For an act that sold eight million copies of its full-length debut, Linkin Park may be the ultimate nu-metal singles band. During its short career, the California group has mastered the genre's prototypical three-minute hit, which hits predictable signposts (bludgeoning guitar bursts, vein-bursting angst, snatches of hip-hop flava, a tried-and-true mixture of screaming, rapping, and singing mournfully) with brutal, Grammy-winning efficiency. Hybrid Theory 's title hinted at that emphasis on formula, and the new Meteora etches it in stone, rushing through a brisk assortment of ham-fistedly fist-pumping variations on the aforementioned boilerplate. Naturally, Linkin Park's subject matter never strays from the old nu-metal song-and-dance of alienation and self-flagellation, albeit in a manner restrained enough to keep the language clean and make room for a few TRL -friendly hip-hop/metal power ballads ("Easier To Run," "From The Inside"). Like its predecessor, Meteora lets its brief, filler-free run time court some goodwill, leaving the pompous dirges for the more messianic likes of Creed. And Linkin Park never got enough credit for last year's remix album Reanimation , which transcended its cash-in nature by not only radically reworking its songs, but also generating royalty checks for under-exposed guests Zion I and Aceyalone. But a general air of inoffensiveness and past good intentions only go so far. Mercifully brief but mercilessly repetitive, Meteora is little more than a tolerable rehash of a formula that's been on the wrong side of its sell-by date for some time now.