
Gordon later retracted these claims via social media.
“With regards to this linkin park singer thing,” he posted on Facebook, “I know nothing about any of that. People sure do love to take my words out of context.
“I love those guys and wish them the best.
“Wow I was like what in the actual f**k? I said nothing about knowing any of that and never brought it up. I love Chester and there will never be another him ever.
“Strange that that dude [interviewer Mike Z] said something to me about it not the other way around. get real dude. Not cool!”
Despite Gordon’s claim of his interviewer “[saying] something to me about it”, the singer made the comment about Bennington’s alleged replacement unprompted.
